Being conned twice in one run… before running gets cancelled anyway

Being conned twice in one run… before running gets cancelled anyway

Nairobi is not called Nairoberry for nothing.  It lived true to its name today, Friday, March 26, 2021, when I was on my way to Adams arcade.  I took the first matatu at Uthiru and things did not seem right from the moment I stepped into that matatu.  We had the usual social-distanced seating, with a free seat between passengers, before that was quickly overlooked, and the vessel was packed full as usual.

It did not take long before my fears were confirmed.  The conductor would momentarily ask passengers for fare, of which I gave out a one-hundred shillings note.  The recipient did not give me back my seventy-shillings, and so I did beckon him to do so.  He proceeded to give me only twenty-shillings then started an animated conversation with some passenger seated behind him, who was in front of my sitting position at the backseat.  I beckoned him a second time and reminded him that he was yet to give me the full amount.

“Najua nina finje yako, siwezi enda na doo zako, manze,” the ruffian in him responded.  

His eyes were bloodshot red.  His hair was shaggy.  I could have judged him for a bad thug, had it not been for the semblance of dark brown overcoat that he had adorned, which is supposed to be the uniform for matatu crew.  And I wish I could have judged him as much…

We would momentarily reach Kawangware, where he alighted even before the matatu came to a stop and somehow disappeared into thin air.  Three passengers started waiting outside the vehicle, in a manner to suggest that we were waiting for something.  It turned out that we were waiting for our cash balances from the conductor.  

We eventually made him out from the large crowd at Kawangware roadside side as he finally came to our standing position.  He gave the first passenger a fifty and the passenger left.  He gave the lady thirty shillings and gave me twenty shillings.

“Fifty!  Nakudai fifty,” I reminded him.  He looked a bit confused.

The lady told him that what she gave her was not her balance, “Bado hazijafika,” she repeated.

The ruffian would then snatch the monies from the palms of our hands and shove a one-hundred shillings note to the lady.  I was still wondering what was going on, before realizing that he had already run off towards the collection and chaos of matatus and people, while shouting just beyond earshot, “Gawaneni hiyo”

I was just starting to be happy that at least we shall only have to divide the hundred between us, on a fifty-fifty basis, problem solved, when a new twist emerged.

“Yangu ilikuwa seventy!,” the lady lamented, looking at the direction of the conductor, who had by now disappeared forever.

This was now a new territory, because my balance was fifty and the lady was claiming seventy, yet the available money was only one-hundred.

“Jameni!  Yangu ilikuwa seventy!  Sasa nitafanyaje?,” she lamented before me.  We were now just standing next to matatus that were coming and going, with all the chaos of passengers and pedestrians in the mix.

“Sawa, nipe tu thirty,” I volunteered to do with the loss to her benefit.

It did not take long before she started wondering where we shall get loose change.  I would have easily asked for change or even got some from my pockets, but the lady was not making any effort to get loose money, nor willing to part with the one-hundred shillings note

“Kaa tu nayo.  Nilikuwa na haraka,” I gave up and walked on, losing my fifty shillings just like that, to the thuggery of the matatu sector.

I walked about one kilometre on Naivasha road to the Kinyanjui road junction stage next to Midhill hospital where I was to take the next vehicle to Adams.  I survived the very chaotic roadside mess called hawkers, matatus and passersby and was glad to be at that stage ready for my next phase of the travel.  I observed the buses and matatus beckoning the few reluctant passengers at that stage, until my time to take the opportunity came.

“Tao foti, tao foti foti!,” the touts chorused.

We stayed put.

“Tao foti, tao foti foti!,” the touts chorused some more.

We continued staying put.  We wanted better.

One of those touts would soon come to my standing position and whisper almost inaudibly to my ear, “Wewe ingia na thati!”

He showed me the door of the bus, and continued the ‘foti, foti’ chant.

It did not take long before the bus was full.  I would then notice the person who had ushered me in start negotiating for his cut with the real conductor at the door of the bus, before he jumped out of the now speeding bus, almost falling in this process of jumping out.

When my turn to pay came, I gave out the thirty shillings in two coins of twenty and ten.  The conductor looked at the money and stayed put, his hand still stretched, “Gari ni foti!”

“But yule jamaa alisema ni thati?”

“Jamaa gani?  Nimi ndio conda.  Ulinisikia nikisema thati?”

I added another ten shillings without much ado.

I would soon be at Adams, would be soon done with my errands and would travel back without much drama on this return journey.  I had not imagined that I would be conned twice in one day by this matatu industry that has no rules.  I had thought it was ‘softiness’ that had led to the junior runner in training, aka WWB junior, when she reported that a tout had refused to give back her change.  I had not imagined that even fully grown people still suffer similar fates.  I had learnt my lessons.  It is never too late to be conned!

I had already forgotten about the morning, and was planning for my next run set for next Monday, when I heard someone speak loudly along the corridor, just outside my office door, for the benefit of all, that,

“Imagine wame ban masports zote!  Hata vitu kama jogging haziko tena!”

What?

What is going on here?

It did not take long before the communique came in through official channels, that the President of the republic of Kenya had just issued new directives aimed at curbing the spread of the corona virus that causes COVID19.  The measures were drastic, many and immediate.  It was true that sporting activities had been banned, with immediate effect.  The country had been zoned into the red zone of Nairobi, Nakuru, Kajiado, Machakos and Kiambu, and non-red zone of the rest of the country.  The red zone was to go into a new 8.00pm to 4.00am curfew from tomorrow, unlike the 10.00pm to 4.00am in the rest of the country.  

But that was not the clincher – the red zone was now under lockdown with movement in and out of that zone prohibited with immediate effect!  Bars had been closed indefinitely, eateries were to open for takeaway only, employers were directed to allow all workers to work from home, schools and colleges were to close unless they offer online classes (apart from examinations which are to continue as planned), meetings had been banned, religious in-person meetings had been stopped with immediate effect!  Some prohibitions were only for the red zone, such as the issue of bars, eateries and religion.  Vehicles were reminded to carry 60% capacity… bringing back memories of my morning experience just when I thought I had forgotten about it.

This was bad!  

This time I am not seeing the runners surviving even their solo runs.  Let me state what that prohibition on sports state, and you be the judge…. all sporting activities are hereby suspended, similarly operations of sporting and recreational facilities including Members Clubs are suspended until it is otherwise directed.

All this due to this thing that we thought was out of limelight.  This corona virus that causes COVID19.  This very corona that has now affected 126,256,838 worldwide with 2,770,139 deaths and 101,847,640 recoveries.  In Kenya, our numbers now stand at 126,170 infections, 2,092 deaths and 91,268 recoveries.  The first lockdown in March of 2020 was met with fear and uncertainty.  It is now exactly one year later, and we are facing another lockdown with fear and uncertainty.

WWB, the Coach, Nairobi, Kenya, March 26, 2021

Running into two motorbike accidents in two runs

Running into two motorbike accidents in two runs

It has not been an easy week for my eyes.  The things that I have seen!  Take Sunday, two days ago for instance.  I was walking from Uthiru to Kawangware with the intention of exercising my legs in readiness for the Monday long run of the next day.  I was immersed in my own world, without a care in the world, as the music played through the earphones, as I walked down the road towards Gathondeki.

At some point on my walk I did think that I had heard some popping sound just as I passed the three or so shops at Gathondeki to my right.  With the earphones on, it was just some pop sound.  My curiosity would see me turn back just in time to see someone rolling on the tarmac.  There was so much to accommodate in the short duration that I had turned back.  A man was for sure rolling along the tarmac and a bag was rolling behind him.  The bag would soon come to a stop behind the rolling person.  I would momentarily see the rolling person come to a stop just besides the tarmac, then see him limp back to pick the bag that was lying in the middle of the tarmac.  

The road was relatively free of traffic at this time of about eleven.  I would then look just in front of the person who was now limping with the bag, and see a motorbike lying besides the road, with the rider also just getting up from the ground.  He also limped out of the heap of the bike and started walking towards the person with the bag.  A crowd was starting to gather.  Vehicles from both sides of the road were coming to a standstill at that point.  

I could not figure out why this happened, since I could not see any other vehicle or bike that could have contributed to this incident in terms of some collision.  I had just witnessed a motorbike bring down both the rider and the passenger.  It was not a pleasant sight, though both users did not seem seriously injured.  That scene would remain with me for some time as I walked along towards Kawangware, and later walked back.

Yesterday was a Monday.  Another day of a long weekly run.  I started the run at 4.15pm on the same route that runs from Uthiru to Gitaru and back, with the twists through the Mary Leakey school and the Uni farm.  The weather was hot but running was a must.  I was tired, but what else is expected of such a run anyway.

I would finally, after 16k of running, do my U-turn at the newly constructed Gitaru-Wangige road at Gitaru and start on my way back.  The way back is generally downhill on Kanyariri road.  The run was generally uneventful.  My tired body really wanted to experience that relief of a rest at the finish line.  I kept pushing myself towards the finish line and really longed for the end of run.

I had just passed Junel school on my right, and the tank, which is the junction towards the Uni farm on my left, when I saw a motorbike approach my run direction.  I did not make much of it since motorbikes and vehicles are common on this part of the road.  However, this particular motorbike seemed to behave strangely.  It was on an uphill climb, while I was heading downhill.  

The bike seemed to start wobbling as it approached a speed bump on the road.  I would be approaching the same bump in less than ten run steps.  And just like that, the bike wobbled dangerously all the way to a fall.  I reached that bump in time to see three men struggle to get up from their fall while the fallen bike constrained their struggle to get up from the ground.  I passed them as they dusted themselves up and laughed over the incident.  They did not seem injured.

This incident remained in my mind until I finished the run about thirty minutes later.  I did not even feel the pain of the twenty-seven ks.  It was the pain of the two motorbike incidences of the past two days that pained me.

WWB, the coach, Nairobi, Kenya, March 16, 2021

When running online means ‘running virtually’

When running online means ‘running virtually’

I hardly do any runs over the weekend.  I probably did none in the whole of 2020 – thank Corona for that.  The very corona that had almost 4,813 confirmed cases and 294 deaths on planet earth as at March 11 last year, but now* (March 13, 2021) has afflicted 119,703,834 and killed 2,653,534 globally.  However, I still did manage two weekend runs, being the Kilimanjaro marathon on March 1 and the First Lady marathon in Nairobi on March 8.  After that…. my weekend runs were done.  Corona restrictions, including curfews, masks, social distancing, lockdowns and quarantines ensured that there were no other weekend runs since then.

*worldometers data

It is now one year later, and life has changed so much until I do not expect any more surprises in terms of changes that come about.  One of the changes that has changed our way of life is this new way of conducting meetings, due to social distancing and restrictions on maximum number at venues.  Previously, we had halls full of people, listening and seeing each other on-their-faces so to speak…. and even sorting each other out, depending on the gravity of the subject matter.  That was last year.  That was then.  Now is now.  The new way of having group meetings is now called ‘virtual’ or ‘online’.  It has its bad and ugly.  It is only good if you are the convener, since you must convene anyway, and this may help you to meet some obligation.  Every other aspect of the meeting relies on the bad and ugly of the reality of online meetings.

I have had many of these online meetings since last year.  They ‘sounded’ strange when I started attending them.  They still do, literally, with sound quality usually being a real issue to contend with.  Internet connectivity and the medium of hosting the meeting plays a big role in this aspect of how the meeting shall ‘sound’.  Additionally, the same online meetings ‘look’ different.  Participants are expected to show the visual of themselves (and surroundings) and it does not take long to see why ‘looks’ can deceive.

How many times have you observed a participant, in full view of hundreds of participants, do ‘things’ on video display that you would not expect, appreciate or even condone in some cases?  From bringing person grooming sessions to our view, to making faces and gestures to the camera.  From dancing around to making the meeting to be a family event, even if it is not meant to be.  And by family event, I do mean family event – from the crying young ones and feeding of the same online, from having family agreements (and disagreements), to letting in the whole family into ‘our business’ in the full glare of the lens.

While the visuals would requires an online participant to be keen so that nothing passes their observing eye, sound on the other hand permeates the air whether you are looking at the screen or not.  The speakers soon start crackling as you start hearing things.  You shall hear all manner of stuff during online meetings.  “Keep your microphones muted” is usually the first rule to be thrown out of the window during online meetings.  I believe people like hearing their own voices to confirm that they can still speak.  And did I even mention the echo that goes on and on when a participant is having full volume on their loudspeakers while the mic is on?  Such participants feel nothing!  To them it is just another day online!  Of course, you are also ‘entitled’ to hear all manner of things during those video moments– just add sound to the above scenarios.

I finally had to run into one such online meeting over a weekend and I was not expecting any less, in terms on what I would expect to see and hear.  The meeting did not disappoint!  It has it all.  Unmuted microphones turned out to be the first culprit from start to end of meeting.  That enable me and others to hear everything going on at the different places of the participants.  This included children playing around and even some livestock making their noises.  The video did not disappoint either!  We saw people make their hair, apply lipstick and on some occasions even dress up.  Did I not tell you that there would be no disappointment?  I just like online meetings!

“Keep your microphone muted” was repeated and repeated but that helped, not.  Those who were keen to keep the mics on, did, those who followed the expected etiquette of keeping them off did.  Life continued as was expected, reminder or no reminder.  People behaving in their own ways without a care in the world.  I do like online meetings…. already!

Another aspect of online meetings that did not disappoint was attending the meeting ‘virtually’ – literally virtually, to mean having the meeting by ‘not being there’.  Isn’t that the meaning of ‘virtually’ anyway?  Being at a place where I could observe two or three other participants in their offices, I was able to observe them switch on their computers and join the meeting alright.  I then saw them leave their offices, never to be seen again, despite the audio of the ongoing meeting coming out of their offices.  They had joined the meeting ‘virtually’… by not being there ‘physically’.

But do not take my word for it.  How do you explain the absence of a participant when they are called upon to respond to an issue during a meeting, before the convener gives that customary ‘sorry, they are not there’, when for sure we can see that their online presence is live and active?  Does it not just mean that they are not there anyway?  And finally, voting online is a fallacy.  The voting tools favor the tech-savvy, being those who are ‘well-connected’ and those with ‘quick hands’.  That is the only way you can vote using online tools with a two-minute time limit.  Apart from that, how do you even restrict people to vote only ‘any two’ out of four, when you have no control over the number of times they can vote?

Finally, though I had already stated my finally above, but this is surely the final ‘finally’.  So, finally, online meetings expect participants to participate by text messages on a forum.  The participants are expected to raise questions that should then be answered by the conveners.  This is where the final rip-off occurs!  The biggest scam since corona is right there!  The organizers of such meetings usually select the issues they are comfortable responding to, and blatantly ignore all the rest of the ‘weighty’ issues, brushing them aside as ‘there are no more issues on the chat box’!  

As we celebrate this new normal of online meetings, let us just be prepared to run them ‘virtually’, if you know what I mean.

WWB, the coach, Nairobi, Kenya, March 13, 2021

One year later and the run continues, with or with Corona

One year later and the run continues, with or with Corona

Oh, how time flies!  It was on such a date, March 11, 2020, that the world health organization (WHO) declared the corona virus a global pandemic.  The very corona virus that causes SARS-COVID-2-2019 aka COVID-19.  It did not take long before Kenya shut down most sectors of its economy, starting with a 6.00pm to 5.00am curfew, a ban on social gathering and closure of all learning institutions.  

It got worse when a week later we had a lockdown, where Nairobi and five other towns were locked down from the rest of Kenya, with entry and exit from these towns banned.  Workers were asked to work from home or mostly not at all.  It was a first time in living memory that the world was coming to an end!  It was at this same time that four new concepts were introduced into human vocabularies – social-distancing, face-masking, hand-washing and quarantining.

It was a scary time in our history.  We feared the unknown.  We feared the worst.  We were facing this new virus, causing a new disease that few understood.  We had a new disease that was deadly – a ‘sure’ death sentence if you were to get it, yet, at the same time, only few people were dying from the disease.  What was this contradictory disease?  

Some populace in the globe even started to advance conspiracy theories that this whole thing was some making of some conspiring nations to disrupt the world economy, for some ‘conspiratory’ reasons!  This would lead some people in some parts of the world to do nothing about this virus.  To them, there was no such virus.  Life continued uninterrupted in their world.  Our southern neighbours would take that ‘no corona’ route (with lots of regret one year later).

It was a scary time in our history.  We feared the unknown.  We hid in our houses and armed ourselves with foods and drugs.  We would not go down without a fight.  We would fight the new virus until one of the parties gave up the ghost.  The virus would however win the war and the battle.  Spreading like wildfire, starting from China in December 2019, to the rest of the world.. one infection at a time.

It was a scary time in our history.  We feared the unknown.  We would however learn new lessons with time, though by that time lives had been lost, jobs had been lost and our freedoms were lost.  We were now operating on rules, fear and rumors.  Nonetheless, we were getting to understand the new virus and the new disease.  We started understanding that a good rest aka quarantine was the basic therapy for the new disease – can you imagine that?  Recovering without treatment?  That is was the new disease taught us!  

And therefore, recoveries started becoming many.  Fatalities remained few, stabilizing at a constant rate of 2% of all cases.  There was prediction that Africa would be mostly wiped out by this new disease.  We wondered why us?  Nonetheless, the Armageddon that was to hit Africa would come to pass not.  It would not take long before we had vaccines developed in record time and released for immediate use.  

Humanity was at stake and preservation of life was at the highest of priorities.  Life would just have to come back to normal.  We could not survive without our normal – old normal or new normal – but normal nonetheless.  Lockdowns would be lifted, curfew hours would be shortened, schools would reopen, work from office would resume, life would start having some semblance of normalcy, albeit with the four buzz words remaining firm on our vocabularies…. Social-distancing, face-masking, hand-washing and quarantining.

It was scary during that March 11, 2020 declaration day.  We feared for the end of the world as we know it.  On that date* we had 4,813 confirmed cases and 294 deaths on planet earth.  Mortality rate was 6%, with little or no knowledge on how to manage this new scary virus.  Kenya had zero cases.  One year later**, and the world has now suffered 118,958,711 infections and 2,637,365 deaths, though we also celebrate 94,531,192 recoveries.  This is a 2% mortality rate.  Kenyan numbers are now 111,185 infections, 1,899 deaths and 87,994 recoveries.  We still social-distance, we still face-mask, we still hand-wash and we still quarantine as necessary.  How the world has changed in just one year!

*WHO data

**worldometers data

So, as I remember that Monday run, three days ago, when I was on that Uthiru to Gitaru and back route.  On that very day when I finished the run feeling as fatigued as if I had the corona thing, my only consolation was that I had the four words in my vocabulary keeping me going… social-distancing, face-masking, hand-washing and quarantining (if came to that).  Luckily, it was just a marathoner’s fatigue, since I was back to normalcy hardly one-hour after than 2.19.14 run.  

And anyways, there is no shame in contracting the corona virus.  It can happen.  It does happen.  Even if it does, it comes and goes without much ado in a majority of cases.  Just a forced rest for a period of about two weeks aka quarantine, and then you are good to go.  Therefore, let us celebrate the one-year of scary moments with the comfort that humanity shall always find a way to prevail… however bad things may seem.

WWB, the coach, Nairobi, Kenya, March 11, 2021

Give me a break… I am tired

Give me a break… I am tired

I was out for today’s run because it was a Monday, which is a run day, and it was evening, which is the run time.  The weather was sunny and hot.  I was feeling well and the run was expected to be like any other, apart from the heat.  I was scheduled to be on the same good old route that runs from Uthiru to Lower Kabete road via Ndumbo and Kapenguria road.  

Once I get to LK road, I would turn left for the about 1km run then turn another left onto Mary Leakey route and then traverse the University farm.  I would emerge on the other end of the farm by joining the Kanyariri road and turn right to run all the way to Gitaru market and then back on Kanyariri road to Ndumbo and back to Uthiru.  It is a route I have been to many times.  It is the default ‘long run’ route, with a guarantee of 24k, and can be tweaked to anything above that.  I believe that I have seen it all on this good-old, but….

What is it with people having abandoned the use of face masks while in public places?  Did I miss the memo about corona having come to an end?  I still recalled the numbers for the day.  The numbers that are always ‘on your face’ on whichever media platform you use, with or without your consent.  The numbers speak for themselves: 114,870,406 total global confirmed cases, with 2,546,776 deaths.  In Kenya the numbers are 106,125 and 1,859 respectively.  So, what is this denial that there is corona, when the numbers tell a different story?

What is it with people celebrating one million doses of COVID19 vaccines to be received in the country today night, yet these are already reserved for healthcare workers?  I even heard the definition of ‘healthcare workers’ on the news of yesterday and I started wondering if this shall even be enough for them… and we are not talking one, but two shots, eight weeks apart.  That definition included anybody working in the health sectors, not medics, but anybody whom you see working those corridors, offices, clinics and grounds in healthcare.  The target include other non-traditional healthcare facilities such as pharmacies and guarding.  So, what is this celebration all about?

What is it with young people believing that they are immune and that the COVID19 thing is for the elderly like us?  I met lots of school children walking home in the evening.  In singles, in duos, in trios, in quadruplets, in quartets, in quintuplets, in sextuplets, in bigger groups, sometimes blocking my whole route – and none of them had their masks on!  Very few even pretended to have them hang on their chins!  So, does youth mean living in a different world without corona?

All these questioning persisted even as I kept my run and observed the going-ons on my run route.  I was so preoccupied with observations that I did not even know when I did that U-turn at Gitaru, on the junction to the newly constructed Wangige-Gitaru road, and was already on my way back.  It is while taking a sip of water from the 500ml bottles that I had struggled with for over fifteen kilometres, while on the start of the downhill at Gitaru that I realized that I was getting tired.  Though I had started today’s run while on top notch condition, I was slowly degrading into tiredness and it was getting worse with every kilometre.  I was already dreading that Ndumbo hill, though I was still over four kilometres from it.

I managed to get past that hill, and once it was done, I was sure that I would finish the run, since there was no other tougher obstacle ahead.  And, finishing the run I did, about fifteen minutes later.  I collapsed on my seat and eat a medium-sized avocado almost in four scoops.  I would then take a litre of water almost in one gulp.  I was still tired and thirsty even after this.  I however knew that I would recover soon and for sure I was fairly back to normal about three hours later…

Now, it is almost ten, and I am walking home.  Everyone seems to be in a hurry to beat the ten o’clock curfew.  Motorbikes are riding as loud as ever, as they traverse the dark main street at Uthiru.  The street is momentarily lit, when the street light comes back on.  This does not last long, since that lamp post goes off in a moment.  The other posts seem to behave the same.  I walk in the dark, and walk in the light, and I keep going.  Matatus are zooming past in both directions.  There is no way those passengers shall alight at Kawangware or Gitaru before ten, when no one should be on the streets.  I even start wondering whether the curfew was even still on.  Was it revised?  Was it even removed?  Is that the other memo that I missed?

I am just about to get to the Total petrol station on my right, and I am just passing by the Uthiru market-that-never-is, which is also on my right just besides the road that separates us, when this happens…

I have just overtaken some two guys, both of whom seem to be in slippers, as we jostle for space on the side of the road to avoid the speeding motorbikes.  In front, and to my left, is some lady.  I am just about to overtake her and the on/off street lights have decided to be on, just as I overtake her.  The lights enable me to see her form.  She is in some white top and a dark pair of pants.  She seems to be in shoes.  I hear footsteps behind me, in a manner of someone running after me.  I momentarily turn back while continuing my walk.  I notice one of the two guys I had just overtaken taking a sprint after the lady.

It is now almost like the three of us are walking at almost same pace, towards the same direction, next to each other.  I reduce my pace slightly to absorb what is happening.  The guy in shorts and slippers tugs the girl on her right arm.  Those two are now just next to me, on my left.

“Sasa sister, si nikupeleke home!”

The hech! I almost shout.  

What nonsense!  What is going on here?  

I am still taking in the happenings.

The lady looks to her right, on the tugged hand.  She violently pulls off, while observing the person who tugged her, and also at me who is just walking besides.

“Niache!,” she almost screams.

Many things are now going on in my mind.  What if this ruffian calls the friend, who is still behind us, and accost the girl?  After all it is dark enough and everyone is running home.  What would be my reaction?  How about if the ruffians even assume that I am an accomplice to this girl?  What if this, what if that, I am now all over in thought.

“Sister, usiwe hivyo.  Ni kanait kamoja tu!,” the guy in shorts tries, though the lady has now started to walk faster, even now moving in front of us.  She looks back, while still walking,

“Please, I have had a long day.  Niache na shida zangu.  Sitaki mambo yako!”

The tone and the emotion on those words will stay with me for long.  I could feel her pain.  I could feel her disgust at how the world has turned out to be – where you can just be pulled aside and be ‘nighted’, just like that!  Does it mean that a single girl walking the street should just be a target of aggressive behaviour?

I resume my faster pace, even as the lady keeps walking off the tarmac towards the line of shops on my left.  The guy who has just been stood down slows down and waits for his friend to catch up with him.  He momentarily starts hurling obscenities to the already gone lady, ensuring it is loud enough for all and sundry to hear.

I know the meaning of being tired.  I can feel it on my legs even as I walk home.  So, what is it with people not understanding that everyone needs to be given a break when tired!

WWB, the coach, Nairobi, Kenya, March 1, 2021