IDLE CHAT: ‘Taking a cold beer on an island for the first time…’

Franziska Fisken, a retired English teacher living in Vienna Austria is on two months visit to Uganda. She is hosted by a local educational consultancy firm, Kisubi Associated Writers’ Agency (KAWA). Fisken is a remarkable woman on many levels, not least of all for her ‘courageously opinionated’ ways or so I thought.

I travelled with her to a lone and very scantly understood island in Lake Victoria, Dolwe, Lolwe or Lolui, depending on where you belong. (This island, believe you me, holds so much secrets dating back to times before formation of Lake Victoria!) We took time to relax and wind off time at the ornate setting of Eco Resort, after whole afternoon of work and sighting wonders of the island, which I noticed are not well attended to but that’s for another day…

Franziska invited me to a five-minute writing challenge in which you write without pausing to think what to write next.  She proposed that I suggest a scenario for us to start if up. So, I suggested, ‘Taking a cold beer on an island for the first time’ Not that it was the first time for both of us. Below are outcomes of the idle thoughts on paper:

Taking a cold beer on an island for the first time, I reflected on all the cocktails I could have consumed instead: those pina colados, and all those other exciting names people invent for cocktails like ‘Sex on the Rocks’ or ‘Valentine’s fizz’ or ‘Camel-induced Euphoria’ or good old fashioned ‘Bloody Mary’.

The island was full of the sounds of loud blaring globally sourced music meant to entice one to the bar area but driving me away from it. Sitting outside, enjoying the sounds of crickets I became aware that the crickets were becoming submerged by louder strains coming from the bar. Did they think we couldn’t talk to each other? Did they think people want to come out and sit and just listen to a wailing voice?

Anyway, we aren’t talking to each other. We’re writing as fast as we can about anything that comes into our heads.

It’s pleasantly warm. A cool air breeze. An escape from a European wet winter.

Franziska

Taking a cold beer on an island for the first time, I find it refreshing thing to do, especially seeing it being done by a muzungu fresh from Austria. It arouses nostalgia in me of my good old prime days when taking three cold beers before settling to take on the fourth in a more relaxed, laidback way. I am also now reminded that I have not only grown; matured, but that my body institutions are giving way from the youthful vigor of days gone by.

Now, I in my early 50’s, seeing a lady in her late 60’s, yet still enjoying the refreshing taste of what was my favorite beer, gives me that feeling … of envy…

However, I have to say that it was great while it lasted – those days of three cold beers in a record fifteen minutes before slowing down with the fourth.

Chole