ALL WORK AND NO PLAY....

2020 a year like no other. 

Over the last 3 years I have documented my summer breaks, this has been so much fun, though one slight setback with holiday blogging a forethought is it often takes away from the vibe as one is constantly scouting for the next photo op rather than seizing the moment and taking it all in. 

THE ROAD LESS TRAVELLED....

It’s 6am, I sense a vibration from my phone so check a message that reads ‘Ola I’m in Paris waiting to board...’

My thoughts are ‘Wow, he’s actually done it’ 😳

POUNDED YAM ON A MONDAY?

Hi guys TGIF, I’ve been sitting twiddling my thumbs waiting for a friend of mine to send me a pic before I posted today’s blog.

THE NEW NORMAL....

Family Quiz Zoom 

Hi guys it has been quite a while, I’ve been taking a break and had no plans to blog for a while until a friend asked why had I gone quiet. I think I now know how Fela felt when he said he no longer had anything to sing about as he had virtually covered every social injustice in his music. Arm robbery, leg robbery, head robbery, police brutality, nepotism, tribalism, “entanglement”😜 etc. 

So this is my own version of  ‘Ola wetin you go sing about o, dem go worry mi’ 🎤 🎶 📢 

Protesting With My Mum: #BlackLivesMatter

SPECIAL GUEST FEATURE: 

My name is Tee (Risi's daughter) and today I will be taking over my mum's blog.

My mother and I: En route Parliament Square

Unless you’re living under a rock, I would assume that you are aware of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests going on across the globe, as a result of police brutality and the unjust murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and many more black lives.

THE HATE U GIVE (T.H.U.G).....

I'm Gonna Tell THEM There is An African American Man Threatening My Life ~ Amy Cooper

I Can’t Breathe ~ George Floyd

When The Looting Starts The Shooting Starts ~ President Of the United States of America

Simply copy and paste quotes above onto your internet search engine and you'll know where we’re going today.

IT IS WHAT IT IS...

The goofy ‘social distanced’ photograph above was taken with my mate Chris earlier this week, at work. You may recall in my previous blog post KEEP ON MOVING… 2 weeks ago, I mentioned that some colleagues had been interviewed by ITV News, well Chris just happens to be one of them. I refer to these colleagues as ‘The Chosen Ones’ though it’s not as if I’m bitter about not being the one interviewed or anything, neither am I jealous over their successful ITV debut 😐

I KNOW WHO I AM....

New Year's Day 2017

It's been a long time coming, they do say ‘Better late than never’ though.
I've always known I would blog about this at the right time, it was just a question of where to start. A quick read of my ‘About me’ on this blog opens with an introduction of myself as ‘Ola also known as Risi when I'm keeping in touch with my roots’. The roots I refer to here are my parents Muslim faith.

KEEP ON MOVING....

Photo above is me returning to the plantation after 6 weeks locked down in Lagos and 2 weeks in self isolation back in the U.K. In case you're wondering about the ‘plantation’ this is the location in which a currently employed person performs his or her job, and where a usually employed person performs the primary job used to determine his/her other economic characteristics such as occupation, industry, and status in employment. Basically whether you be Oga Pata-Pata (big boss) or a Small Fry at the bottom of the food chain you're all working on a fr***gin Plantation🌽🌽🌽🌽. 

LIFE AFTER....

Before the Social Distancing Brigade come for me with their sticks and stones, the picture above was taken Pre-Lockdown, New Year’s Day 2020 to be precise!
I was flicking through some pics on my phone and stumbled upon it. At the time this pic represented one big family. Post-Lockdown ‘Game ti change’ as this photograph now represents 5 separate households 😷\ 😷 \😷 \😷 \😷🙈  who are NOT allowed/supposed to mingle with each other and if they do they are expected to stay 2 metres apart. Who ever knew?

AND THEN THERE WERE TWO.....

So where did I stop…..

Oh yeah the part when I received the text from Virgin informing me that as all commercial flights from Nigeria were to be suspended from 23 April, my return flight to UK has been cancelled. My reaction was relatively calm as I had only just lost my dad so everything else kind of paled in significance, nothing seemed that important COVID-19 lock down included.

30 DAYS IN LAGOS AND STILL COUNTING...

A phone is ringing in the near distance and wakes me from sleep, the bedside clock reads 3:30am. I stare as my phone continues to flash and my stomach tightens as I just know I'm about to receive a life changing call I have dreaded all my life. I take a deep breath as I answer and hear Uncle Biodun's voice ‘Ola it has happened o……’ every single word he says after this I do not understand as I cannot take anything in. I do however manage to tell him that we will see him later. He assures me he has everything under control, I then drop the phone.