It was a Wednesday morning two weeks ago. For some reason, I had woken up earlier than usual and had left my house earlier than expected. As I walked out of the house looking for a bike to get me to the main road, I checked my phone and looked at the weather forecast.
Oh no, I thought to myself. It’s going to be a rainy day. I hate rainy days as an adult in Lagos, Nigeria. Something about it rubs me off the wrong way. Maybe it is because of the 200 little rivers I need to cross before finding a bike in the mornings or the muddy roads that prolong my journey to and from work.
The fun I once had on rainy days as a child is long over. Gone are the days when I could cuddle up in a warm blanket, sitting on a couch watching the classics like Sound of Music, Anne of Green Gables and sipping on a cup of hot cocoa with cookies.
***
Anyways back to reality and my present predicament, I walked as fast as possible, silently praying that I would find a bike soon. Within a few minutes, I got a bike and was quickly on my way to my next bus stop.
Thankfully I was already on the bus to Ijegun when the rain began pouring, but I still worried about getting soaked before reaching the office.
Everything was going just as planned on my journey to work that morning. That is until I crossed the street and was about to enter Fagbile estate. Instead of passing on top of what looks like a hill that acts as a boundary of the Redeem Church, I made a wrong move. I waded through the waters on what is usually level ground, but by this time had become a full-blown river.
That wasn’t the horrible part, no just as I was about to reach the Arch at the estate entrance, I made a more terrible move. One second I had my legs in the flowing waters of the road. The next second, I found myself in the gutter. I had miscalculated my steps and had landed in the muddy ditch.
Yo, I wanted to scream. One of my worst fears had come true.
Thankfully I had landed standing upright so that the fall wasn’t bad. For a moment, I was confused. But I quickly came to my senses. This wasn’t my first time finding myself in a weird place after falling. When I was 14 years old, I fell into the Kingdoms Dam in Mkushi, Zambia.
So this was a piece of cake compared to that fall. I quickly glanced around, and there was no one around me. However, there were people on the other side of the Arch. I saw the wooden structure and quickly grabbed it and got myself out of the gutter, and then I cooly walked away towards the office.
As I walked to the office that morning, I wished that my high school friend Payal was nearby. She would have laughed with me for my propensity to find myself in these situations. I learnt long ago not always to take things seriously.
I was embarrassed, sure, but I have learned to see its funny and humorous aspect in situations like this. The truth is in life; you will fall. But what matter is what you do after a fall. I have learnt that it is best to get up as quickly as possible if you are not severely injured from the fall. It’s okay to fall, but you can’t remain where you fell.
So if you catch me walking ever slowly on a rainy day, you know that I am trying to avoid falling in the rain and finding myself in nasty gutters. Now, if only I could get a cup of hot cocoa and some marshmallows on this rainy Wednesday morning.
