I have a cold. Not any cold but a Lagoatian cold. Think the worst case of man flu anyone (Carl) has ever complained about and I have that. Tonight was parents' consultations in school and I sat with the Year 6 teacher (I 'll tell you why in a minute) and I sneezed and coughed and sniffed, and Nigerian parents being incredibly polite and friendly all went to say goodbye to me by shaking my hand BUT you could see the horror in their eyes- I have to shake the headteacher's hand - the hand that she has used to hold many, many tissues and she has been sneezing and coughing into!!! In the end I just said don't touch me I am contagious and it broke the ice and everyone laughed - except me I coughed.
One of the girls that was involved in the fire has left Nigeria! she never settled back and was unhappy so has gone- hence me explaining to parents that they now have a new Y6 teacher- the competition for school places in Nigeria and the top UK schools is very fierce so disruption in this year is not good, but luckily we have a truly outstanding teacher in school who has stepped up to the role. I am keen to further develop music and drama in school, so today I created a performing arts faculty I already have some talented and dedicated staff but am advertising to strengthen music even further - a full orchestra and choir to enter competitions.
To give you an idea about the scope of the school, a parent in school asked if she could invite her uncle - an author to talk to Y6 during book week (in November here) I said yes and he is duly coming. Today I mentioned his name to someone and they nearly collapsed- he is only a Nobel Laureate!! he won the prize for literature!
When we lived in Monmouth- Sleepy Hollow- we often heard gun shots and never commented. We'd think it was either the Garrison or someone stalking / pigeon shooting. But here tonight Carl heard 5 shots and it was somehow unnerving. Luckily the shots didn't continue but even so, when you live in a compound where you drive through a gated chicane with armed guards (AK47s) who work around the clock, and where you have armed guards outside your school security perimeter you stop noticing the guns, but gunfire is something else and this is the first time we have heard it.
Heigh ho, life goes on. Tomorrow there may be fresh milk in La Pointe- I'll be there straight after school! You may have thought queuing was a thing of the cold war Moscow past but milk in Lagos excites a feeding frenzy.
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