Saturday 29 December 2012

Further adventures of Marty and Gillian the motorcycling giraffes, story 8 Marty and Gillian's wonderful new years adventure


The further adventures of Marty and Gillian the motorcycling giraffes.

Story 8 Marty and Gillian’s wonderful New Years Eve adventure

Marty and Gillian are motorcycling giraffes who live in the big Kenyan city of Nairobi. Marty has a job working for his good friend Peter Ngono as a window cleaner’s assistant, while Gillian works with Peter’s wife Gloria running a stall selling fruit smoothies.

But what Marty and Gillian really like to do is to whizz around on their motorcycles and have lots of adventures.

As it is new years even Marty had finished his work early but Gillian had not started work yet, as she and Gloria are going to set up their stall in Uhuru Park ( a big park in the centre of Nairobi) and work all night selling smoothies to the crowd that will gather there to celebrate the new year arriving.

As well as Gillian and Gloria working at Uhuru Park, Marty and Gillian other friends, Peter, Victor (the trainee window cleaner), Emmanuelle (a farmer) and Moira (Emmanuelle’s girlfriend) will all be joining them at Uhuru Park later to join in with the celebrations.

Marty had agreed to go along with Gillian to help set up the stall because Gloria and Gillian wanted to put a big banner reading

“lovely smoothies kwa ajili ya kuuza”   (“Lovely cool smoothies for sale”)

High above their stall and of course Marty and Gillian are very useful when you need something put up high, as they can reach the top of the poles to the banner up with ease.

So after Marty had a quick wash and freshen up, they set of for Uhuru Park, Marty leading the way on his very fast motorcycle and Gillian following behind on her little pink motor scooter.

It didn’t take Mary and Gillian long before they reached Uhuru Park and found Gloria standing beside Peter’s van giving Peter instructions as where to put all smoothies’ equipment and boxes of fruit that he was unloading form the van.

Gloria can't help Peter carry the heavy boxes as she is expecting their first baby and is now quite heavily pregnant.

Peter and Marty helped Gillian and Gloria set the stall up and then Gloria took one end of the banner in her teeth and Marty took the other, Peter then pulled himself up Marty’s neck and sat on his head so he could tie that end of the banner to the tall pole an them Marty leaned across to the Gillian’s side so Peter could tie that one too,

“Oooh be careful up there” shouted Gloria

“Hakuna matata” laughed Peter “I spend most of my working day sat on Marty’s head to clean the windows on the tall buildings in Nairobi and I have never fallen off yet”

Once the banner was up the four friends stood back to admire their handiwork

“The stall is looking good, this should help to attract a lot of customer, we will be busy tonight” said Gloria

“Well you be careful and don’t work too hard” replied Peter “you have to take care of yourself and our little baby, it wont be long now before he or she makes an appearance”.

“Oh don’t fuss, I’ll be fine” smiled Gloria.

Peter then told the other that he has to go back to his window cleaning yard to some work in his office and that he see them all later on that night.

Marty decided to stay in Uhuru Park and wait for the others to arrive.

“Be sure your back before midnight to see the New Year in” he said to Peter.

 
“I will be” replied Peter before giving Gloria a kiss goodbye and jumping into his van and driving off

 
It didn’t take long for quite a big crowd to start gathering in Uhuru Park for the new years festivities and Gloria and Gillian were soon very busy selling there lovely cold smoothies to the thirsty revellers.


Marty decided to leave Gloria and Gillian to get along with running their stall and went off for a wander around the park to see what other fun things were taking place.

After a little while Gillian noticed that Gloria wasn’t looking too well.

“Gloria, are you okay?” asked Gillian

“No, I don’t feel to well and I am getting some pains in my tummy” replied Gloria

“Well you had better sit down and take a rest, you have probably over done it today, leave the stall to me for a while”

“But we are too busy, you can’t run the stall on your own” replied Gloria before letting out a load groan and almost bending double in pain.

“Gillian, Gillian, I think the baby is coming early” gasped Gloria, “you need to get Peter to take to the hospital”

“I will get Marty to go for Peter, he rides that motorcycle so fast it wont take him  long to get to Peter’s yard”

Gillian looked around the park and could clearly see Marty in the distance as his head and neck was sticking out way above the crowd, but with musicians playing, people dancing and children running around, the park was very noisy and no matter how loud Gillian shouted she couldn’t make Marty hear her.

“Oooh Hurry up please Gillian” groaned Gloria.

Gillian then had an idea and she bent down and pick up a mango from the box of fruit that was waiting to be made into smoothies, and with one mighty swing of her neck she threw the mango high into the sky.

The mango flew through the air above the head of the crowd and landed with a mighty thud against the back of Marty’s head

“Ouch! Who threw that?” said Marty with a very cross look on his face.

He looked around to see Gillian frantically beckoning him to come over.

Marty realised something must be wrong so he quickly ran across to the smoothie stall, making the crowd of people scatter out of the way, as they didn’t want to be kicked by a large giraffe.

“What’s the matter?” he gasped as he arrived at the stall

“Gloria is having her baby you must go and get Peter quick” said Gillian “Oh and the go to Emmanuelle’s farm and get Moira, I am going to need some help on the stall tonight”

“Oooh please hurry Marty, I need to get to the hospital”. Groaned Gloria.

Marty jumped on to his motorcycle and weaved his way through the crowd out of the park on to road, where he pulled back his throttle and accelerated at great pace and was soon whizzing through Nairobi’s busy streets.

At the windows cleaners’ yard Marty didn’t bother to get off his motorcycle instead he just shouted as loud as he could at Peter

“You have to get back to the park and get Gloria to the hospital the baby is coming!!”

Peter stood there looking stunned

“Haya! haraka haraka” (!Come on hurry hurry!”) shouted Marty and Peter snapped himself together and grabbed! his keys and headed toward his van, Marty turned his motorcycle round and shot off to fetch Emmanuelle and Moira.

Back in the park a big queue of people wanting smoothies was gathering at the stall as Gillian was struggling to serve them all on her own and look after Gloria at the same time.

“I wish Peter and Marty would hurry up and come back” sobbed Gloria

“They will be here soon” soothed Gillian.

The all of sudden a loud beeping of a horn was heart and Gillian looked around to see Peter’s van slowly making its way through the crowd flanked by Marty on his motorcycle on one side and Emmanuelle and Moira on Emmanuelle’s  motorcycle on the other side.

“They’re here they’re here” shouted Gillian

Peter parked the van and jumped out at and ran to Gloria

“Oh my love, are you ok?” he said giving Gloria a big hug and a kiss.

“Yes but we have to get the hospital quickly” replied Gloria

Gillian and Moira helped Gloria into the van and made Peter promise to look after her and to phone them as soon as there was news”

“Bahati nzuri” (“Good luck”) they al shouted as Peter and Gloria drove away.

“Its going to be a long evening waiting to hear any news” sighed Gillian before she went back to serving the queue of thirsty party goers at the smoothies stall.

“We will soon get the queue down with two of us working together “smiled Moira.

Later in the evening Victor (the trainee window cleaner) joined the others in the park to enjoy the new years festivities, but what they al really wanted was to hear some news form Peter and Gloria.

As the time was nearing midnight the crowd fell silent as one of the announcers from one of main stages in the park started the count one down

10, 9, 8

With that a text message came through to Emmanuelle’s phone which he read out to the others excitedly

“Baby Martina Jilly Ngono born at 11:50 pm Mother and baby doing great”

“Yippee a baby girl” shouted Gillian and Moira

And with that the announcer shouted “midnight! Heri ya mwaka mpya” (“happy new year”) and with a big bang, spectacular fireworks started to fill the night sky

“Well” said Gillian to Marty “that was an exciting end to an exciting year”

“Yes” replied Marty “and I bet 2013 will bring a lot more exciting adventures for

 
Marty and Gillian the motorcycling giraffes

Saturday 8 December 2012

The adventures of Marty and Gillian the motorcycling giraffes story 7 Mary and Gillian Venitian adventure



The further adventures of Marty and Gillian the motorcycling giraffes

 
Story 7 Marty and Gillian’s Venetian adventure

Marty has recently been working very hard and very long hours in his job as a window cleaner’s assistant, working for his boss and good friend Peter Ngono. As well as working hard on  helping to clean all the windows in Nairobi, Marty has also been cleaning lorries and trucks in Mr Makuchi’s  transport yard and helping Peter with his balloon safari business at weekends.

 
On top of this Gillian has also been working very hard on Gloria’s (Peter’s wife how is expecting their first baby) smoothie bar

 
So both Marty and Gillian were very happy when Peter and Gloria told them that the business was closing down for a week as everyone deserved a nice holiday. Victor the trainee window cleaner was also delighted with the news.

 
“You should take Gillian on one of your adventures, during your week off” Gloria told Marty.

 
“I have already thought of that” replied Marty and he turned to Gillian and said “how would you like to visit Venice in Italy” and he showed Gillian a travel magazine with pictures of Venice.

 
Gillian jumped for joy, and when a giraffe jumps they jump very high indeed this made Peter, Gloria and Victor all scatter in case she landed on them.

 
“That would be wonderful” cried Gillian “Venice looks so romantic, thank you Marty” and then she gave Marty a big kiss

 
“Oooh gross” moaned Victor which made everyone else laugh loudly.

 
Marty and Gillian then dashed off home to prepare for their great Venetian adventure.

 
The next morning as they arrived at the airport to catch their flight to Italy, Marty and Gillian were delighted to see that Peter, Gloria and Victor and also their good friends Emmanuelle (the farmer) and Moira (Emmanuelle’s girlfriend) had all turned up to wave them off.

 
“You have a wonderful time and bring me back something nice from Italy” said Gloria and she hugged Gillian’s neck

 
“And you be sure to look after yourself while I am gone, and don’t have that baby until I get back” replied Gillian

 
“Oh you don’t have to worry about that, I have still a few months to go yet” aid Gloria while rubbing her tummy with a very happy smile on her face

 
Marty and Gillian then left to catch their plane while their friends all shouted

 
“Kwaheri, kuwa na safari salama” (“Goodbye have a safe trip”) and waved them off.

 
It was a long flight to Marco Polo airport in Venice Italy, and Marty and Gillian were very pleased to get off the plane so they could stretch their long legs and necks.

 
“Mmm that’s better” mumbled Marty while Gillian squealed with excitement

 
“Oh I can’t believe I am in Italy the most romantic country in the world, this is so exciting”

 
“Yes” smiled Marty “we are sure to have an exciting adventure here”

 
After Marty and Gillian had booked into their hotel and unpacked their cases they set off to explore Venice.

 
Marty and Gillian walked down the footpath alongside the Canal Grande (Grand Canal) looking at the wonderful houses and were amazed by the small side canals where the water goes right up to the houses.

 
“Wow” exclaimed Gillian “you can only get to those houses by boat”

 
Then as some gondolas floated past Gillian got very excited, “can we go for a ride in one those?” she asked Marty.

 
“Of course we can, but first let’s go and get something to eat” replied Marty.

 
Marty and Gillian then when to a very nice restaurant in Piazza San Marco (St Mark’s square). The restaurant serves some of the most wonderful pasta dishes and pizzas but of course Marty and Gillian don’t eat this sort of food, so they just ordered two large plates of twigs and leafs.

 
After they had finished their lunch Marty and Gillian headed off to find somewhere that they could book a ride on a gondola.

 
They saw a spot on the Canal Grande where a lot of gondolas were moored and thought that this must be the pace where you can book a ride through the canals of Venice.

 
As they walked towards the gondolas Marty and Gillian watched as a lady carrying a baby climbed into a gondola when suddenly she slipped, dropped the baby into the gondola and fell into the canal, breaking the gondolas mooring as she fell.

 
As the lady splashed around in the water the gondola with the baby in it started to drift away down the canal.

 
“Aiuto! Help me! E aiutare il mio bambino” (“Help! Help me! And help my baby”) shouted the lady.


“I’ll get the baby” shouted Gillian and she ran off down the footpath to the nearest bridge across the canal.

 
While Gillian ran after the gondola, Marty stretched his long neck forward towards the canal and grabbed the ladies coat with his teeth and pulled her out of the canal.”

 
“Grazie! Grazie” (“Thank you! Thank you”) exclaimed the lady "Ma dove รจ il bambino? Aiutate il mio bambino” (“but where is my baby? Please help my baby”)

 
“Look” shouted a bystander “the other giraffe is going to save the baby”

 
Everyone looked where the bystander was pointing and there on the bridge stood Gillian and she was leaning right over so here head was nearly in the water and as the gondola with the baby in it passed underneath, Gillian gently grabbed the baby with her teeth and lifted her safely onto the bridge.

 
“Oh Grazie! Grazie” (“thank you thank you”) cried the lady as she ran to give hold her baby

 
Quite a crowd had gathered and they were all shouting that Marty and Gillian were heroes. But the gondolier was worried about his boat that was still drifting unmanned along the canal.

Marty knelt down and told the gondolier to jump on his back and off they ran after the gondola. With Marty’s long legs they soon got ahead of the gondola and they ran to another bridge across the canal and as the gondola passed underneath the gondolier leapt off Marty’s back into the gondola.

 
The gondoliers was so delighted with getting his gondola back that he offered to take Marty and Gillian for a free moonlight ride around Venice in his gondola, and the baby’s mother told Marty and Gillian that her husband runs the best restaurant in Venice and when they have finished their gondola trip they will be guests of honour at the restaurant and can have free food and drinks all night.

 
That evening Marty and Gillian had a wonderful gondola ride through the canals of Venice with the stars lighting up the night sky, Gillian cuddled into Marty on the boat and thought that this is the most romantic thing she has ever done.

 
Later as they were eating there dinner in the ladies husbands restaurant while being serenaded by a man playing a violin Gillian whispered into Marty’s ear

 
“Asante sana for bringing me to this most wonderful place, I do love being married too you Marty, because there always seems to be one adventure after another for

 
Marty and Gillian the motorcycling giraffes,

 

 

 

Wednesday 5 December 2012

No new adventures for a while, but watch out this Saturday (08/12/2012) for the next episode in the further adventures of Marty and Gillian the motorcycling giraffes, when Marty and Gillian take a trip to Venice

Friday 12 October 2012

The further adventures of Marty and Gillian Giraffe Story 6 Marty and Gillian and the lost giraffe



The further adventures of Marty and Gillian the motorcycling giraffes

Story 6 Marty and Gillian and the lost giraffe

It’s a lovely sunny Saturday morning in Nairobi and Marty and Gillian are out in their garden planting some trees.

“When these grow nice and tall they will provide us lots of twigs and leafs to eat” Said Marty

“Hmm I can’t wait, home grown food, you just can’t beat it” replied Gillian

All of a sudden a large white necked raven landed in their garden, carrying and envelope in his mouth.

The white necked raven put the envelope down and squawked

“Jambo, jina langu ni Wilfred na nina ujumbe muhimu kwa Marty twiga pikipiki” (“hello, my name is Wilfred and I have an important message for Marty the Motorcycling giraffe”)

“I am Marty the motorcycling giraffe” said Marty and he bent forward and picked the envelope up.

Marty opened the envelope and started to read the letter and as he did Marty started to go quite white (which is not a good colour for a giraffe) as the colour ran out of his face with shock.

“What is it Marty? Is it bad news?” asked Gillian

“Yes” replied Marty  “it’s from Geraldine (Marty’s sister), little Georgina (Marty’s niece) was told off for being naughty and now she has run away and she has been missing all night, and there are a lot of scary lions in the Masai Mara”

“Oh no we must go to the Masai Mara as quickly as possible and help find her”

“I have to go now” squawked Wilfred the white necked raven and he flew off into the sky

“Asante sana, kwahari” (“thank you and goodbye”) shouted Marty after him

“Come on lets go” shouted Marty as he leapt onto his motorcycle, so Gillian got on her motor scooter and off they zoomed towards the Masai Mara

Because Marty and Gillian ride their motorcycles so very fast, they soon arrived at the part of the Masai Mara where Marty’s relatives live.

The giraffes all looked very worried and Geraldine was crying and George (Geraldine’s husband and Marty’s brother in law) was trying to console her.

Gary (Marty’s brother) told them that Georgina has been missing since late last night and they searched everywhere for her

“She’s only a little giraffe and she has been out all night and the Masai Mara is so big with lots of scary lions in, we might never find her” wailed Geraldine

“Don’t worry love, Georgina is my little girl and I will find and I won’t let any scary lion get near her” said George

The giraffes agreed to split up and go looking for Georgina in different direction, but after couple of hours when they still haven’t found her, the giraffes met back at their usual spot.

“What are we going to do” asked a worried George.

“I have an idea” said Marty “remember my friend Peter had an idea to run air balloon safaris, well he still has his air balloon and if I go and ask him I am sure he will bring it here and fly above the ground and he may be able to spot Georgina from here”

“Great idea, now hurry up and fetch Peter” shouted Geraldine

So Marty jumped on his motorcycle and zoomed off back towards the big city of Nairobi.

The other giraffes waited anxiously and were delighted when it wasn’t that long before they heard the roar of Marty’s motorcycle approaching, following shortly behind by Peter, Gloria and Victor in Peter’s van

As soon as they arrived Peter and Victor go the hot air balloon out of the back of the hot air balloon and started to set it up.

Soon the balloon was fully inflated and Peter climbed into the basket.

“I’ll fly the balloon and tell Victor what I can see through our walkie talkie radios” said Peter

“You be careful in that balloon, lour baby will need his or her daddy when he or she arrives” said Gloria rubbing her tummy fondly.

The balloon started to rise into the air, and soon it was way above the giraffe’s head and looked like a tiny red dot on the clear blue Kenyan sky.

Everyone on the ground gathered round Victor’s walkie talkie radio listening for messages from Peter in the balloon. But sadly each message was just Peter saying that he hasn’t seen Georgina.

The suddenly with an excited crackle Peter shouted through the walkie talkie radio

“There she is, there she is!!! I can see her!!  She is down past some trees beside a small  river, she looks sad but she looks ok”  but then he added  “Oh no there are a bunch of hungry lions nearby, I’ll give you direction and you get hear as quick as possible”

Quick as a flash  Victor jumped in the van and started to speed across the Masai Mara with George, Marty and Gary chasing on behind.  Gillian and Geraldine stayed behind to look after Gloria as the Masai Mara is no place for a pregnant lady to be left on her own.

Victor weaved through the trees with the giraffes not far behind them and they quickly arrived at the little stream.

George saw the hungry lions and raced towards them kicking out his long legs and snorting

“You keep away from my little girl” and with Marty and Gary just behind them, the lions beat a hasty retreat, they will have to look somewhere else for their dinner today.

“Daddy, uncle Marty, Uncle Gary” shouted Georgina and she ran to the other giraffes “I’m sorry I was naughty and I am sorry I ran away, I was so scared”

“That’s alight little one” said George “you’re safe and sound now, let’s get you home to your mum”

By the time they got back to the giraffes; area Peter had already landed the air balloon and was starting to pack up.

Geraldine and Georgina were delighted to see each other and gave each other a big neck rub (which is the way giraffes hug)

Once Peter was fully packed up he told the giraffes that it was time for him, Gloria and Victor to go home.

“Asante sana for helping find my little girl” shouted Geraldine as they drove.

Marty and Gillian then said that they have to go and said kwahari (goodbye) to the giraffes and Marty said to Georgina

“You behave yourself now Georgina and stay with your family”

“I will I promise Uncle Marty” said Georgina

Marty and Gillian then got on their motorcycles and rode away towards their home in Nairobi to see what other adventures lie in store for

Marty and Gillian the motorcycling Giraffes

 


Sunday 30 September 2012

The further adventures of Marty and Gillian stroy 5 Marty and Gillian's new home



The further adventures of Marty and Gillian the motorcycling giraffes

Story 5.  Marty and Gillian’s’ new home.

Marty and Gillian are very busy today, as they are packing up everything they own in their little house in Nairobi as they are about to move to a new bigger house on the outskirts of town.

Marty was feeling a little sad as he loved his little house, but since he and Gillian got married, Marty had had to admit that the house just wasn’t big enough for two giraffes!!

The doorbell rang and Marty opened the door to find all their best friends, Peter and Gloria, Emmanuelle and Moira and Victor had turned up to help them move.

“I thought the move might be a little easier if we all helped” said Peter who added “and Mr Makushi is bringing a van from his yard to move all you belongings to your new house.”

The friends all worked very hard and soon all Marty and Gillian’s belongings were neatly packed into boxes and Mr Makushi arrived with a large van.

“Jambo everyone” shouted Mr Makushi “are you ready to load the van up”

Mr Makushi climbed into the back of the van and the rest, except for Gloria who is expecting baby soon and cannot lift heavy boxes, formed a line from the house to the van and passed all the boxes along to Mr Makushi who carefully loaded all the boxes into the van.

It didn’t take long to load the Mr Makushi’s van and what didn’t fit was put into Peter’s small van

So they all set off in a convoy, with Marty up front on his motorcycle followed by Emmanuelle and Moira on Emmanuelle’s motorcycle, Gillian on her lovely pink motor scooter and finally the two vans.

After a short drive they arrived at Marty and Gillian’s new house. It is a much bigger than their old house and had a lovely garden and a stream that ran through a gully on the side of the road.

Just as they arrived a thunder storm started and they had to unload all the boxes very quickly in the pouring rain, but because they were all working so hard it didn’t take them long to get everything unloaded.

Gloria made everyone some lovely smoothies to cool themselves down after working so hard.

 “Asante sana for the loan of the van” Marty said to Mr Makushi  “ when we have finished unpacking we care going to have a little house warming party with lovely smoothies and  some nice food to eat, you are more than welcome to stay and join in”

“Oh I’m too old for parties, and any way I have to get the van back to its yard” laughed Mr Makushi.

Mr Makushi climbed into the van and shouted “kwahari everyone see you at my yard next Friday” (Marty, Peter and Victor have a contract to clean Mr Makushi’s lorries and vans every Friday afternoon) and started to drive out of Marty’s garden.

But all of a sudden the van skidded on the wet surface and slipped down the gulley into the stream.

Every came running, to see if Mr Makushi was ok.

Mr Makushi climbed out of the van and shouted to everyone that he wasn’t hurt but will need a hand getting out of the gulley, so Marty go down on his front knees and leaned into the gully, Mr Makushi grabbed hold of Marty’s little horns and Marty pulled him out of the gulley.

“Now I have got to try get the van out of the gulley, I need that for a job tomorrow” said Mr Makushi with a worried look on his face, adding “Marty will you give me a lift back to the yard on your motorcycle and I will fetch a bigger van and some rope try and pull the van out”

So Marty and Mr Maksuhi headed off to the yard to get the bigger van, while the others started to unpack the boxes.

It didn’t take long to fetch the bigger vehicle ( a large truck with flatbed trailer), and Mr Makushi lined up the back of the truck up against the side of the gully and Peter tied one end of the rope to the bigger truck and Marty leaned into the gulley to tie the other end to the van. Mr Makushi turned on the engine of the big truck and slowly started to move it forward and the van started to rise up the gulley, but then there was a loud screech as the truck tyres stared to spin wildly in the muddy yard and van fell back into the gully and the truck started to slip towards the gully as well. Mr Makushi managed to stop the truck before it fell.

“This isn’t going to work” said Mr Makushi “and I can't afford to lose another vehicle down that gulley”

“I have an idea” said Marty and he whispered something in Mr Makushi’s ear,

“That might just work” replied Mr Makushi

“Come on lets go then” shouted Marty and jumped on to his motorcycle “we won’t be long” he shouted back to the others.

“You better not be just trying to get out of doing the unpacking” Gillian shouted at Marty and this made everyone laugh.

Marty rode off with Mr Makushi following behind in the flatbed truck.

The unpacking was just about finished when Marty and Mr Makushi arrived back at the house.

“Look who I have brought to help” shouted Marty pointing to the back off the flatbed truck, where a very nervous looking elephant was sat.

“Jambo Edward” shouted Gillian “I have not seen you for a long time”

“I have never been to the city before and I have never been on a truck either” trumpeted Edward “and it’s all a bit scary”

“We will make sure you’re ok” replied Marty and we are very glad that you could come and help”.

Edward the climbed down into the gully and got behind the van, he put his head down against the back of the van with his  tusks and trunk under the the bottom of the van and with a mighty trumpet he used his powerful muscles to slowly push the van out of the gulley and back onto the road”

“Hooray kwa Edward, nguvu zake mashujaa imekuokoa siku” (“hooray for Edward, his mighty strength has saved the day), shouted everyone.

This made Edward feel quite embarrassed

“I am just glad I could help” he mumbled

“Are you going to stay for the house warming part?” Gillian asked Edward

“I don’t think so” replied Edward “I don’t really like being in the city, so if Mr Makushi doesn’t mind I would like to go back home to the Masai Mara now”

“I will be happy to take you home, jump back on the truck” said Mr Makushi who added that he will be back first thing in the morning to pick up the van

Everyone shouted “kwahari” and waved Mr Makushi and Edward goodbye.

“And now it is time to start the party” shouted Moira

Marty smiled and turned to Gillian and said

“I think we are going to be very happy in our new home and we are sure to be able find lots more adventures for

Marty and Gillian the motorcycling giraffes


Saturday 1 September 2012

Further adventures of Marty and Gillian story 4 Marty and the big sharks


The further adventures of Marty and Gillian the motorcycling giraffes

 
Story 4 Marty and the big sharks

 
Marty and Gillian the motorcycling giraffes have decided to take a few days of from their jobs, Marty works for Peter Ngono as a window cleaner’s assistant and Gillian works for Peter’s wife Gloria on a smoothie bar in Nairobi, Kenya in East Africa.

 
They had decided to take a little holiday to the very bottom of Africa and visit the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa.

 
Marty and Gillian caught an aeroplane from Nairobi to Cape Town, it was quite a long flight and they wee very pleased when they landed so they could get of the aeroplane, as they were both feeling quite cramped as there is no a  lot of room on a an aeroplane for a giraffe’s long legs and neck.

 
Once they got through customs Marty and Gillian headed off to tour Cape Town.

 
Their first port of call was of course a motorcycle hire shop, where hey hired a large motorcycle and after a quick ride around the city’s streets they headed out towards the coast at the Cape of Good Hope.


It was a lovely ride down to the coast and they finally arrived and stopped at the top of a cliff.

Marty and Gillian got off the motorcycle and stared out across the Atlantic Ocean.

 
“Wow” said Marty “that is  a lovely view”

 
“Yes” replied Gillian “this would be a good place to set up camp for night”

 
So Marty got his small tent out of the back of the motorcycle and set it up on the edge of the cliff. And then went off to collect a big pile of twigs and leafs.

 
Marty and Gillian then sat on a cliff holding hoofs, chatting, eating the twigs and leafs as they watched the sun go down over the horizon of the ocean

 
As it was now dark Marty and Gillian got into their tent to sleep the night, but because they are so tall they both had to lie down with there heads and necks sticking out of the tent.

 
Gillian looked up at the stars in the night’s sky and whispered in Marty’s ear

 
“The stars looks so beautiful like diamonds twinkling in the sky, this is a very romantic adventure you have brought me on” and she gave Marty a big kiss, this made Marty smile.


In the morning Marty fetched some more twigs and leafs for their breakfast.

 
After breakfast Marty suggested that they go down to the beach to see what adventure they could find there.

 
As they walked along the beach they came across two men who seemed to be selling boa trips.

 
“Jambo” said Marty to the men “I am Marty the motorcycling giraffe, and this is Gillian my wife we are here on holiday form Kenya”

 
“Well hello” replied one of the men “I am Hector and this is Michael, and I must say we have a lot of giraffes in South Africa but I have never heard of a motorcycling giraffe, do all giraffes in Kenya ride motorcycles”.


“No” laughed Marty “Gillian an I are the only ones”

 
The men then told Marty and Gillian that they were selling boat trips out into the ocean where you can go cage diving to swim with great white sharks.

 
“Wow now that sounds like a great adventure” said Marty

 
“It sounds scary and dangerous” muttered Gillian.

 
Marty and Gillian agreed to go on the boat trip and Marty would do the cage diving but Gillian would just enjoy the boat trip.

 
A few minutes later they were both safely on the boat and heading put into the deep ocean. The sea was very rough and the big waves kept crashing into the boat make in rock about and everyone got on the boat got very wet.

 
“Wow this is very exciting” shouted Gillian

 
Soon they came to a calm bit of the Ocean. And Hector and Michael stopped the boat and downed the anchor.

 
“This is a good place to see sharks” said Hector.

 
Marty and Hector then put on wet suits (this is a very tough job for a giraffe) and then moved off the boat and climbed into the cage that hang from the side of the boat

 
“Kuwa makini Marty” (be careful Marty) exclaimed a rather nervous Gillian

 
“Hakuna Matata” laughed Marty in reply

 
With Hector and Marty safely in the cage Michael pressed the buttons to lower he cage into the ocean.

 
Marty and Hector were not under the water long before los of fish of all different sizes, shapes and colours came swimming up to the cage, then all of a sudden the fish swam away very quickly and a second later Marty could see why.

 
Two very large great white sharks swam into view and soon they became very interested in the cage. They swam right up to the bars showing their large teeth and scary dark eyes.

 
“I think they want to eat us” shouted Marty excitedly.

 
Soon it was time for Marty and Hector to go back to the boat so Michael raised the cage out of the ocean and Marty and Hector climbed back on to the boat.


“Wow that was an amazing adventure” shouted Marty as he pulled off his wet suit.

 
“I am just glad you are out safe and sound” smiled Gillian.

 
Hector then said that it was time to go back to the shore and he raised the anchor and took the wheel of the boat to turn it round to head back to land.

 
But as the boat turned to go hit side on by a very big wave that rocked the boat violently and suddenly a large splash was heard.  Michael had been knocked over board

 
Michael tried to swim back to the boat but the wave had pushed the boat quite a ling way from where he had fallen in. And behind him two shark fins could be seen sticking out of the water.

 
“We have to get Michael out of the water quickly, or the sharks will have him for dinner” shouted Hector

 
They threw ropes to Michael and stretched out to get him, but they couldn’t reach Michael.

 
“I know” said Marty, “if I stand on the cage and stretch my neck I may be able to reach Michael”

 
“Good Idea” said Hector.

 
So Marty climbed onto the cage, but he didn’t feel very safe as it ricked about on the side of the boat

 
“Kuwa makini Marty” shouted Gillian

 
“Hold on to my tail” shouted Marty

 
So Gillian stretched her neck over the side of the boat to the cage and caught hold of Marty’s tail with her teeth.  Marty then stretched his neck don into the ocean and grabbed Michael by the scruff of his neck and pulled him out of the water, just in time as on of the sharks leapt out of the water to try and bite.

 
Back on the boat Michael was very grateful to Marty and Gillian for saving him and told them that they could have a free boat trip any time they were in South Africa.

 
They soon got the boat back to the coast and it was soon time for Marty and Gillian to get back on their hired motorcycle and head back to Cape Town to cath an aeroplane back home to Nairobi in Kenya.

 
“Kwahari” shouted Marty and Gillian as they rode off towards Cape Town

 
“Well that was an exciting trip” exclaimed Marty, but I will be glad to get home to see what more adventures are in store for

 
Marty and Gillian the motorcycling Giraffes

Friday 10 August 2012




The further adventures of Marty and Gillian the motorcycling giraffes



Story 3 A very busy day at for Gillian and Gloria at the Smoothie bar

Marty and Gillian (the motorcycling giraffes) are up and out of bed early this morning as they both have busy days ahead of them. Marty in his job as a window cleaner’s assistant and Gillian in her job at Gloria’s smoothie bar.
After a quick breakfast (twigs and leafs of course) they set out for work, Marty on his very fast motorcycle and Gillian on her pink motor scooter.
They rode together for a while, until Gillian reached Gloria’s smoothie store on the edge of Uhuru Park, Gillian stopped her scooter and waved to Marty as he rode off towards Peter’s window cleaning yard.
Gloria had already set up the store for the day and greeted Gillian with a big smile.
“Someone looks very pleased with themselves this morning” said Gillian
“Yes” said Gloria (who is expecting her first baby) “I felt the baby move for the first time this morning”
“Aww that’s wonderful” replied Gillian
“And not only that, I had a call from my friend William who is a safari guide and it would seem that the word has got around about a giraffe serving smoothies and now all the safari guides want to bring their tourists here for a smoothie before they take them out to the game reserves, we are going to be very busy” Gloria told Gillian
“That is exciting do you think we will be able to cope with all the extra work”
“I hope so” said Gloria “it would be nice to make this smoothie bar a really successful business, Peter would be very proud of me”
“Peter is all ready proud of you, especially with you expecting your first child together”
The first customers of the day started to arrive, most of them being Gloria and Gillian’s regular customers, busy Nairobi residents on their way to work. But it wasn’t long before the first bus load of tourists arrived.
All the tourists got very excited about trying all the lovely different exotic flavours of smoothie on sale and even more excited by being served by a giraffe. Many of the tourists asked t have their photographs taken while being served by Gillian.
“You becoming a bit of a superstar” laughed Gloria “perhaps we should charge for photographs as well as smoothie, we would be come very rich”
This made Gillian blush and laugh at the same time
All through the day the bus loads of tourists kept arriving with people coming form all over the world wanting to buy a smoothie and to be served by a giraffe.
Later in the afternoon Gloria called to Gillian that they might have a problem.
“Our regular customer will be finishing work soon and will want to buy smoothies on their way home and we are running out of fresh fruit to make the smoothies”
“Well I could ride my motor scooter to Emmanuelle’s farm and see what fruit he can sell me if you think this would help” offered Gillian
“Oh no” replied Gloria “I don’t think I could manage on my own, in fact I am feeling quite tired already”
Well you had better sit down and take a little rest then” said Gillian “and while your sitting down you should ring Peter and tell him to give Marty some time off from window cleaning to go to Emmanuelle’s farm to collect some fruit for us”
“Good idea” smiled Gloria and phoned Peter straight away.
As soon as Peter finished talking to Gloria he shouted to Marty,
“Marty, you have to take the rest of the day off and ride to Emmanuelle’s farm to collect some fruit for Gloria and Gillian, me and Victor will get the rest of the windows clean.
“Ok boss” shouted Marty and he put down the buckets of soapy water he was carrying and jumped on his motorcycle to head off to the farm.
Because his motorcycle goes so very fast it didn’t take Marty long before he arrived at Emmanuelle’s farm
“Jambo Emmanuel, habari gani” said Marty
“Nzuri sana” replied Emmanuel “Peter let me know you were coming and I have lots of bananas and mangos for you to collect, Gillian and Gloria should be able to make lots of smoothies with this lot.”
“I hope so” said Marty “they have become so busy they can’t keep up with demand”
“Mmm maybe I could help” said a voice from behind Marty.
Marty turned around to see Moira, Emmanuelle’s friend form Mombasa beach, smiling at him.
“Yes” shouted Emmanuelle “what a good idea, Moira is moving to the Nairobi area so that we can see more of each other and needs a job”.
“Well that’s great,” said Marty “you can come back with me and help out with the evening rush”
So Marty, Emmanuelle and Moira tied all the bananas and mangos to Marty’s motorcycle and the Marty go on the motorcycle with Moira sat behind him an off they went back to Nairobi
“Kwahari Emmanuelle” shouted Marty and Moira.  Moira also blew Emmanuelle a little kiss that made him smile.
It wasn’t long before Marty and Moira arrived at the smoothie bar in Uhuru Park in Nairobi
"I have brought the fruit and also brought some extra help”
“Jambo Gillian and Gloria” said Moira as she waved from the back of Marty’s motorcycles.
Gloria and Gillian were delighted to see Moira again and soon all three of them were working hard making smoothies for the evening rush
The three ladies sold lots of smoothies during the evening rush hour and were quite exhausted by the time the last customer left, at about the same time Peter and Victor arrived in Peter’s van and just behind them Emmanuelle came roaring up on his motorcycle.
“Well the whole gangs here” smiled Gloria and we have just enough smoothies left for one each
So Marty, Gillian, Peter, Gloria , Victor, Emmanuelle and Moira all sat on the grass, in the late evening Nairobi sunshine drinking lovely ice cold smoothies and chatting about all the exciting things that were happening in their lives, especially Moira moving to the Nairobi area and what it will be like when Peter and Gloria’s baby arrives.
And Marty thought to himself that with all these good friend around them there is sure to be lots more adventures for
Marty and Gillian the motorcycling giraffes.












Saturday 28 July 2012

The further adventures of Marty and Gillian story 2 Alfred the angry antelope


The further adventures of Marty and Gillian the motorcycling giraffe

Story 2 Alfred the very angry antelope

Marty and Gillian the motorcycling giraffes have a few days off from work (Marty works as a window cleaners assistant in the big African city of Nairobi and Gillian works at her friends smoothie bar in Uhuru park also in Nairobi), so they have decided to ride to the Masai Mara to visit their family and friends there.

So Mary climbed on his Motorcycle and Gillian sat upon her pink  motor scooter, as they got ready for the trip.

“Now don’t you whizz off too quickly and leave me behind” said Gillian “you know my little scooter won’t go as fast as your motorcycle”

“I promise I will ride alongside you all the way” laughed Marty. “You’d better” replied Gillian rather sternly.

And off they went, riding through the busy streets of Nairobi, until they reached the outskirts of town and then out into the long dusty roads through the Kenyan countryside towards the Masai Mara

Despite having to go a little slower than normal it didn’t take then that long before they arrived at the Masai Mara and to the spot where the other giraffes liked to go to eat the tasty leaves at the top of the tallest trees.

Marty and Gillian parked their motorcycles under a large baobab tree, so they would stay nice and sheltered from the hot sun and started walking towards the other giraffes. Quite near the giraffes stood a herd of antelopes, but one antelope was not with the rest of the heard instead he was stood in between two umbrella acacia trees, moaning and mumbling to himself and occasionally charging forward and smashing his head into one or other of the trees.

“Are you alright? You’ll give yourself a headache if you keep doing that” asked Gillian as they walked past the antelope.

“Hmmph” replied the antelope grumpily “what’s it to you, mind your own business”

“Hey!!” shouted Marty “don’t speak to my wife like that, she is only trying to help”

“Just leave me alone” snapped back the antelope

“Come one Marty lets go and leave this misery guts alone” said Gillian

So they wandered away towards there friends and family leaving the antelope to carry on angrily banging his head against the tree over and over again.

The giraffes were delighted to see Marty and Gillian, especially little Georgina who was always excited to see her uncle Marty.

“I see you met Alfred the very angry antelope” sighed Geraldine (Marty’s sister)

“Yes, what is the matter with him?” replied Gillian

“Oh you should just ignore him. Every one else does, even the other antelopes do. Alfred is always in a bad mood” exclaimed Gary (Marty’s brother).

Marty and Gillian spent the rest of the day with George, Geraldine, Gary and of course little Georgina giraffes, just having a good chat while eating the leaves and twigs from the top of the tall trees.

The Masai Mara giraffes were very interested in hearing about Marty and Gillian’ honeymoon and about how Gillian was settling into living in the big city as well as her new job in Gloria’ smoothie bar.

“I hope that brother of mine is treating you well” said Geraldine.

“Oh he has been lovely” replied Gillian with a coy smile.

Gillian then called to Marty (who was playing some silly games with little Georgina) that it was getting late and they had better think about heading off back home to Nairobi.

“Kwahari, come back and visit soon” Shouted Gary, George, Geraldine and Georgina, as Marty ad Gillian walked off towards the Baobab tree where they parked their motorcycle and past Alfred the angry antelope who was still in the same place, and still muttering angrily and slamming his head against a tree over and over again

“You’ will really give yourself a nasty headache, if you don’t stop doing that” said Gillian softly

Alfred stopped banging his head against the tree and looked up at Gillian and said

 “You would bang your head with frustration to, if you were stuck here being a boring antelope all day. I mean we just stand around eating grass, looking out for lions and showing off to human tourists”

“And you don’t like doing that?” replied Gillian

“Well its so boring” explained Alfred “I want to exciting things, like sub aqua diving”

“Sub aqua diving?” asked Gillian

“Yes I read about it a magazine that a tourist dropped out of a bus, it looks so much fun, but antelopes can’t do things like that! It’s not fair” replied Alfred who then turned away to start banging his head against the tree again.

“You know you could do sub aqua diving if you really wanted to” said Marty

On hearing this Alfred stopped banging his head against the tree looked up suspiciously and said

“How can an antelope go sub aqua diving”

“Well” replied Marty “Gillian and I are giraffes and we ride motorcycles and live in the big city. And I have had adventures all very the world and have met a Kayaking monkey in Zambia, a paragliding llama in Peru, a snow boarding Yak in the Himalayas , a motorcycling kangaroo in Australia and a trucking moose in Canada. If these animals can follow their dreams so can you”

“That’s all very well but I don’t even live near a river, lake or the sea, how can I go sub aqua diving” said a very sad looking Alfred

“We still have a few days before we need to go back to work” said Gillian “if you get on the back of Marty’s motorcycle we could take you to Mombasa beach, where you could learn to sub aqua dive”

“Well I could, but I have never been on a motorcycle before” replied Alfred

“You’ve never sub aqua dived before, come on jump on there’s a first time for everything” laughed Marty

“OK I will do it” shouted Alfred, and he climbed onto the back of Marty’s motorcycle.

“Hang on tight I go pretty fast” said Marty as they started to ride away form the Masai Mara with Gillian following behind on her pink Motor scooter

It was a long ride to Mombasa beach and as it was very dark they only had the bright lights of the motorcycles headlamps and the stars to see by. On arriving at Mombasa all three of them were quite tired so they parked the motorcycles and walked down to the each where they settled down for a little sleep under a coconut tree,

When they woke up the beach was quite busy will lots of tourists sunbathing on the beautiful whites sands and swimming in the deep blue ocean.

“Come on” said Marty “if we walk along the beach we should be able to find Sammy the sub aqua man”

So Marty, Gillian and Alfred stared to walk along the beach ait it dint take long before they came across a rather glum looking Sammy

“Jambo Sammy habari gani?” (“Hello Sammy how are you?”)

“Jambo Marty, I have not see you for a long time” replied Sammy who added “my business is not doing so well, all the tourists seem to ant to do is lie on the beach or splash in the sea, no one seems to want to learn to go diving these days”.

“Well I have brought a customer for you” said Marty and introduced Alfred to Sammy and told him all about Alfred’s dream to become a sub aqua diving antelope.

“Well I can teach you” said Sammy

The sub aqua lesson seemed to go on for a long time, and at last Sammy turned to Alfred and said

“Right now it time for you go diving”

This made Alfred very happy and he quickly climbed into Sammy’s boat and off they went to do some diving in the deep ocean.

Alfred dived into and swam down to the coral reef, where he cloud see all sorts of different fish

“This is so wonderful” thought Alfred to himself.

Alfred and Sammy stayed in the water for hours, but eventually it was time to go back to the beach, so they climbed back into the boat and set off for the shore.

As they reached the beach, Sammy saw that there was a large crowd standing by his sub aqua store, so he quickly tied up his boat and ran to his store.

“What’s going on” asked Sammy

“Well” replied Marty “all these people were amazed to see an antelope in sub aqua gear, that they all watched you two go diving and it looked like so much fun, that they all want to have a go”

“Well that’s marvellous” stated Sammy “but I can’t teach al these people all on my own”

“I can help” shouted Alfred “now that I can dive, I don't really want to go back to the Masai Mara, I would rather stay here and work for you”

“Well then you are hired” laughed Sammy

Alfred turned to Marty and Gilliam and said

“Asanta sana Marty asante sana Gillian, I am so happy that you showed me dreams can come true, and now I don’t have to be Alfred the angry antelope anymore, I am now Alfred the (sub) aqua diving antelope”

This made everyone laugh.

“Its time for me and Gillian to head back to Nairobi, kwahari everyone” said Marty and he and Gillian walked off down the beach to their motorcycle and motor scooter, climbed on and started the long ride back to Nairobi while wondering what more adventures might lie in store for

Marty and Gillian the motorcycling giraffes.