I lived next door to him. Young chap, white sneakers, blinking studs on earlobes. He was a clothes horse, a very trendy bugger. I could often hear when he came home with his girlfriend in the small hours of the morning.
If I stayed really still and held my breath, and my bedroom window was open, I could hear her sigh. Or giggle. Or tell him, ‘stoop!”
For the longest time, we only nodded at each other wherever we ran into each other, like typical neighbours in the 21 Century. Then Covid happened and we started talking.
One day he told me that he was planning on opening a bar. I said, 'Oh yeah, have a name in mind?' He said, “The bar next door.” I said, 'What bar next door?' He said, “That's the name, The Bar Next Door.” I said, 'Yeah, that’s catchy.
He launched it and the bar just became phenomenal, some sort of pop culture. A place where cool kids hang their coats and those who missed their cool years found reprieve by being so close to the warming fire of cool.
It was going so swimmingly well, having seemingly cracked the recipe of Nairobi’s night culture. Things happened; his girlfriend moved abroad, he lost his job, he moved out, and I moved out.
Then he sent one of those WhatsApp posters that a Bar Next Door was opening on Kiambu Road, right on the Northern bypass. I drove down last week.
It’s in a big container-like warehouse, a monstrosity of hedonism. Reminded me of Noah’s Ark, if Noah threw mad parties. There was a packed seating downstairs and a long lounge-ish upstairs seating.
The poster had invited people to go “test their systems.” Well, their sound system was off. It sounded like music in a pot. I’m sure they will fix that.
The place got hot at some point, enough for your forehead to perspire with beads of sweat, then it got a bit cool, then it got hot, then cool.
I ordered their pork and traditional vegetables which were fantastic. When driving out at 11 pm, a line of vehicles were jammed at the entrance about to come in.
It seemed it was about to go apeshit in a bit. The Northern Bypass was a mess. I thought, “This guy sure has the midas touch.”
