The time was about 4.45 PM last Tuesday, I was in a dead hurry, I had to do some last minute shopping, I needed to close a few loopholes since I was travelling the next day. In my haste, I did not pay attention to the road and broadsided this pickup truck that swing into my lane from the left. That stopped me cold, “Ok wetin man go do now”? “where you sey you dey hurry go again?” Initially rhetorical questions were shooting through my mind like laser beams, then logic kicked in.
I called 911, checked on the other car, called the insurance company, scheduled a tow and a rental. The police came, compared my blackness and the other guy’s whiteness, noted that I was an IgboAmerican and after some consultation with a tape measure, told me I was at fault. At which point, the driver of the other car started limping and his lady companion requested a stretcher. I found it all mildly amusing but I still had so much to do and that plane was leaving for the UK tomorrow whether I was on it or not, so I did not have time to pander the irony of a Nigerian being scammed by an American, I had loads of things to do.
The next day I had my first pleasant experience of the week, I picked up my loaner and it was a Toyota Prius, it was my first time driving a Hybrid and I tell you, there is nothing quite like that car on the road. First it is completely silent, not an “I can’t hear my engine when I drive my Lexus silent” but a dead quietness like a super efficient air-conditioning unit, it was eerie. The difference between the car off and the car on was……nothing. The if the car had been named Dell or HP, I would have concluded that this is how it felt to drive a computer. Speaking of cars, do you know that GM’s Opel/Vauxhall Unit in Europe makes a 49 miles per galleon wet dream of a car that they have refused to sell in the US because they think we are satisfied with the very mediocre Chevrolet? I rolled around London in one these cars and was extremely impressed with the ambiance in the vehicle, it is not a luxury car by any means but in the mid level family sedan market, it would have easily competed with a Honda or Camry on a level playing field.
Anyway, so I got my Prius, by now it was about 3.00 PM and I had to get to the airport before my 5.00 PM flight, so I rushed home and started pouring stuff into the first box I could lay my hands on. I anticipated all kinds of weather during my four day stay, so I packed for winter, spring and summer. I jumped back into the car and stopped…….. I could not start the car, you see, at the rental place they had shown me how to drive the thing and some other stuff but I was not paying attention, I was in a hurry to get home, to start packing. Trust me, even the most sophisticated person would have been temporarily stump by the ignition concept in this car.
Long story, short, I barely made it to the airport (yeah, about that Hybrid, I called my friend to come and drop me off, since I “did not have a car”) on time. I breezed through checking, got on the plane, closed my eyes to catch a shutter, woke up to the Pilot saying “we will landing at Heathrow Airport shortly”. Wow, I must have slept through 10 hours of flight of time, but all the better, I was energized, ready to enter this Jungle and cause some major Wahala. From here this tori gets thick, yes, let me slow down and gather my thoughts, I want to lay this down like fresh bread on Sunday morning in the dinning hall, this will be worth the wait.
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