Into my second week here and the shit-storm is showing no signs of abating. I’ve been frustrated beyond measure by the lack of a sense of urgency, even when deadlines are upon us. The only time anyone looks lively is when the Chairman’s name is mentioned. I’ve also realized that ass-kissing is very important to people in the corporate world. Possibly it’s as bad elsewhere in the world, but I’ve yet to see it.
On the home front, my housekeeper is impressing me no end with her global ex-pat friendly cooking – proper Mexican chicken fajitas (with refried beans and guacamole), Beef Wellington, Spanish omelette, Cottage Pie, even a very passable pizza with a light crust! The only thing is, the meat – even the bacon - tastes funny. Carnivore-wise, I much prefer the spicy chicken from Chicken Republic (their equivalent of Chicken Licken) down the road. I also like the suya the creatives buy down the road – a kind of medium-hot spiced crumbed schnitzel that comes with red onions. The Nigerians are spice mad – especially chilli – probably a function of having to disguise the godawful taste of the meat. I have been warned not to order pepper soup. Not ever. My (currently absent) boss Richard explained it thus: Grind up about 3kg of black pepper, boil it up with chilli for a few hours and serve. Add salt to taste (yeah, right)!
I still haven’t had much time to venture forth, but the shoot over the weekend took me out to Fiki’s Boatyard, reached by driving through the fish market under the Falomo Bridge (that crosses over from Victoria Island to Ikoyi). The market is vaguely quaint and scenic in a scrappy, muddy, polluted, bombed out kind of way.
The boatyard is, literally, falling down, chunks of concrete crumbled off the walls, the metal rusted through, the railings collapsed and the cement pier crazy paved with sizeable cracks. For the sensitive of stomach, I won’t describe the toilet! But owner Fiki Bal isn’t fixing anything as he has finally gained official approval (some 20 years after buying the property, following much legal wrangling and sizeable payoffs) to develop a proper waterfront venue with a 6-story hotel and a floating restaurant!
I took his number – you never know...
I spent most of the day sweating onshore and killing time with the crew, eventually got on board the speedboat (we just had to pick up some stills of the local actor they were using in the all-action TVC) and enjoyed speeding up and down that small section of Five Cowries Creek.
On the waterside at the Civic Centre is the pukka Victoria Island Boat Club – some pretty impressive boats, but admission by invitation only. I’ll have to cultivate some larney friends here. Oh, wait, I’ll have to leave the building first. Patience, my pet…
On Monday I went to the decidedly unscenic harbor-side area known as Ipapa, to present to the Conoil client. Deeply regretted not taking my camera, but I will next time. That was my first taste of the mainland – think Hillbrow, but with more people and worse roads. The ground floors of the buildings are packed cheek-by-jowl with traders whose tiny shops, demarcated by the piles of goods the sell, spill on to the pavement. Actually, everything spills onto the pavement and thence into the open gutters that are bridged (in places) by concrete slabs that fail to cover them, but serve as stepping stones for pedestrians. After a good shower of rain tops them up, they can get pretty rank.
No comments:
Post a Comment