← All months

Monthly archive

Month One — Kama Mbaya, Mbaya

Month One begins with birthday tiramisu and ends with a gym membership. In between: Naivasha buffets, a life-insurance scale that reports four uninvited kilos, a twenty-hour flight full of good intentions, and the discovery that Bogotá walks everywhere anyway.


4 of 4 letters written so far
How Old Did I Just Turn? cover

Month 1 · Week 2

How Old Did I Just Turn?

There is something distinctly unsettling about turning 49. Then came the life-insurance medical, the triage scale, and four extra kilos I had not ordered. Four kilos, people!

  • food
  • Nairobi
  • nyama choma
  • weight
  • ageing
  • health check
Blame It on the Travel: Reason or Excuse? cover

Month 1 · Week 3

Blame It on the Travel: Reason or Excuse?

KFC in Nairobi, twenty hours of good intentions at 35,000 feet, then jet lag in Bogotá demanding fries. But the city walks, the Ciclovía calls—and I ended the week with a gym membership.

  • travel
  • Nairobi
  • Bogotá
  • walking
  • gym
  • Ciclovía
  • food
  • jet lag
Fit-ish? Currently More "Ish" Than Fit cover

Month 1 · Week 4

Fit-ish? Currently More "Ish" Than Fit

Everything hurts, the muscles are threatening legal action — and yet: 71,315 steps, five days over 10,000, and a first, humbling encounter with mat Pilates and a very orange exercise ball.

  • walking
  • steps
  • gym
  • Pilates
  • Garmin
  • fitness classes
  • Bogotá

The month in excerpts

Week 1 · July 18

Kama Mbaya, Mbaya! (If We're Going Off the Rails, Let's Do It Properly!)

It's your birthday today—exactly one year before you turn 50—and guess what? You haven't changed much. There is tiramisu involved, wine is on its way, and next week holds three days in Naivasha and buffet after buffet. So: kama mbaya, mbaya.

Read the full letter →

Week 2 · July 25

How Old Did I Just Turn?

There is something distinctly unsettling about turning 49. Then came the life-insurance medical, the triage scale, and four extra kilos I had not ordered. Four kilos, people!

Read the full letter →

Week 3 · August 1

Blame It on the Travel: Reason or Excuse?

KFC in Nairobi, twenty hours of good intentions at 35,000 feet, then jet lag in Bogotá demanding fries. But the city walks, the Ciclovía calls—and I ended the week with a gym membership.

Read the full letter →

Week 4 · August 8

Fit-ish? Currently More "Ish" Than Fit

Everything hurts, the muscles are threatening legal action — and yet: 71,315 steps, five days over 10,000, and a first, humbling encounter with mat Pilates and a very orange exercise ball.

Read the full letter →