When I say today was all kinds of shitty, take my word for it and I believe I’m not the only one who feels this way. Now where do I start from? Today was supposed to be the highly anticipated TPL4 (that’s Twitter Premier League if you’re lost. And yes Twitter is that serious) .
The teams were ready to show us the black man blood and die on the line after series of training sessions. Babes had planned and ironed outfits (I am not one of them), vendors had cooked up a storm ready to make some cool cash. Generally people were looking forward to having a good time, catching up with old friends, meeting news ones and to support their teams. So imagine my confusion when I saw a message at some minutes before 8am saying that the Stadium, where the event was scheduled to hold, was locked. I had intended to actually leave home around 8ish because the kick off was 8am and my team was first to play. I was also supposed to go to work so my plan was to pop in at 8, stay for about an hour, leave and get to work before 10 and then on my way back from work, just enter stadium. Easy it seems right? I wish! By the time I was fully dressed and all kitted up for an easy transition from work to TPL mode and set to leave, I called my friend Frank who said everyone was standing outside the stadium as there was a rift between NLC and the Police and that I shouldn’t bother coming. See confusion. I wasn’t sure what to do anymore. Do I unload my bag of my TPL stuff? Do I change clothes because I was already a tad bit overdressed for a half day at the office? I eventually set out for work, got there and there was not a soul save for the security guard. Mail said everyone was expected in by 10am, I got in at 9:52am so where the hell was everyone? I was livid to be honest because I already hated the fact that I had to be at work. ‘My ogas’ didn’t eventually show up till 10:20am while other colleagues came later. I eventually heard that TPL was moved to Unilag then I heard it was a Meet and Greet then I heard it was cancelled and postponed indefinitely. Sigh! I was confused, worried and then sad for the organizers. I still can’t imagine what everyone lost today; the time, money, planning, resources, so much had gone into planning the event and then bam, event not happening. People had travelled, vendors had cooked and then nothing! I was sad o because you know #SeizetheBae movement was supposed to hold and then no TPL again. Ugh! You have to admire the commitment of people to the TPL movement though. With the fuel scarcity and all, people were driving from location to location, rallying round to see what could be salvaged of the event. When it eventually happens though I’m sure it’ll be a banger! Anyway sha I faced my work and started making other plans. After work I would go and chill with a friend who I had been promising a visit then head back to Surulere to hang out with Fola and Ra who were also affected by the cancelled TPL and were just chilling. The day didn’t seem so bad anymore. My initial plan was to leave the office by 2pm because I only had to hand in a report. 2:30pm and we were still working on report. Submitted before 3pm and then we had to wait for approval from Oga at the top before knowing whether we could leave or not. I was so glad that I didn’t have to think of TPL anymore at this point because I would have been extra angry knowing that I was being delayed. Then I received a call from my mum; her and my dad had received a phone call saying that my aunt’s school was on fire so they had to quickly rush down there. At this point I’m like God what is all this today? Why? I eventually left work some minutes before 4pm, saw my friend for a bit then went to go meet my parents. Thankfully the fire had been controlled before it spread to other parts of the school so it was only the school store that was affected but they lost a lot of stuff. I know for one that she lost school uniforms worth over 1million naira, school books, stationery, etc. The security guard had even kept salaries belonging to him and some people in there so you can imagine. Some people who helped put out the fire before fire services came sustained minor injuries so they were taken to the hospital. We are so grateful to God that we aren’t singing a different song; I mean it could have been worse, the pupils could have been in school (some of them had even just finished music lessons and left when it happened), anything could have happened.
The picture isn’t clear but these are some of the burnt stuff packed out ot the store. There’s still more
My day just had to end there. There was no motivation to even go anywhere because the events of the day had just felt crippling. There’s also the added issue of fuel scarcity, the myth that is electricity supply, depressed economy; gloom gloom gloom. Then I heard Lauryn Hill who was supposed to be in Nigeria for a concert tonight didn’t arrive in Nigeria as planned. Gbese! After people have bought 10k regular tickets not to even talk of VIP! See I don’t even want to imagine. May 1, 2015 was quite a shitty day if I do say so and I know I am not alone on that. But you know it’s still the first day of a new month and there is so much to be grateful to God for given the number of people that have died this year alone. We are alive, healthy and well and that’s a lot to be thankful for. There’s hope for tomorrow at least and it’ll definitely be better. Have a lovely night. Hugs and kisses, -Yewi [image source: pinterest.com]
the elements of emancipation 