A Tale of Two Cities
Okay so I have a teeny weeny confession to make…after months of staying in Lagos with promises that had failed to materialise into my becoming Consultant Toks, I decided to go back to Social Worker Toks.
Upon my return to London one mildly cold day in January, I had mistakenly made the assumption that we would be picked up by my brother as per usual. After all I had spoken with mother dearest prior to take off and asked her to alert my brother that we would be arriving as scheduled! Alas I failed to alert him to when that scheduled time was consequently resulting in me having to navigate myself and a tired four year old and four extremely heavy baggage at the mercy of those I henceforth call ‘Heathrow Touts’. To proclaim that I was ripped off by a fellow country man of mine would be a gross understatement! So my ‘Welcome to London’ was such a sorry affair that I spent the next four days indoors (that and the fact that my body was now used to double digit temperature) before I could dare to venture out.
Now although I did not feel my decision to return to UK to possibly work for a few months to be a failure, I did feel defeated that I had not quite conquered Nigeria the way I had planned. Fortunately for me (okay so I knew I was lying to myself about the length of my stay when I only packed one of my corporate dress and left all those other dresses behind) I had fail to factor the fact that the UK is going through a recession. That’s old news you say! Oh yes I was still residing there when the news of recession first broke out whenever that was! But I was immune to it at that time as shortly after receiving my General Social Care Council registration, which enabled me to claim the very much coveted ‘Social Worker’ title, I had managed to bag myself not just one but two Locum positions within a period of one month!
Yet in my month of ‘returning home away from home’ suddenly it was me calling all the same employment agencies only to realise weeks later none had called me back, let alone invited me to go for any job interview! That and the news that the only favourite place I had left in London, the Haagen Dazs Café was now close (sorry I need a moment of silence…this is still very painful news and very raw for me to deal with) was the first time I really comprehended the hard hitting effects this recession, but mostly the drastic and senseless ‘cuts’ being pioneered under the leadership of the Conservative and Lib Dem was having on the ground.
Not a problem I decided! The calls I needed to be making were not to those employment agencies but to the many contacts I had amassed during my first forage of Lagos. So I gladly hop footed it back to the crazier home that ironically makes more sense than the one I had spent most of my life within. Whilst my first encounter back in London, sadly at the hands of a fellow Nigerian, was so negative it contributed in sending me into a mild depression. In contrast my first dealing with another fellow country man when I landed back in Lagos was a perfect example of trying to be your brother’s keeper (definitely a story to be told another day). So here I am back in Lasgidi and already making considerable strides to conquer this Mega City that is Lagos. No Shaking Baby!
Toks finally blogging
Okay so most people who know me would probably say about time! Well this isn’t my first furore into the world of blogging…only my first time I was an accidental participant and ended up an unflattering element of an old friend’s own personal blog…but thats a story to be told another day.
After that experience I decided ‘blogging’ was just people’s way of re-inventing themselves with the wwworld as an audience and pretty much got turned off! Well years later here I am not only right in my initial assessment but actually really wanting to partake in this revolution…okay I got stuck for the word to go there so revolution’s gonna have to do.
My inspiration came from my decision to Relocate back to Nigeria after almost 2 decades of living in the UK. Secondly stumbling upon the blog of a new friend (Blogs and friendship…another topic to be revisited) Jide Salu who it turns out also relocated back to Nigeria after 20 years in UK!!! No frigging way I thought! Well after hours devouring ALL his blogs and requesting him on BB (okay he posted his Pin on his blog so not like it was especially given to just me) BUT he now claims yours truly as his FRIEND though we’re yet to meet! But he has truly being not only a source of inspiration to me but a friend who continually encourages me in realising that this life changing decision I took will only be more satisfying in the long haul!
Well this brings me nicely along to the topic of my first ‘blog’
My Journey to Relocation Status!
Impulsiveness happens to be like second nature to me hence the reason why deciding to make the move back to the motherland was simply a matter of packing up all my fabulous summer clothing and giving away the winter items. Truthfully giving away all my winter clothing was the easiest aspect of my decision, as I was now going to be living in Lagos where there would no longer be a need for me to wear multiple layers of clothing most especially those unflattering thermal vest and tights under my jeans!
Okay so it all started back in April 2006 when I made my first trip to Nigeria in over 5 years, this was the trip I convinced my cousin to take me to Planet 1 to see Dbanj when he was then an unknown and only a handful of guests were there. I went back to London with so much exciting stories to tell but unfortunately unable to show the wonderful pictures I took with Mr Endowed as my camera was stolen right in my brother’s apartment where I had stayed! Nonetheless I was now fuelled with a determination to return to Lagos more regularly depending on how cooperative Virgin was intending to be with me. Following this trip I also decided that I would be making a permanent relocation to Nigeria within 5 years.
This may sound surprising to most but for me it felt very natural, you see I have always been informed by my mother that 1981; the year she had me was one of the coldest winter ever known to England and after been grounded in London for a few more weeks than expected she was finally able to bring me home to Nigeria. Consequently I have always believed that this change from freezing temperatures to the tropical warmth of Lagos acclimatized me to a preference for heat that never allowed me to ever adapt again to the coldness of England in the two decades I resided there.
However following the summer I like to think of as the one before ‘Suddenly’ I was not able to make another trip to Lagos until April 2009 but this trip was so fantastic I promptly crowned it the ‘Summer of Enjoyment’ for my Facebook album download; I was now much smarter in making sure that my camera was not out of my sight at any time during that trip. Upon my return I now decided that my permanent relocation to the motherland would now be within three years.
Then the end of December 2009 saw what the British headlines reported as ‘Coldest winter for thirty years’ and after finding myself stuck in a snowstorm traffic for over three hours I decided another trip to Lagos was well needed and luckily Virgin were quite cooperative as long as I was willing to wait till New Year’s day to travel. Well that was fine with me as this would give me a couple of days within the bank holidays of Christmas and Boxing day to bribe my mother (paid for her ticket) to go to the place I called “Nonsense Place” formally known as Nigerian High Commission to process the Visas for my daughter and nephew. I no longer required one myself as I had ensured that the Summer of Enjoyment was also worthwhile and I was now a proud member of the dual passport carrying club. Following the extortionate price I paid for a ‘fast’ next day visa application which actually took three days to process, another trip to Ikoyi with the minors was definitely on the agenda. After the initial shock of NEPA taking the light and the relentless bites of the mosquitoes my daughter and nephew promptly enjoyed themselves on this impromptu holiday to ‘Africa’ as my 3-year-old daughter continually called Lagos. Another family trip in April for my brother’s wedding and one in June with my friends more or less sealed the deal of the inevitable return to Lagos for good.
toksyk 