UK live!

Hei, who is going to save us from this delicacy?  For those who don’t know “okporoko” or “panla” as yorubas call it, is stock fish and it is an expensive but popular delicacy in the south western and south eastern parts of Nigeria.

Unfortunately, its popularity does not seem to be catching on with my Polish housemate, and understandably so. The smell! Ok, I can’t be complaining about the smell of stockfish, but this particular one that one of my Ibo housemates has can smellllllllll!

I was in the kitchen trying to rustle up something and I just couldn’t get past the smell. I couldn’t lay my finger on what was smelling but it was a bad odour. So when the Polish girl came, I asked her if she could smell it too, just to be sure it wasn’t my nose acting up. “Yeah”, she said; “it’s so bad it puts you off your food, right?”  I couldn’t agree more.

Together, we launched a search for the “thing” responsible for this offensive smell.  ”You don’t think it’s stockfish?” she asked. “No, of course not” I retorted. How can this bad smell be our sweet delicacy? Soon, the second Ibo guy joins us and says he’s also been trying to locate the source of the smell all morning. We opened the fridge, freezer, oven, grill; there it was! “Oh”, says the guy, “it must be the okporoko these guys cooked last night!”  Martha said, that’s stockfish isn’t?  She didn’t need further translation to know what okporoko meant in English.

“Could you please ask him not to cook it again?’ The Nigerian guy and I burst into laughter. She joins in our laughter; “it’s too much. Where does he get them from? Did he buy a fresh supply?”

Don’t be surprised if a notice soon pops up in the kitchen saying: “Please DO NOT cook Stockfish in this kitchen. Thank you for your cooperation.”

Lol………….

Yesterday, I went to watch Sherlock Holmes at the cinema with  some friends.  The movie was nice, but it was the whole being together thingy that was really enjoyable.

We were taking some pictures and generally having a good laugh when the cinema security came to warn us that it was a greivous offence to take pictures inside the cinema. He said it carries a penalty of up to 150 years in jail! Haba, what would they give a murderer then, 1000 years? Lol.

Anyway, we were not about to find out if he was bluffing or not, so we tucked our cameras away. Better safe than sorry!

So I’ve got only a few pictures to share with you here…….

Hey people! Long time no see. Or is it long time no write? It’s good to be free from exams. How beautiful life is without them………………

I’m in the mood for merriment. In short I’m high (but not on drugs, lol). After many weeks of anxiety and exam fever and all, It’s finally over.  Even though second semester starts next week, right now I can’t be bothered. I’m back on yahoo chat, facebook chat, freewire, skype, everything.  Bring it on, folks.

And for the weekend, it’s London all the way.  I deserve the rest,  don’t you think so?  Besides, someone is coming to town……………….That’s another reason why I’m so excited. Yay!

So, welcome back to moi. Hope you missed me……….

P.S. Guys, it won’t hurt to try and get to know your partners well before walking down the aisle. I mean, it’s a whole lifetime ahead, so why rush?  Just a thought……

Whoever says there’s no God should go and read about Elisabeth Joassint. Seven days after the earthquake in Haiti, the three- week old baby was brought out of the debris of her parents’ house in alive! That is nothing short of a miracle. News reports say her father died in the sad incident but her mother is alive, thankfully. Even in the midst of sorrow, God still gives us cause to thank HIM.

Which brings me to the man-made disaster in my home-country, Nigeria. While the whole world is reeling from the shock of the natural devastation in Haiti, Nigeria thrust itself in the news again. Jos again! Various news sources claim that hundreds of people have died from the religious crisis that broke out in the northern city. So many needless deaths.  Nigeria, why?

Meanwhile, the ongoing song about the absence of the president, and with him, leadership direction to tackle these issues, have now reached a crescendo.  Many Nigerians living in UK braved the freezing weather a few days ago, to stage a peaceful protest in London.  Apart from not wanting to dance in the cold, some others, like me, failed to see the point of it all. Maybe we are pessimists. Maybe, something will come out of it. The party has spread to Lagos and other places too. Let’s hope it yields fruitful results.

I’ve been getting some very interesting mails on the issue of whether Nigeria would have been better off if the British had remained in control.  Not a single person affirmed the premise. Neither do I.  A people are ultimately better off free than as captives in a gilded cage. But then, self leadership doesn’t seem to be getting us anywhere does it?  A friend went to see his personal tutor recently and the first thing the man asked him was; “what is wrong with Nigeria?” The man just couldn’t understand why the country wasn’t progressing.  Neither do we, professor.

Well, this is UK Live not Nigeria Live, right? Right. Catch some air. Wish me luck in my exams……………….

The last time I wrote an exam was six years ago. So I don’t know if this is some form of exam fever, but there seems to be a disconnect between my body and other parts of me. Like now, I should be sleeping, but my body just refuses to shut down. And I am very tired, my mind is saying ’sleep’ but the body is not listening.  Or maybe it’s the mind that’s actually not letting go.  Too many things going through my head now, too many worries.  It’s not funny.

By the way, aid has been pouring in for the people of Haiti, especially from celebrities in the United States of America. Sandra Bullock donated $1 million, Madonna; $250,000, Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie have also pledged $1 million, among numerous others.  With varying estimates of 100, 000 to 150,000 people dead and millions displaced; houses and hospitals destroyed, Haitians need all the help they can get. Above all, they need God’s help to see them through this. I ask again, how is it that the poorest country in the Americas got that raw a deal? Only God knows why.

Please assist the relief efforts in whichever way you can. www.yele.org is the website run by Wyclef Jean and he’s collecting donations for his country through it. There are numerous other organizations such as Doctors without Borders working tirelessly to help Haiti cope with this disaster.  Please look up the different aid organizations and make a donation. It could be something as small as the money you’d use to top up your phone. Yeah, that could feed a homeless child in Haiti who is wandering the streets trying to find his family amid the rubbles.

Please do something….

Finally, the gritting of the roads reached Hamilton Drive today and cars are now able to move around safely.  So I was able to go to school today for the first time this year; happy new year Uni, lol.

Walking around around campus today, I couldn’t help but note the incredible amount of hard work that some people must have put into making the paths and roads safe for us to walk on. Between last night and now, virtually all the roads, paths and walk ways had been literally cleared of snow and ice. I can just imagine what it’s like to work so hard in such freezing weather. May God bless them.

Speaking of which, sometimes you just want to ask God why he does certain things. Like the recent earthquake in Haiti. A country already ravaged by bad leadership, corruption, maladministration and all the associated evils. Why should they have to suffer from this calamity? May God be with all Haitians at this very trying time. There are several online sites seeking aid for the victims and displaced people.  Please find it in your heart to seek one of them and donate something. They need all the help they can get.

We are stuck at home again! Buses have been cancelled, trains suspended, Uni shut;  everything you can imagine has ground to a halt. While we were still battling with the layers of frozen ice on the roads that have made transport thoroughly unreliable since last week, fresh showers of snow overnight havebrought everything back to square one.  At this rate, will exams be postponed?  Probably not.  It may turn out to be bright and sunny when it’s exam time and then, what excuse would you have not to go to school? Lol.

This is some experience for me, honestly. First I had a nightmarish time getting out of London. With the Underground service cancellations, suspensions and all. And now good old Guildford is even worse. Most of the roads are not even gritted at all! How can a whole Britain run short of salt supply? With all the technology, didn’t they envisage these blizzards? I guess no matter how powerful a nation is, God must always show HIS superior power.

Anyway, I got my hair done in London after one month of pondering the insanity of paying 40 pounds for a hairdo!  Thankfully, I didn’t pay a dime. Now with that out of the way, I’m ready for school’s resumption.  I guess I’ll just tuck in and enjoy this snow- imposed curfew till God puts a stop to it. Because clearly, it is beyond the power of the UK government. God help us all.

Below is an interesting mail my brother just sent out to his friends. I’m reproducing it here because it is very hilarious (he writes very well actually, even though his vocation is not in the arts.  I don’t know why some people will just not stick to their professions, lol) and thought provoking at the same time.  Please enjoy it:

RANDOM MEETING

Had an interesting conversation on Friday. I left home for work extra early, determined to have an early start of my weekend. Got to the bus stop and there was only one person there, an elderly white man (whom I would refer to as old Joe). I nodded to him in greeting and started my hot trot dance (very necessary to keep the blood circulating in -9 degrees temperature….if you don’t want to turn into an ice block!)

 

Old Joe (observing me): Awful weather isn’t it? (Typical conversation starter for a Briton)

Me: Absolutely terrible

 

Old Joe (laughs): where are you from?

 

Me: Nigeria

 

Old Joe: Nigeria? You guys have been all over the news of recent

 

Me: yes, unfortunately (oh no! not again!  Walahi, if I could only lay my hands on this Mutalab boy….or more precisely, his neck!)

 

Old Joe: yeah, it’s unfortunate, I really love Nigeria)

 

Me (wondering if he could even locate Africa on the map): oh, that’s nice

 

Old Joe: No kidding, I really love Nigeria, my father worked there in the 1920’s, he’s the one who introduced polo to the Emir of Katsina

 

Me (now with 100% attention): Really?

 

Old Joe: Yeah, yeah, my father worked as a colonial officer in charge of the North and was friends with the emir, the emir fell in love with Polo so much that he asked my father to build him a polo ground

 

Me: Interesting

 

Old Joe: Yeah, but my father told him no, ‘I can build you a school if you want, or a hospital or road but not a polo ground

 

Me: amazing (nice to see our leaders have always been selfless, always putting the general good above personal pursuits!!!!)

 

Old Joe: the colonial service was really great then, they built roads, bridges, hospitals, train lines etc. really opened up your country and developed it for you

 

Me (in my mind……yeah, you’re right! Out of the benevolence of your hearts!) Nodding in agreement

 

Old Joe: people now say they were corrupt, but they were not, they worked tirelessly to develop the country and it’s such a shame, the state in which the country is now in.

 

Really, I think it was a very bad idea that we left (The Britons), things would have been much better than they are now, had we stayed

 

Me (as firmly and as nicely as possible) hmmmmmnnnnn, I am not really sure that would have been a good thing, I believe a peoples fate is best determined by themselves and a foreign imposition or interference is not healthy for a nation (had you guys kept within your borders, you would have saved the whole world a lot of grief!)

 

Old Joe (very wisely): Let’s not have a falling out because of that, I still love Nigeria, regardless

 

At that moment, the bus arrived and our conversation came to an end although we still beamed at each other inside the bus.

 

 

 

But I couldn’t help but ponder over our conversation on the bus journey, with my mind playing the devils’ advocate

 

‘What if the British had never left, would we not have been better off really?’

 

 Yes, they made off with some of our national treasures but compared to some ex governors from the south-south (I dare not mention), the Britons would surely be on the fast track for canonization!

 

I grew up listening to stories of the golden 50’s and 60’s, when things worked, very low crime, the streets of Lagos were swept daily and trains were not yet extinct. At least the buildings at Onikan, almost a century old, and yet still standing tall, are a good testament to their legacy. Were they really that bad?

 

Can’t really tell since I was born post independence and that era till date is really nothing to write home about…broken glass everywhere.

 

A wild suggestion once made by my brother-Yinka , during a lively discussion comes to mind, He asked ‘ Why cant we get professional management companies like a Mckinsey or an Accenture to manage Nigeria We sign a management contract with them setting benchmarks and they’ll run the country professionally’

 

The idea completely threw me, but I’ll give it a 10 out of 10 for outside the box thinking!

 

So my question to you all is this:

 

i)                    Would it have been a good idea if the British never left?

 

     ii)      Has our independence been worth it? After all Rome was not built in a day (but it didn’t take an eternity to build it either)

 

ii)                   Should we call in the professional managers for a rescue mission (Laughs)

 

Please let me have your thoughts. As for me, I can’t wait to catch up with Old Joe again. Would love to ask him as nicely as possible; when the British will be returning the bronze heads &Ivory footstools from Ife and Benin, they have, so graciously, been keeping for us in safe custody.

 

 

I made it to London safely, thank you all very much.  Whoever wants to brave the ice too should watch out, it’s quite slippery.

It was beautiful scenery all the way from Surrey to London Waterloo. Everything in sight was draped in white. Even the waters were covered in sheets of white. Sorry, I couldn’t take pictures to upload here, my fingers were too frozen to do anything.

Had a minor incident at Waterloo Underground station. I’d approached the Eastern or Asian looking woman in the ticketing office for a ticket to Walthamstow Central. I wanted to know if the ticket would get me on a bus as well or if I had to buy a travel card. And again, what is the price difference between the two. With my school bag slung across my back, she should have guessed that I was a student with a student’s little financial power.

She took time to explain everything, quite kindly, and I settled for a £4 single ticket. I paid for it with a £10 note and she slid my change and ticket towards me. As I walked away, I glanced down at the coins in my hand; lo and behold, it was £4! Ok, I know I’m not good with maths but £4 pound out of £10 should leave £6, shouldn’t it? I turned right back.

Though she saw me, she went on attending to the girl who was behind me in the queue. And oh, did they both take their time? I must have waited for close to 30 minutes, all the while trying to catch her attention.  But on she went with this young girl who at one point turned back and told me cheekily: “you’re standing too close to me…..my umbrella.”  I looked at her darkly, trying hard to restrain my temper.

Finally, they both ended their long process of simply buying a ticket and then I told the woman my change wasn’t complete. She said “why, I thought I gave you £6 coins….” “Well no you didn’t, and I came back immediately but you took forever with that girl!” So she opened her drawer and brought a £2 coin, then counted everything carefully before giving me. As she gave them to me, she looked at me as if: “only God knows if you’re telling the truth.” Imagine! I become a suspect over my own money!!! 

I can’t help but wonder if she would have looked at me like that if I was white. Anyway, that’s her bloody business. I’m not letting anybody shortchange me in this country. Whether knowingly or unknowingly, aint letting nobody move my cheese.  It’s not that easy to come by, you know.

This is not funny any more. I’m tired of staying at home so I’m going to brace the ice and see if I can make it to London.  If you see subsequent posts on this blog then you know that I’m still alive, lol.

The winter, the cold, the ice……aahhhhh! The temperature outside is colder than some deep freezers, honestly. Even with the heating, it’s cold inside the house too. It’s so cold the duvet doesn’t work anymore.

News reports say it’s the coldest winter since 1963!!!!! What am I doing here? I want to go home, please can we reschedule this masters programme? Let’s do the rest by distance learning, lol.