Going Home

07/08/08 7.43pm
I am actually writing this on the way home. I told my wife I would be back early. 7.19pm is now early for me.

The road is dark, no street lights. Slow moving traffic on my side and a free road on the other side. Young men selling plantain chips, MTN charge cards and other bits and pieces. Okada drivers weaving through the traffic, roaring past at high speed. Just about missing the car side mirrors. That’s my Lagos.

I think I may be taking a bit of a risk with the bright screen of my lap-top shining in the darkness of the car. I have been told about the smash and grab area boys that operate in slow moving traffic, but it’s a lot more productive use of my time than staring through the window watching the world go by, so I’ll take the risk for the moment.

Money insulates in this country. I would like a big, high up 4x4 with blacked out windows and a big interior that can double as a mobile living room where l can spend the hours I spend on the way home being productive. For the moment I’ll just cradle the lab top in my lap and keep on my guard.

I was asked by my wife before she came over whether I regretted coming over to Nigeria. I compare my life now to the nice comfortable life I had in North London and the answer is not for one moment do I regret coming over. Through being bitten by mosquitoes, living in an empty house with no fridge, working every hour including 7am Saturday morning meetings, leaving the house before the family wakes up and coming home after the kids have gone to bed. No, there are challenging moments but no regrets.

Why? I smell the potential to live the life I want. In the middle of the traffic, I still smell it. The potential is there to craft the life you want. A lot less restrictions than where I was coming from. A lot more potential to build things up. Not perfect, definitely not perfect, but the upside is a lot higher. And that’s what we all want in life, the opportunity to expand our lives as far as we want, without limitation, without restriction.