Winter Sun

Viv & Rob Kleinjan
Mar 2, 2022
3 min read

Ducks Squatting In Nigeria

Day 1: no ducks

Day 2: I thought I saw a duck. Turns out it was a pigeon.

Day 3: no ducks.

Day 4: I ducked from a ball today... not quite the same, but it's something.

Day 5: No ducks.

Day 6: No ducks.

Day 7: No ducks.

Day 8: I hear the distinct quack, I search and search, alas it is just a dream.

Day 9: no ducks

Day 10: I buy a rubber duck to distract myself.

Day 11: no ducks.

Day 12: I stand on the terrace looking into the haze, searching for the ducks, but the haze it too thick, and I cannot see.

Day 13: QUACK

Day 14: maybe this whole time I have been the duck....

Day 15: no duck, not even me.

Day 16: A DUCK?!? No, it's that damn pigeon again.

By Ailsa Sharkey

Winter Sun

Upon arrival the three of us Ailsa, Hugo, and I (Jack) were greeted by the wonderful heat of Nigeria, a welcome reprieve from the dark rainy winters of Europe. Soon after we were shuttled to Bella Vista by Yinka with a mobile police car trailing us- to the surprise of Ailsa who thought I had been joking about being followed by a police car.

At the beach house for my birthday the local chief dropped by. He told us all about what his role of chief entailed and that his area included a million people. Glory, the angel, baked a glorious cake for the occasion. As great as the beach house is the journey to and from it by speed-boat is equally, if not more, enjoyable. At one other point we took a boat ride, for sight-seeing purposes, and transport to Landmark beach with a small stop along the way to replenish the stores of alcohol in our possession. This was my favourite of the boat rides and it was entirely because the speed by which we were travelling was bringing Hugo to the verge of hurling everywhere; because we’re family- or bastards, take your pick, we thought this was hilarious. Sadly, or luckily, the event never came to pass but we have wonderful pictures to remember the occasion by.

Upon our arrival by boat at Landmark beach we were detained because it turned out that this wasn’t allowed. The boat however had already left so we couldn’t go anywhere but the beach. There was a lot of discussions, calling, and some casual impersonations ensuing from the situation but during all this there was a notable absence: Rob had just fucked off and no one had stopped him. A true inspiration.

During our stay we visited a lot of delicious restaurants often with copious of amounts of generously poured alcohol but the absolute best restaurant that any of us have ever been to was Shiro. It is a pan Asian restaurant with a breath-taking interior including giant statues, but most importantly the magnificently delicious food. We had ordered an array of starters first with the plan to move on to the main afterwards. However, we just ordered more and more starters because everything tasted amazing. Also, it was Rob’s birthday!?

Colleagues of Rob took us two evenings to some of the most incredible places to see in Lagos. The favourite of all the places that we visited was a live music bar. The live band was playing phenomenal Nigerian music with the main vocals being switched up between different members of the band. The atmosphere was electric. Also, too much Tequila was consumed.

A real surprising discovery was made when we were at the arcade. It turns out that Viv's low-key a professional basketball player. During a get-the-most-hoops game she was an unstoppable hoop-throwing machine. Unbeatable.

Ailsa and I joined Viv and her friends for painting under the guidance of Wallace, teacher and painter extraordinaire. Painting with the help of Wallace was incredibly fun and also led to results that were surprisingly higher than our (low) expectations of what we could achieve. I painted a scene based on Avatar the Last Airbender consisting of about 20 layers because of poor decision making skills earlier in the painting process. Ailsa painted a most refined goose with an air of nobility.

Here is a picture of me right after I make some bad decisions.

Here are the end results.

During painting Viv was busy working on her masterpiece: a painting of our friend Patrick. We got to witness her giving it to him. He was over the moon.