Tough duty

Party season has begun in Lagos! With the rains mostly out of the way and the Harmattan not yet here, people are ready to get out.

First up, friday, was "Sail around the world" at the yacht club. Featuring food and drink from 15 countries at booths set up along the harbor. A coaster bus had been arranged which was quite convenient, leaving from house 88, but not before Soledad and her husband had made sure we all had at least one tequila shot. I think they are from Venzuela.

Leaving the driver to figure out where to park the bus, we headed inside and straight to the Heineken booth. Well, not inside, the festivities were all outside, the boats having been moved away to clear their parking area. American hot dog, washed down with Jack Daniel's and lemonade. Typical american, I guess. The Danish had a better sausage on a roll, and featured a shot of aquavit for those that dared. Anyway, you get the idea, lots of eating and drinking. In the dark, the harbour looked even a bit picturesque or maybe it was the drinks. Dancing was also accomplished, all under the stars with a light breeze to cut the heat.

Saturday, the Marines' Ball. Put on yearly by the U.S. Marine detachment that guards the consulate. This year was the 233th anniversary of the founding of the Marine Corps. Semper Fi! Another coaster, with a different crowd, to the Civic center. After being welcomed by our ambassador, some speeches and ceremony, we tucked into the buffet, including a really good vegetarian lazania (sic). Then dancing to the sounds of the Ebony band.

I was struck by one song they played, "Rock the boat". You know, "don't tip the boat over". I realized that in 1974 (about 34 years ago) I had heard a different West African band play that same tune. In Ghana, when I was there for Peace corps training. It wasn't all work you know, that little town had a great outdoor bar and dancing place and with nothing else to do in the evenings, under the full moon, I learned to love reggae. Now here I was in 2008, in another West African country, dancing to the same song, although the circumstances were a bit different. This time I was wearing my new tuxedo, enjoying fine food and drink, and protected by a large police contingent.

Four artists

Took a trip on Sunday with the Nigerian Field Society visiting artist's studios in the northwest part of Lagos. There is an active contemporary art scene and some dealers, like Nike who's gallery is near our house, but this was a chance to see the artists and their works in raw form.

Paulette van Trier who was leading this excursion told me that when she put out the word there were 60 artists who responded. She had to get a reasonable number for a day trip, so these four were selected. It turned out to be a pretty long day, but very interesting. I've included an image from each artist and a couple comments below.

Emmanuel Dudu - We have six of his small portraits of women and their gele's. (pictured in a previous posting). Most of his paintings feature motion, like women dancing or hunters stalking their prey. His studio is simply a room in his small house. But his family were really generous and welcoming even when invaded by 22 oyibos. Dudu set up his easel in the yard and did a quick portrait for us, a real treat to see him at work.


Bruce Onobrapkeya - Master printmaker and painter who's been at it for about 40 years. His studio and print shop fill a three story building in a not so good area of Lagos. With a sharp wit and easy confidence he showed us around and commented on some of the works in progress. There were a couple sort of collages that included bits of electronic parts, circuit boards and disk drive platters as well as beads and fabric that he was experimenting with.








Rom Isichei - Very well known amongst the expats, he is a local favorite. This example is from a previous style that he has now left behind. His newer works are also portraits but done in thick layers of oil paints. Each canvas very highly textured.






Osahenye, Kainebi - This example is much more representational than his current works which are much more abstract. He was preparing for an exhibition and had several large canvases in progress as well as an installation of painted jars that he was assembling. His studio reminded me of Jackson Pollock who reputedly had never cleaned a brush.












There is an auction tomorrow featuring these and other artists put on by Arthouse. Checkout the "view the works on sale link" for details.

Sometimes it works

Just got back from a quick shopping trip and not feeling the usual stress, actually pretty happy. Driver was on time, cheerful and competent. Traffic was light. Had a good map and found the desired house in V.I. with little trouble. Dropped off package with steward. Quick hop over to Park and Shop, bought a couple things. Then over to Goodies to get our latest addiction, their "multi-cereal" bread. What heaven, and it should be for N1,000 a loaf fresh baked. (about US$8, yikes!) Avoided the stopped traffic on that street by walking down to the corner to buy tomatoes and onions that the cook had requested. Cucumbers looked good so I got a couple of those too. Seems like they are coming into season. Back to the expressway through some secret way I'd never seen before and home before you know it. Two hours total, must be a new record.

NEPA (Never Expect Power Again) just cut off the power. Firefox hung from some annoying flash popup. Maintenance guy has A/C unit all taken apart on the floor when I thought he was just going to clean the filter, but for some reason I'm still happy.

Maybe it's the tomatoes. Sold by a guy sitting on the sidewalk that had a large basket of them that he was dividing up into small bags. The next guy was doing the same with potatoes. Those small bags are then sold to cars in traffic jams by nimble guys dodging traffic. So I was getting them direct from the wholesaler. N250 for good quantity of tomatoes, N100 for bag of onions, cucumbers N50 each. All this guy has is a basket of tomatoes, some plastic bags and a bit of sidewalk and he's in business. Talk about low overhead. That's exactly why the city draws in so many people from the countryside every year, the opportunity to start with nothing and build whatever you can.

Subterranean dwellers

If you've been living under a rock, or in the United States, you may not have noticed the stupendous football match played Saturday between Arsenal and Manchester United. If you don't know, Arsenal won 2-1. If you were lucky enough to watch the game, it's likely one you will remember for a long while. For the whole 90 minutes, both sides were at full speed, none of that standing around looking for a pass to make. One touch to control the ball, pass and go.

ManU tried to rekindle it's former glory by bringing in old timers Giggs and Tevez late in the match but to no avail. Even Arsenal losing their goalkeeper, Almunia, after he got kicked in the head, accidentally, was not enough opening for ManU to score the equalizer.

Now footie is not big on statistics, just stuff like scores, substitutions, bookings and shots. UEFA tracks how far players run during those matches but the English leagues don't. It would have been great to see how far these guys had run, I bet it was a bunch.

In other football news, the USA under 17 women played a very stylish game to beat Korea (South) in the quarter finals of their World Cup. Next up Germany. Also, you won't want to miss the FIFA Homeless cup. Huh?

The wife and I walked over to a nearby sports bar/nightclub to witness the match. Fun but loud. Arsenal and ManU have lots of supporters because of their African players. My wife being the smart one pulled a pair of earplugs out of her purse and enjoyed things at a less dangerous volume. Next time we must go earlier to get better seats, but this time the waitress was very nice in finding a place to squeeze in two more chairs.

What about Obama?

Leading up to the presidential election the Africans I spoke to were uniformly supportive of Obama's candidacy. A black man could be president, what a thought!

There had been a few bumps along Obama's West African road, chief among them was the problem of this fund raising event. The money raised could not be donated to the Obama campaign, by U.S. law, and the organizers have gone missing and the funds are in limbo. There were other pro Obama sentiments in evidence including billboards and newspaper articles. I was surprised how much interest this election in the U.S. had generated.

The locals I talked to were uniformly pleased to see Obama elected, if for no other reason than to have someone in the White House who knew where Africa is located.

There was one notable exception however. Our neighbour's driver declared "He be black man, so he go chop all the money-o". After a bit of thought he considered the fact that Obama is only half black and decided "He no go chop all the money, maybe only small small".

For further inspiration see: I go chop your dollars. BTW, adding "O" to the word at the end of a sentence is a common form of emphasis. Picture from Obama's 2006 visit to Nairobi.

An open letter to the Ants

Dear Ants,

Your recent attack on the plates in the dish drainer has prompted me to send to you this letter. Up until now, I thought we had a good working relationship based on our mutual respect and understanding. Despite centuries of conflict in human/insect relationships, I had hoped that at least for our little corner of the world things might be different.

I had allowed you a trail from under the back door, into the kitchen to the trash basket. (single file only). This trail I had not molested and I viewed it as an accommodation that would avoid open conflict between our respective species. You, the ants, could forage in the waste that I clearly did not treasure and in return you would refrain from further incursions into the kitchen area.

There was the regrettable previous incident involving the bread box that I believe both sides would just as soon forget. The orgy of chemical and physical attacks upon your kind results in a shudder of horror when I recall it, and I can imagine your memories are even more horrifying. Let us leave that episode behind us and move forward towards a living in a peaceful harmony.

I am suggesting that we soften our stances and consider what may be most beneficial in our relationship going forward. I will continue to allow the trail to the trash basket and you will constrain your activities to just that single trail. I am aware that when I take out the trash some few of your population may be displaced to the garbage can at the end of the driveway. I commit to you that I will not harm those travelers except by accident and I think you may be able to arrange for their repatriation, although this may require your negotiation with the ants that live near the front of the house.

So, I leave it up to you, continue to respect the limits that I impose, and I will allow for the above mentioned freedoms. Please don't let our relationship degenerate again into an ugly and shameful conflict.

Regards,
The human at house 23

p.s. I am not liable in any way for ant predation caused by the resident Geckos in the kitchen or any other part of the house.

The calculus of the expressway

Recently we were notified of an increase in okada (motorcycle) robberies along the expressway between our house and the office. They tend to occur between 18:00 and 22:00. That's when the traffic comes to a standstill and the 5 km journey becomes an hour or more. An okada zooms up alongside a likely looking car, like one of our company cars that have a distinctive reflective strip added to the back bumper. A window is smashed and valuables demanded. Oftentimes there will be two or more okadas working together.

Once the loot is grabbed, the okada(s) can zip away between the stopped cars and easily get away. I'm told this activity increases around christmas time. How's that for christmas spirit?

Sitting by the pool last weekend, the old hands were advising the fresh fish on how to handle this problem. First of all, you must carry some cash or valuables as having nothing to hand over can result in getting dragged out of the car and beaten. Ideally, one should wear a watch, expecially if it looks expensive. A $20 Rolex will work great. And have some handing over cash readily available and the rest of your money hidden somewhere else. N3, 000 was suggested as being a good balance between not losing too much yet still satisfying the robbers.

You are safer if the police don't show up. If they are nearby by some random chance, they will likely run away so it's usually not a problem. If some hero policeman tries to intervene, get out of there if at all possible as there exists a real chance that shooting will break out in the wildest and least effective manner endangering everyone except the robbers. The only recent case of the police actually being effective was an incident on the Falomo bridge where the frightened robbers jumped into the creek and drowned.

If your Rolex gets taken, next time you are stuck in traffic buy a new one from the peddlers working between the lanes. Maybe you will even get your old watch back. Still a bargain even if you have to buy it twice.