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