Travelling Hopefully - Going Postal

Today was the day!  If nothing else on this day I would purchase and mail postcards.  For that I would have to find both postcards and the post office.  Roaming the streets of Nairobi turned up a Christian bookshop across the road from the city council chambers.  Along with so many works on Jesus that one wonders why anybody bothered to write the bible I found some postcards.  I purchased the only ones that didn't have improving Christian messages on them and trotted off to the post office.

Belatedly using a little intelligence I had looked the post office up on the map and realised I had actually walked past it the previous day without recognition.  In my defence it is a wacking great complex of buildings, fenced off, surrounded by security guards and that black and yellow tape one normally sees at crime scenes.  It isn't until you have got past at least one checkpoint that you can see the modest sign informing you that this is in fact the post office and not the national mint or the local 7-11.  Having gained entry to what can only be called a compound I passed through a metal detector and headed for a likely looking building.  The helpful lady there directed me to another building.  The security guards at that building directed me back to the first building but on being informed that they had already been fingered agreed to direct me to the public entrance of their building which is where I needed to go.

At the public entrance I emptied my pockets, walked through another metal detector and answered some questions as to why I might wish to access the post office on this bright and sunny day.  The final security hurdle having been navigated I stepped into a cavernous, poorly lit room that was almost empty.  In fairness it was Saturday so presumably the post office was operating with a skeleton staff.  She was sitting behind a counter franking mail.  After about ten minutes or so she deigned to notice me and was eventually persuaded to sell me some stamps.  After a little more to and fro she passed over the airmail stickers as well.

Rarely have I felt such a sense of accomplishment after a visit to the post office.  The postcards have been entrusted to the tender mercies of Kenya's postal system and are no doubt winging their way to Australia as I write.