When Lucy was given her friend’s metallic blue Nissan Note to ‘baby sit’ for a few days, she was excited.

Now, driving the car had never been an issue for her.

Lucy's problem was the pillars at her apartment’s parking lot that she needed to navigate every morning.

Fortunately, Charles, the caretaker was always prompt to help out.

He would give orders, “kata ifi…apana rutisha miguu…sasa kucha,” in heavy Kisii accent and every time it would work.

But on that fateful morning, Charles was replaced by a young guy who didn’t seem that confident.

“It didn’t bother me. I thought, Kwani how hard can it be to navigate a car?” she says.

So in she went. Ignition on, car on reverse. After numerous failed attempts at reversing out of the apartment, Lucy decided to drive forward through two pillars straight ahead.

In her rough estimation, the car would easily squeeze through them.

“At first, it seemed like it was working until I realized wait, I’m not moving. So I ask this guy if I should continue driving forward and he says eeeh madam kuja tu,” she recalls.

It was the sound of metal scratching on stone that made her stop and get out to assess the situation. The car was damaged on the sides and had licked up some of the yellow paint on the pillars.

“I felt like crying. This guy had now walked away to the gate leaving me hapo like nothing happened,” she laments.

She resorted to calling a friend who luckily had not left for work yet.

“He had to physically move the car up and down to detach it from the pillars. You could see how hard he was trying not to laugh,” Lucy says amidst laughter.

She says she had to part with a few thousands to repair the damage. Luckily, the car owner was understanding.

“Now that I plan to get my own car, at least I know not to drive through pillars,” she adds.

A girl, a Nissan note and pillars

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Mtaa Wangu Reporter