Katie and her mental meanderings

I think I had vaguely heard of Elaine Stritch before but just listened to a fabulous interview with her on Radio 4’s Front Row. She is, as my grandparents would have said, a pistol.

Her voice and accent are incredibly similar to my grandmother’s – I may just think this because I have not known a lot of older ladies from the Northeast of the US – but it certainly brings her back. My grandmother would have been 100 this year.

Ten years ago today bomb blasts hit both Nairobi and Dar-es-Salaam.

I had spent July 4th that year at the US Marine club in Dar, just round the corner from the embassy. Casualties were few in Dar, as the embassy was more isolated and had been a former Israeli embassy so was very well fortified. In Nairobi over 200 people died and thousands were injured, as the embassy was right down town and next to some office buildings. There was understandable resentment as ambulances were held up and people were prevented from moving around the area and the feeling is that casualties need not have been nearly as high, and that victims were badly treated later.