Welcome to Langalanga! Where the gate yells at you before you get home

Let's talk about gate notices, which in my opinion have become something of a nuisance. Now, don’t get me wrong; notices are important.

They inform and warn, and sometimes they do both in Comic Sans. But surely there must be a way to convey information without turning the gate into a chaotic art gallery.

Most apartment gates in Langalanga and Racecourse estates look as though they’ve been hit by a confused marketing tornado.

You’ll find everything from rent reminders to angry warnings about littering, not to mention the giant cockroach photo advertising fumigation services.

Really? As if people don't already scream when they see one in real life! Now they must confront it at the gate while fumbling for their keys.

Then there's the ongoing poster turf war. Network service providers have turned these gates into battlegrounds. One company puts up a shiny poster, only for a rival to plaster it over in their fight for dominance, poster by poster.

Meanwhile, some caretakers have just given up entirely. No design. No formatting. Just a message scribbled on plain A4 paper, like a forgotten school assignment, "Don't forget rent by the 5th. Management." slapped on the gate with tape that peels off by lunchtime.

Kamau Njoroge, a caretaker from Racecourse, thinks it's all perfectly fine.

"I don’t live in the apartment. If I’m not around to answer questions, at least the gate can do it for me," he says.

He does admit, though, that not all posters deserve the spotlight. But, he says, some of the people putting them up are friends of the tenants. It's advantageous to have someone living in the apartment who decides to put up a poster.

And what about digital solutions? Kamau isn’t convinced. “What would warrant a WhatsApp group? Most issues are dealt with personally,” he says.

Over in Langalanga, caretaker Kelvin Andanyi is firmly in team poster's corner. According to him, the gates serve not only as message boards, but also as rule enforcers.

“Most posters are warnings,” he says. "Don't litter. Pay rent. Close the gate.” They're practically the commandments of apartment living.

Kelvin reasons that many tenants leave early or return late, which makes it difficult to inform them of changes. So, putting up a notice on the gate is easier.

However, if caretakers truly want peace and order, as well as a visually appealing gate, perhaps a shared WhatsApp group or a designated noticeboard would be helpful.

After all, we want the entrance to scream "Welcome home", not "Want to get rid of cockroaches and bedbugs?"