Saturday 26th April
Part two of the Bishops Son’s wedding: White Wedding (English Style). I can not really say I was in the mood for a wedding. I got out of the wrong side of bed and was feeling pretty grumpy. I have had a very busy week and had sacrificed last Saturday to watch them wed so why should I spend another day? I would rather sleep till 11 and then go meet Benson, go on a tour of his village and be introduced to the Former Governor of Abia State.
The wedding was pretty English if you ignored the processional music and the dancing up the isle…gosh. What was I expecting? If people dance and celebrate funerals in a joyful manner why would they start turning their wedding procession into a funeral march? The hymns were all old traditional English ones that I knew from growing up so I was able to enjoy knowing the tune and words so could sing well. I actually ended up enjoying myself until I checked the clock. One of the Revs was very funny in the service trying to hurry things up – he finished the choir and was advising them to leave the church. When they processed out they enjoy walking slow and sometimes even backwards. He was calling on them to hurry their dancing and to leave because there was lots more to do. Pat was there and Sister, and so was Doctor Hanz and his wife Mary. There were a couple of photographers mingling about snapping people and selling them their photographs for 50 naira. I snapped with Martha and the girls that work for Sister. I do not really like developing film cameras because you never know if you looked ok and to enjoy them I would either have to be blessed with a photogenic face or be willing to spend a lot of money to be able to get a nice photograph.
When the wedding was over we went to collect a gift for V/Rev Timothy to celebrate his induction. The persons house was close to Benson and Orji Uzor Kalu so we phoned him and arranged to meet up in the Former Governs Compound.
The compound was very grand. It was the kind of place that Japanese tourists go nuts over, wide lawns and 3 or 4 huge white buildings in a circle. All of the lawns were named; there was George Bush JR Lawn and the Bill Clinton fountain, Ndubisi lawn and whatever. I would have loved to snap these things but did not feel it would be correct behaviour, we met Benson in a large room with a marble floor and big sofas the air conditioning was on so strong it made my skin prickle. Benson offered to take me on a tour of the grounds so I accepted. The air was deliciously warm and sweet, the kind of air you only have when you go on holiday and you are fully relaxed. The guest house resembled a posh hotel, there was two places for meetings and offices, a swimming pool, tennis courts, play area for children and a BBQ plaza. How I wished that I could have stayed for a BBQ there was two modern tribal style huts with big carved wooden seats with animal hair on and a small bar section for taking cold beers and cocktails.
When we went back we were called for dinner. I entered a big dining room with a buffet set up reminiscent of my days working in Holland House Hotel. Benson put me second in the line ‘ladies first and all that’. When I got closer to the food my little heart sank. I was holding a china plate and a knife and fork but everything else was foreign. I hadn’t even seen half of the things on the table so I picked my friend garri & Augsi soup and sat down one place setting next to Orji Uzor Kalu so that he would not see me embarrassing myself. Then a man with a better sounding English accent than my own came over and asked me if I was ok. I said yes. Then he pointed out that most people would not be trying to eat garri with beans. So I sent my dinner away and tried again with help. I took fried rice, some unrecognisable yet pretty tasty section of chicken carcass and some vile coconut rice. Benson came and apologised for my embarrassment and we spoke about him coming to England and how he found our food. After dining we briefly caught Former Governor but he was in tennis gear so it was not really an appropriate time. I was not too bothered because I had enjoyed an interesting evening and was mulling over if I stood any chance of getting invited back to eat hamburgers and drink cocktails and white wine. Martha and Rev were quiet in the car and seemed pretty pissed off at how late it had got and how unproductive the evening was and how we still had someone to visit and why am I fussing about chieftaincy and there is armed robbers about this area and whatever.
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