LAZY SUNDAY......

Its been a really good day! I don't get too many of those, so I am thankful for today.

I lazed in bed, cuddled up with the family and already had an outfit picked out for church so getting ready was no hassle. Church was awesome and so many issues seem to be resolving by themselves, I am grateful. 

I had promised the girls a day at the zoo and so off we went while I tried not to worry about hubby who was on his way to an appointment in Lagos. 

The zoo was fun, always is and three things underscored this.....

One, as we approached the gate where tickets are obtained, a lady sat down with all manner of toys and I groaned inwardly as my younger daughter asked for a balloon. I was not going to buy any unnecessary toys and I tried to tell her gently. The woman however made it easy for me by trying to guilt me into buying something. She asked my daughter to come to her and she, like a rabbit hypnotised by the python's glare, went and she placed a gaily coloured toy in her hand and like the good girl she was, said, 'thank you, ma'. The lady immediately said to me, 'ah! She has said Thank you oh! So please come and pay oh!'. I could see she however wanted the balloon, not this toy she had been given. I asked her to go and pay for it and my daughter promptly replied, 'but I don't want it'. I almost burst into song! She returned it with a look of disgust on her face and at this point agreed with me that we should not buy anything. What cheap tactics?! Lesson learned! I like this because I hear of women who are guilted into buying things they don't need by unscrupulous sales people by appealing to your need of a freebie or even some who make you feel like you can't afford a thing is why you have not bought it. I always react to such by not buying and I was glad she got that message too!

Two, as we approached the gate where tickets are sold, I got my wallet out and decided to pay for the children to get in. This is because I regularly provide service to the zoo, and did not want them thinking I was not going to pay to get in. I said hi and the gatekeeper immediately said he would not take the money from me as he did not think it was right to have me pay a fee to bring my kids in, so we got in for free. I felt glad I had not asked for a free pass and also felt glad that I had been given one. Not the money, it just made me feel like I am a part of this entity and I always have been. I love the zoo, there's almost no where in the world that I have visited that the zoo does not feature in my memories of that place and I have very fond memories of this zoo from my Prelim days in this University. Whenever my mum came to visit, we ended up in there. Also, I have fond stories about almost all the animals in there, from the lion, whose tail I docked and that 'eyes' me everytime I am there (even today! was a source of amusement for the kids), to the humongous snake that I was made to feed castor oil or was it a lubricant? I forget!(eeuuuwww!), the monkeys, birds, donkeys and more,too many stories! I also got to meet the elegant giraffe (Ajoke) today. She is so cute and shy....Lovely time we all had.

Third, as always happens when I come here, I find myself explaining what each animal is to people I meet there and so 3 families kinda merged and we went from enclosure to enclosure together, me, the honorary tour guide, kmt! There was this man who incidentally had been at the zoo on the day I had done the tail docking of the lion and seems to be a frequent visitor to the zoo (in my mind, the zoo is where he takes his prospective babes, atink!). We were leaving the lions' enclosure when a large group of women and children approached, many with hijabs on and this man (carelessly,in my opinion) said to his lady friend in very loud Yoruba that, 'these ones are here to sleepover, they even have a cooler to keep their food warm'. I cringed and would have jumped to their defence but something stopped me. As I had passed by the oldest looking of these women, I had said hello and she had replied with a smile and as I looked back at them as this man spoke, my eyes said how disappointed I was. I hoped she would not let it slide, but she did. But one of her daughters did not! 

She asked him why he felt they would sleep in the zoo and if that was allowed (matter-of-factly!) and my daughters and I almost started whooping. She was very clear about telling him how rude he was and how he ought not to assume that because they looked like hausa, they did not understand Yoruba, she said she was an Ibadan girl as much as any Ibadan girl who had been born here because she had been born here too and that she took exception to his nastiness. To cap it all, as this man squirmed to have been caught out, the woman looked at me and winked! My day was made! Oh! I wished I could go and hi-five her cos I felt we could be such great friends! She apparently knew what a fire-ball her daughter was and knew the guy would get an earful, I walked out on the tips of my toes, and the best part? So did my daughters!They also had felt the man should not have been allowed to get away with such nastiness and were elated that he had to apologize. In all, the high point of our zoo trip, well, maybe not! Meeting Ajoke was great for me, looking forward to examining her in 'doctor mode'. 

Back home and enjoying a lazy lie-in, in touch with my favorite people online and only now just got a text to rendezvous with hubby at our favourite hang-out........

In all, an awesome Sunday!