Friday, May 28, 2010

The Basket Sandals

I love the beautiful pattern it left in the dusty brown sand. They were tiny fragments of square & circles intertwined. All around the school compound, you could see them splayed across sometimes intersecting one another. It stood out from the rest, it was unique. Those were the sole patterns of the basket sandal.

I loved the basket sandals. Back in the days, they were the raining rubber sandals in school. Everybody had them, I mean, everybody. Ify had them and you’d often see me trail behind her as we trudged home together from school under the hot sun. I loved watching the pattern it left in the sand. Ify will wear hers with a set of sparkling white socks which always made it look grander. My own sandal was a brown ugly one which was bigger than my feet. I wanted the basket sandal too, all the girls had it, I loved the beautiful pattern it made on the earth. My Mum said I didn’t need it because I had a very good one which will last me for some years. I was desperate, I wanted the basket sandal just like all the other girls, I wanted to wear it with my socks and look just as smart as Ify. I will go the extra length to get it! So I began to wear my ugly school sandal everywhere I went, to church, to play, to visit, even at home I would wear it, the faster it wears, the quicker I got another one. One afternoon as I was coming from school, “plap!”it snapped. It cut from the sole, I was glad! I knew I had to work extra hard in convincing my mother that what I needed wasn’t a repair but a new one, alas I did and she conceded. Guess what I bought? – The beautiful basket sandal!!!..I still think of this & smile- the frivolities of growing up. Can’t believe I lost sleep over I think so little.

I’ve been following a lot of amazing blogs on the Ville lately eventhough the Ville has been generally kinda quiet, I’ve been having fun. I miss Original Mgbeks soooo terribly, sisto, update more often now!!!, Olufunke, Enkay, where are you galz???. Thank God for ExSchoolnerd, for delivering her from evil. There’s no need apologizing for my usual disappearance, it sounds all very cliché now. Hooray to the Naija Bloggers award, can see a couple of my favorite blogs there. Will surely vote for ‘em.

Yáll have a nice weekend!!!