A DAY IN LAGOS

                                                 

I woke up early today (saturday) because I had somewhere to be by 9.00am and it wasn’t around my area. By 7.30am I had left the house. While leaving the compound, I saw people washing cars(which is a normal routine in most homes.) I greeted the people I met on my way out and I headed for the streets. While walking down the road, I saw some cute people (in the ajebo sense) doing their early morning exercises, some were walking others were jogging…anything to strengthen their muscles so they can keep fit. I know a lot of people who don’t even know that exercise is good for the body ,they just feel it’s a lot of stress. I smiled at them (like I was happy for them) and I headed to the bus-stop. I got to the bus-stop and luckily for me, the bus arrived almost immediately like it had been waiting for me. I got into the bus hoping the driver would move fast so I could get to my destination on time but oh no, It’s like someone told him I was in a hurry and he decided to delay me(at least thats the way I see it.) I noticed that each time we got to a bus-stop , he would stop so he could get more passengers. That is not a crime but there were about 4 other bus conductors all screaming the same route, as if that is not bad enough there was no passenger in sight!  Well I got to my bus-stop in time though and it was time for me to jump a bike (a.k.a okada). I told the bike man where I was going to and when he told me the amount I had to “PRICE” it (call me an ijebu woman if you like…I don’t care). After our little argument, we reached a mutual amount. The way he was riding(I think it was anger) I just had to put my life in God’s hands. After all this, I reached my destination and on time too…YAY!!!!. I did my business and was out by 11:45a.m.

                I was back to my “pricing” tactics because I had to jump a bike,,,again. We did not argue too much this time so, I got on the bike. This time the ride was okay, and I reached my bus-stop safely. I looked for my next bus, I saw it and I boarded it. It took a long time for the bus to full and I could not help but notice all the people that surrounded the bus. We had people selling their wares which included toothbrushes, herbal medicines, books, e.t.c. and at cheap prices too. Also we had beggars around and  each one had his/her problem. They kept on asking for money and some people gave them but they still remained there till our bus moved. The road was a bit free so I enjoyed the ride. Lagos really is a beautiful place (if you live on the island though), I marveled at the paved and smooth roads as I remembered the “former” Lagos. In the past if an accident doesn’t claim your car, then the roads will because with the kind of potholes on the road then, your tyres were history. Time went by and the next thing I knew, I had reached the bus-stop.

 I had to get another bus that would take me to my house. While the conductor was calling passengers to board the bus, I was looking around because traffic had started to build. There was this bus driver who dropped his passengers in front of the road and even started calling a new set of passengers! He stopped the people plying that route just so he could get passengers. The vehicle he was obstructing had to horn for a very long time before the driver could move(pretty sad). We started moving and I was happy. The man sitting next to me in the bus just killed my joy (literally). The seat was meant for three people but “my guy” didn’t see it that way. He sat and spread his legs (like he had some shares in the bus) thereby making me uncomfortable. I had to move to another seat. The bus moved on slowly because of the traffic and so, I had to feed my eyes. The lady sitting in front of me had the most flawless make up ever. it was a bit heavy but She looked pretty. I could not help but wonder how she would maintain it with the heat and all the sweat *sigh*.

Next up were two ladies I saw at the bus-stop. They had the same material of clothing  and then I remembered the  OWAMBE which is very synonymous with Lagos. You really can’t separate one from the other. As the journey continued I saw more of them , mostly in groups with their gele (head gear), iro (blouse) and buba (wrapper). I even had one of them in the bus with me. She tried to stay away from the window because she didn’t want the wind to spoil her gele. She wasn’t even sure about the wedding venue because she had to call someone in the bus to direct her. All that was important to her was that she would attend the wedding come rain, come sun.

I couldn’t see stuff anymore because I had reached my bus-stop. I reached home and had my well deserved siesta. After looking back at all I had gone through today, I have nothing to say except……… EKO O NI BAJE!!