TRANSPORTATION

Read on The Wordsmythe's blog that blogs do not self-update....really? Gosh! That is so tiresome! Read that memo here http://thewordsmythe.wordpress.com/2012/09/21/not-self-updating/#comment-1904 It made me visit this blog (mine!) to see how it was faring. Also not self-updating BTW (KMT!) But not a lot of exciting stuff that I want to write about is happening, plus there's work, so much work that I am beginning to feel like a slave or zombie.

I went to bed last night and woke up during the night in a slightly less than comfortable position (for Mr Akioye!) and could not but giggle. I asked why he had allowed me sleep so and he said that was the only way I seemed to have been able to sleep ( long-suffering somebody!). I had been dreaming of a tractor and must have been attempting to climb it if how I ended up was anything to go by. Got me thinking of cars (not the movie!) and how Mayowa always used to say my taste in cars was horrid. So this post is about Mobility.....no, not what you think!

I have always had transportation, from my primary means of getting about, my own two feet, to my first vehicle (?!) of a Chopper bicycle given to me by my very own fairy godmother, my aunt, Mrs B. I loved that bike, I had tired everyone out with showing off my new-found skill of riding bicycles and had made many farmers and palmwine tappers miserable in the village where I was raised, by making off with their means of transportation. I finally got my own bicycle on my 10th birthday. Oh! I rocked that bike! Dad got me a horn that sounded like a trailer and I played too many pranks as a child (actually Shaking My Head as I write this) with that horn.

After my Chopper bicycle came several vehicles, from the farm truck that was used for everything from packing sawdust (wood shavings) to fill the poultry houses, to picking up huge bags of corn from Alaba market to incorporate in the feeds that the chickens were fed and also picking up fish from the water front to be dried into fish-meal to supplement the Netherlands fish meal that was frightfully expensive ( and that is responsible for my deep hatred for fresh fish till date), to the Mitsubishi bus that was used to transport endless crates of eggs  to sales points (which fueled my dislike for eggs till date), to the Suzuki Jeep that was used to teach my senior sister to drive,  and the Peugeot 504 that was for outings and bank trips, I have always had a set of wheels to call my own.

A period of wheel-drought was when I was in school, FGC, Jos to University, was a bit of a dark time and driving anywhere was the furthest thing on my mind. I had stints of locomotion during students' IT the first two years when, the first year, I had a bicycle to make calls to homes of farmers who had veterinary problems. I never did see any farmers, the bicycle became my tool for getting rid of boredom and I am still amazed at the fact that I did not break something during that time. My next students' IT, I was upgraded to a motorcycle, I guess they figured if the bicycle did not kill me, the motorcycle should. And they were wrong! I survived it, and even made house calls to some pig farmers along Seme border on the way out of Nigeria. 

I was fine till Mr Right showed up in a rickety old Toyota, WIG. This Corona had an attitude. No nicer way of putting it. It wasn't until I had it full-time that I realised how temperamental a car it was. If you wanted to get to your destination while in it, better be nice, else, you would be pushing the car real quick!

My first proper (mine!)car was a Toyota Carina, must have been 1990-something model, I loved that car. It was a warm wine color and was very good to me, not minding my daredevil behaviour most days, just being safe by itself. It was such a car for me for that period. I had just had my daughter and so complete with car seat, school runs were my daily excuses for being a  Formula 1 driver. I am grateful I never ended up where I ought to have, because of my driving, mostly I arrived in spite of it.

After a while, our love turned sour, she could not do anything right it seemed and I figured the time to part as friends was here before our relationship deteriorated beyond salvage-able levels. I turned my back on a Toyota Carina for a Toyota Carina E estate. I have always loved cars that were slimline and roomy enough to take the entire house in, so I loved this blue guy. Handpicked by my daughter in a line-up, we would spend an exciting time as owner of this one. My daughters & I attempted to puncture ear drums by singing in the car with the sun roof open in traffic jams, they usually cleared right after we started singing....still dunno why!

Car shopping is a drag and being undecided helps as much as never. I'd like a Toyota, but tired of their overpriced generic models. Its the same reason I refused to buy an iPad, I truly hate all ostentatious labels, I can't be bothered to please anyone with my money!

I hate SUVs for the simple reason of its symbolism to Nigerians. It's associated with money, having arrived and being nouveau riche, well, I am old money and truly cant be bothered to validate anyone's opinion of me! I like me, and YOUR opinion does not necessarily matter as well! If I get one (an SUV i.e.) it will be an off-roader that does things like climbs wall and such like and hubby and I agreed we'd leave all those crazy middle age stuff till we are 50 ( we intend to start loching our hair then and embarrass our kids by going everywhere on power-bikes!).

Mobility is a big thing for me as I am unable to remain in one place for any length of time &  I also discovered that the solitude I get from locking myself in a car with windows wound up is awesome! Add to that crazy speeds and zipping along to the amazement of other drivers, the adrenaline rush helps to clear my blood vessels from time to time. 

If you read this, I want to thank your long-suffering self for being nice. I needed to ramble on a random topic and this is it....thanks for stopping by!

PS- I left out some cars not because I am being mean but because they have an aura to them that I must avoid, these are the ones I remember with fondness....