A TV first (for me)

I'm used to seeing people I know on television (I had a peripheral role in the music industry for about 4 years); they crop up occasionally. However, what I experienced last night as I casually switched on the TV was slightly unnerving; the first time I saw somebody I know being portrayed on television - by Kim Basinger no less!

I swiftly realised I was watching a film adaptation of "I Dreamed of Africa". I've never read the book, but I know the story. I went to school with the daughter of the author, the Italian-Kenyan Kuki Gallman, a kind of late-late-colonial period Karen Blixen. It was strange seeing places I had been to (Baringo, Laikipia, her house!!) recreated on screen and watching an actress as well known as Kim Basinger taking the place of a real person. The phrase "art imitating life" never felt so apt.

We didn't watch to the end. I know the story and it's pretty tragic; we left at the point where they were one happy family, Kuki pregnant with my erstwhile classmate Sueva.