Totally a Blog-Worthy Day

Totally a blog-worthy day…

When I was young… who am I kidding? I’m still young. Okay. When I was young-er, I was told when u speak of an absent person and the person does not materialize or at least get in touch with you, there was either something seriously wrong with the person or the person had passed on. Growing up, I realized how this worked too well to be false. Often when I reminisced about a friend or loved one or even referred to the person in passing, I was sure to hear from or see the person that day. Otherwise, the person had either passed on or experienced harrowing times around the same time.

Now the amazing thing was that this applied even to inanimate things. Call it the law of attraction, fate or what you may. Whenever something came into my mind unbidden, or I talked over an issue with a friend, things rarely remained the status quo. So, when my mentor and friend Kofi asked me on Thursday when next I was going to update my blog, and I told him I hadn’t updated it because I had nothing to say; it was only meet that Friday turn out to be the kind of day it was.
It started out as an OK day. Until 9:00am, my morning was pretty much uneventful and I had resigned myself to a quiet day. I had an 11:00am appointment with the European commission to go for a Schengen visa to enable me undertake a very important assignment. Yes, you guessed right. Richard Quest of CNN’s ‘Quest means Business’ had finally spotted my fan mail among the zillions he must receive and was so impressed he called to offer me a summer internship with him as he covers the wave of economic events unfolding in Europe. We were to visit Greece, France, Belgium, Poland, you name it… I was going to have my very own Euro Trip, all in a day’s work. Thank you, Richard Quest. (Lol! And if you’re perchance reading this, please holler at your number one fan and make my dream come true)

My appointment at the commission was at mid-day and living a mere forty-five minutes drive from the office, I thought I had left the house in good time when I left home at 10:00am. Hailing a taxi and agreeing on the fare, I got in, settled down and got out my book to read, expecting a calm uneventful ride. It did not take very long for me to realize it was not going to be a calm uneventful ride. I had apparently hired a taxi driver whose driving skills depicted he was only fit to drive a monster truck in ROAD RAGE. I am not overly superstitious or anything but I began to suspect he was a hired assassin hired to ensure I don’t get to that visa. After my ghost left me several times due to his driving, we finally fell into traffic and I don’t think I’ve ever been that happy to see traffic.

My relief was short-lived though. It appears the taxi driver, realizing he had failed in his assassination attempt, decided to resort to delay tactics and make me miss my appointment. Seriously! I mean – who chooses graphic road over circle traffic at 10:00am on a weekday? The traffic was bumper to bumper and moving at a rate of 50m/hr. At this point, I could hold my peace no longer and asked the hired assassin if he had some brilliant plan I wasn’t aware of to calm me about the traffic. He didn’t. He told me he had been plying that road for fifteen years and knew what he was doing. Apparently, he didn’t because even he started to get frustrated at a point in time. I got to the Commission at 12:03 hrs. He barely escaped having me murder him. I even thought what I’d plead in court – temporal insanity. That guy almost drove me crazy!

After going through the requisite procedure, I walked out of the commission with a stride in my step and a song in my heart. If it wasn’t drizzling, I would have brandished my passport as I walked out of the place. I decided to go and take pictures at Pictorialist Studio at Danquah Circle to commemorate the day and give to my pals so they could have pictures of me before I got famous. Don’t get me wrong, it has nothing to do with flexing or showing off. I was actually doing it for them. I want them to be able to auction those pictures when they fell on hard times in the future. Yeah baby, I am going to be THAT famous. Lol. Lemme fantasize a bit. Most great successes began as dreams everyone laughed at.

After taking the pictures and talking football for about thirty minutes, (I know, I know but cute studio photographers have this way of making you lose track of time) I decided to stroll down the street to avoid football traffic. It is only during the World Cup that Ghanaian tro-tro drivers have a backward bending labour supply curve. They park their cars on the streets and leave to watch the matches causing acute shortage of cars and traffic. You should have seen the fleet of cars parked on the Odorkor-Kaneshie Road during the Ghana-Germany match. And they were not even for Alhaji ‘For Sale’ (Ghanaian Joke).

So where was I? Ah, yes, the stroll. Basking in the euphoria of my Visa Acquisition, (It took a plea by Richard Quest to have me not scan the visa and put it in this blog) I walked merrily down Oxford street and lo and behold, I felt a tug at my hand. Seeing how Ghanaian hawkers have turned that into a marketing strategy, I ignored it but it was insistent and I turned to see whose hand it was. I glanced cursorily at the person and did not immediately recognize the face. Then he mentioned my name and removed all thoughts of my walking away. He obviously knew me. He was talking on the phone. He quickly wrapped the conversation up and said 'hi, we were bantering all day yesterday on facebook and you could not make me out'.

I opened my mouth. Until that time, I had never thought of my Ghanaian friends on facebook as being people walking on the street I could bump into at any time‘t’. I don’t know what I thought… perhaps that they lived in the computer? It was pleasant bumping into one though. I will not share the rest on our conversation- I am not that generous. But I left feeling better than I felt when I met him. Thanks P.

That was the beginning of my meeting people I had not met in ages. Barely three steps after we parted, I met a friend from my first year at University. It had been over four years and it was great seeing him. I also met my teacher and Mentor Mr. Ocloo who I hadn’t seen since JSS 2 when he left the school. He encouraged me to write and even published my first poem in the ‘Omorde’ magazine. I always remember him when my writing gets complimented. I should have taken his number but we were at Makola and could barely get standing ground to exchange pleasantries. Next, I met Miss Zaney, a literature teacher whilst I was at Gey Hey. She had this exotic accent and made me want to be exotic too whilst I was in school. I spoke to her and she made me out! Yay! Next, I met a friend from SSS 1 who I hadn’t seen in eight years. He is also someone who encourages my writing and a fellow writer.

Now, after Kofi asks me when my next blog will be, I meet my e-pal who, did I forget to mention, writes too; my first writing mentor, my literature teacher and another writer friend – all in one day – the very following day. I definitely couldn’t say I had nothing to write about. XOXO