A doctor was driving on the main Muthaiga Road, Nairobi, rushing to hospital on September 1, at 9am, when, as he approached the American Ambassador's residence, he saw an askari (watchman) holding a red signboard, saying "STOP".

He stopped, and so did the cars behind him. The traffic on the other side was stopped, too. In minutes, the ambassador drove out in his official car.

The askari (watchman) turned the signboard's green side that said, "GO". He poses: "Is this a part of the diplomatic privileges?"

Top on his list of shame, he adds, is the two-kilometre stretch of Mombasa highway from the Namanga junction to the fast-growing Mlolongo township, and the dirt road between Denis Pritt Road at Kilimani and Nyeri Road at Kileleshwa in Nairobi.

A real coup for Libya's maverick leader Muammar Gaddafi, according to Mwaura Muthinja, was to get the equally colourful Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi to publicly acknowledge the atrocities and excesses his country committed during its colonisation of the North African nation.

Mwaura adds: When will the British Government acknowledge the cruelty it subjected Kenyans to in the past and offer an apology and compensation?"

While Nairobi City Council is giving many other roads a face-lift, there isn't any activity on the thoroughfare to Eastlands, Jogoo Road, Daniel Mweu moans.

A regular user of the road that carries the bulk of the traffic to the densely populated part of the metropolis, Daniel says it's today one hell of a bumpy mess, with lousy patch-works in some places and badly eroded sections crying out for attention.

Embu town must rank among the dustiest provincial headquarters, says Kimani Njogu. The Eastern provincial headquarters, he adds, trails Meru and Machakos on the state of roads in the town centre.

"It's common to see clouds of dust hovering over the town to the dismay of local residents and visitors. This has been made worse by the appalling section from the stage for Nairobi-bound matatus up to Meru road. Who will save the people?" he wonders.

Going for three months without running water in an urban area is not a joke, but it's precisely what has been happening to the residents of Menengai Court in Greenfields Harambee Sacco estate in the Eastlands, says Judy Runo.

Ironically for Judy and her neighbours, water reaches the estate's main supply but not their court. She wants the Nairobi Water Company to send its technicians to the estate to identify and fix the problem so they can enjoy the convenience of having water in their taps.

A new residential flat that has just come up in Kayole, PN reports, has five pubs that engage in the cut-throat competition of playing the loudest music possible.

"And the men and women patronising the pubs behave badly and use all manner of vulgar language, yet we're trying to raise our children well, just a few metres away. The police know about this but won't do a thing. I'm sure this would never be tolerated in upmarket Nairobi!"

Have a sober day, won't you!