IT IS WHAT IT IS.....

So it all started with a Whatsapp chat between myself and my cousin, Dela when she invited me to join her for  a ‘Soul Weekender’ at Butlins, Bognor Regis.

EVERY PICTURE TELLS A STORY....

 

‘Imitation’ they say is the sincerest form of flattery. 

So at work since the pandemic we have gone somewhat virtual, holding meetings via Teams video conferencing and most of us have uploaded a profile picture of ourselves for those times when we ‘off the camera’ to put a face to the name. I for one though have not got round to uploading one.   

I KNOW WHO I AM......2021

 

Last year May 17th 2020 when I was on a roll consistently posting blogs I wrote an article titled ‘I know who I am.....’ to date it is one of my most read blogs. It gave an overview of my life as a child born into what I would term a ‘moderate’ muslim family but given freewill and leeway by my parents to practice what ever religion I wanted as long as I believed in something!

To appreciate this post I would be nice for you to revisit...link here👈🏾

LET THEM EAT CAKE.....

   

The picture above was taken on a Friday afternoon last October, when one was still trying to make the most of any window of opportunity that presented itself between lockdown. So this was Afternoon Tea at The Farmhouse in Hitchin with Itunu, my sister from another mother. It was such a kerfuffle to sync our diaries to make this date happen with all the uncertainty at the time. 

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.

WE CAME.......WE SAW......2019

                           

Hi could you all quickly gather here for a selfie…..I've missed you so much!

Now this is really embarrassing, where do I start?

Let’s try the beginning, I cannot believe the last time I blogged was last year, October 2018 😩

Please accept my apologies but you see life happens, hopefully I shall be able to salvage what little shreds I have left of my reputation with this my post today. You see it's that time of the year again, you know….annual trip with The Crew ‘tinz’ and on a positive note I've brushed up on my skills so we have our first video uploaded at end of blog!!

WE CAME.......WE SAW.....2018 (PART 2)

       

Happy Nigerian Independence Day everyone. 

'Unku' Tinubu, Lagos no go spoil Ooo, literally! (If you know....you know!) 

I’ve kept my word to continue with a 2nd part blog about our travels to Prague. See part 1 here. 

WE CAME.....WE SAW.....2018 (PART 1)

           

Guess what?

We were in Prague last week! When I say ‘we’ I refer to a group of tight friends who have morphed into ‘fam’ over the years. We are 8 adults in number and 6 young adults under the age of 20. So basically 14 of us ‘took on’ Czech Republic!

A LITTLE BIT OF HELP FROM MY FRIENDS...

I had no plans to blog this week, then something happened to me!

When I posted blog last week, I did something different…. while forwarding blogpost to my usual Whatsapp‘RisiByName’ broadcast list, I added another name, ‘Dayo’ a friend who is also a former Naija Law school classmate of mine.  When Dayo received the post, he immediately popped up in my Whatsapp chat acknowledging receipt and saying hi. I apologised for forwarding blog to him with no introduction as it was the 1st time.  He said no worries and we continued from where we left our last conversation earlier in the year, when he asked whether I would like to join our law school Whatsapp group; I replied ‘Bring it on’.

IT'S NOT YOU....IT'S ME!

I'm feeling rather frivolous today, we’ve had some deep stuffs (‘stuff’ I know has no plural but if you know…you know!) on blog recently.
So we need to lighten things up.

Today I want to talk about modern day ‘Ships’.…new word for ‘Relationship’ (true story I didn't make that up). How times have changed, in fact to write this blog I’ve constantly had to refer to a new favourite of mine…The Urban Dictionary, an online dictionary for slangs and phrases. A great concept where people try to outdo each other with their crazy definitions of these latest slangs and words.

IS IT COZ I IS BLACK? (THE OFFICIAL COMPLAINT)

                    

This is an update on a blog I posted on 30th July 2018 “Is It Cos I Is Black?” recounting the day my brother was racially profiled by the police.

An official complaint has now been filed with the Independent Office For Police Conduct (IOPC) which I feel may be of interest to some of you.

I wish I could say ‘Happy reading’

Comments have been disabled.

IS IT COZ I IS BLACK?

                               

From title of this post you should know a major rant is uploading. 

I’m not here to play today, so I’m not observing my usual introductory protocol of banter or pretty pictures.  

I pray I can gather my thoughts to lay this one down exactly the way I want to as for once I’m somewhat ‘finger’ tied and not too sure what direction I'm going. 

So where do I start? I think I'm going to use the family of Stephen Lawrence as my reference point, if you live in the U.K. and don’t know who they are, there is just no point in you reading this blog post, you may as well just crawl back under the stone you've been living.

PLENTY MEAT......NO VEG PLEASE!

      

Happy belated New Year greetings, hope you had a fab Christmas.

Yes I know it's been a while and I actually have no excuse, I had planned to write a new year post but then I died.Yes you've read me right ‘I died’. In the aftermath of the Aussie flu that made the rounds this winter, I read somewhere that the test for whether one genuinely has a bout of flu is down to how one feels. If you feel like you have a flu…. you don't, that’s actually a mere cold you have!  If however you feel like you’re dying or been hit by a train then yes that’s the flu! So that’s it folk, you read it here first…I died. 

So now back to the photo at the top of this blog, if you're wondering what’s going on

sometime last year a restaurant “Ikoyi” opened in the Central London on it’s website the restaurant is described as:

‘A Chic space with decor that reflects the cuisine: a modern twist on authentic West African flavours’

WHATSAPP GOT TO DO WITH IT?

      

         

I’m rather slow when it comes to all things social media.

Apart from this blog and my addiction to reading Nigerian online magazines, my only other guilty pleasure in that realm is possibly my use of Whatsapp…or is it really a pleasure?

I was rather late in getting on the Whatsapp bandwagon, I was so hung up on Blackberry Messenger…it suited me fine. The mere fact that user’s did not need to have my telephone number and could be added simply by a unique BBM PIN number made it just right for me, I felt in control. I was somewhat paranoid back then and as Whatsapp started making momentum and people kept asking me to get with the programme I strongly resisted. 

My argument was I didn't like the idea that as soon as I download this app every single Musa, Nnamdi or ‘Funke’ I had on my phone contacts list who had the app would have access to me and be able to send me messages. (‘Kunle’ replaced with ‘Funke’ as I was worried that you guys would say…Haba Ola is it only guys you know!)

FUNKE!!!

One of the funniest virals of all time has got to be the ‘PRANKING MY AFRICAN DAD’ one.

I received this video clip one Sunday morning a few years back….my thoughts at the time were ‘see me, see wahala, so early in the morning?’ It was the Blackberry days and the phone was ‘pinging’ but when I ‘pressed phone’ roll on the credits, 4 minutes later……my chest! I couldn't breathe as I had laughed so much. 

If I was to do a blog post exclusively dedicated to that video we could possibly be talking pages and pages of descriptive writing, you guys would be here for days….It would be a disservice not to start off with a description of that typical African ‘parlour’. We have the all important white wedding photo of mummy and daddy hung up on wall above ‘the settee’, strategically placed above it is another ‘foto frame’ and it goes on….

AN ODE TO THE WEINSTEIN'S OF NAIJA

Let me think!

Where do I begin with this one? I'm feeling rather lazy and know ideally I should start this post with a quick recap about Harvey Weinstein and what he did, but please folk if you don't know, Google is you friend, kindly visit the street!

Anyway this weekend it was a friend’s birthday (another blog for another day!) as her day drew to a close, we crashed to the floor chillaxing and conversation drifted to the above subject matter. Now the funny thing was all of us had the same dismissive attitude about the Weinstein matter and as we spoke more and more we started to scratch the surface and eventually got to what lie beneath as it transpired that there was a reason for this our lack of enthusiasm on the topic.  

HERE COME THE BOYS....

                           
  

There was big hoha a few weeks back in Naija when a church in the build up to running a programme decided to give it a somewhat provocative tag line. 

We all know these tag lines, the more catchy, the more likely they are to gather attention and grow the ministry. 

They usually go something along these lines:

Oh God, Na Like This We Go Dey? (Single and Married Talk Show!)

Pray Yourself Towards A Husband Before End of 2017~ Revelation Power Assembly

Rid Yourself of Spiritual Husband in 10 Days~ Banqueter’s Ministry😩

King Of Curses & Demonic Covenants ~ Prison Break Ministries 

Lord Where Is My Money~ Comforters Chapel😐

4 Days Travel Programme: Anointing To Travel, Fast Track To America (true story folk, I did not make that one up!)

SUGAR & SPICE....

                                   

Hi Guys that’s my niece, Kanyinsola with me at the top of this post, she turned 10 on the day we took this pic but as a family member was also celebrating their 50th birthday on same day, she didn’t get to throw her own party. People say we look alike; I know we do, real chip off the old block isn't she? I just hope she doesn't inherit my temperament ( I guess her parents are wishing the same thing too)

So we pushed the celebrations forward to the following week, when she held a disco party for her school mates. 

Every year when my nephew and niece birthday are approaching the all important, life changing, decision has to be made……Do you want a Naija party or party for your class mates at school?

RANDOM THOUGHTS.....

Hi guys, sorry for the break in transmission.Yes I know it's been a while now since I last blogged, but well you know my motto….life happens!

Anyway luckily for you guys (never been one to be humble am I?) an old friend of mine has managed to get me to start writing again.
I had lost contact with them for a number of years and when I read from them recently through whatsapp, as we were discussing the situation ‘on ground’ in Naija and it’s influence on The Andrew-I'm-checking-out brigade.  It suddenly dawned on me that they were unaware that I had have a blog.
So I quickly sent them one of my most popular blog posts and asked them for feedback, surprisingly when I got their reply it was not what I expected….they replied and I quote: