Where do I begin? I woke up early and got prepared to go to work. I picked up my work shoes and put on a pair of slippers which I prefer to drive with. I took my jacket and an apple from the fridge. I hopped into my car, turned on my stereo and zoomed down a surprisingly free road all the way to the office. I was feeling good. Today is going to be a good day. I got to my office 30mins earlier than usual! I got of my car in my comfy slippers and reached in the back for my pair of loafers – they weren’t there.

I guess at the point of locking my door I dropped my shoes and forgot to pick them up. ‘That’s just perfect!’, I thought. Now there’s no way I’m gonna walk around in my suit wearing a pair of Hausa slippers – I’d look like a right twat. I had customers to visit so I had 2 choices: Either get into the mile-long traffic and start the gruelling journey back to my flat or cough out some cash to buy a new pair. Neither option was attractive but the second pair had the time advantage…I guess that’s why THEY say, Time is money (go figure!) 

So I’m still feeling positive about this whole fiasco, realizing that I can pick up a new pair of shoes 2mins from my office (since my office was in a shopping complex). But buying a pair of shoes proved harder than I thought. I walked into the only men’s shoe shop which coincidentally had new arrivals (Yippee!). There was a pair that didn’t catch my eye at first, but later it was ‘love at first wear’. There was just one teeny problem – The shoe was brown.

Not to worry though. The shop attendant said he’s rush down to their bigger outlet and be back in a jiffy (actually he didn’t use the term ‘jiffy’. In Nigeria, the equivalent of saying that is ‘now-now’, as in ‘I’ll be back now-now’…ridiculous, right? Anyway, this shop attendant’s ‘now-now’ became a 1hr overdue. I was getting pissed off now-now. The other shop attendant who stayed behind advised me to take another pair of shoes and that he would bring over the ones I wanted to my office – fair deal, I thought. But 2hrs after that the shop attendant comes to my office with two completely different pair of shoes that I never asked for. He explains that he wasted an 1hr looking for my shoe size but I argued that he didn’t have the deceny to call the shop and keep me informed. I was now the proud owner of a pair of shoes which I didn’t really want or plan to buy in the first place. I just felt they were more dressy than they were rugged.

All this while I was day-dreaming about my Ferragamo loafers which I left lying outside my door…in a communal compound with about 9 other tenants (Oh crap! Are they safe? Would anyone want to steal a pair of used shoes? Is anyone using size EUR 45/UK11/US12 in my neighbourhood whom I should be worrying about? It’ll be fine. Don’t go all Crazy Nigerian…

Well, I wish I could tell you I got back home to a happy ending. I wish I could say that I found my shoes lying outside my flat where I left them. I wish I could say that I wasn’t reluctant to type this post. I wish I could say that I wasn’t feeling bitter. I wish I wasn’t forgetful in the first place. I wish today would just end now-now…(sigh) 🙁