Tuesday, April 17, 2007

My bicycle and Miss Diane.

Have I mentioned my bicycle here? My beautiful red bicycle? I'll tell you all about it later, but first, let me tell you about how my love for bicycles started.I used to love riding my "bike" as a child, which ofcourse was a hand me down from my brother. I could not wait for him to go boarding school so I could finally have the "chopper" all to myself. I rode it everywhere, but my best memory of riding my bike was when I used to ride it to my "lesson teacher's" house. My lesson teacher was a very young babe, about 28, she was single and enjoying life. She was my English teacher, yes oh! I had lessons just for English, not as if I needed it, but you know parents, once they see you are good in a subject, they'll do "oversabi"! Anyway, I used to ride down to her small apartment, and this is what we used to do. She'd give me a book with questions and answers(it was a brown book, verbal aptitude) and tell me to do about 100 questions. The lesson room was her kitchen, she used to put a tray with tea and biscuits and leave me all to myself while she did some "entertaining". I am telling you, it was a very exciting time for me, never had I seen so many "uncles" in my life not to talk of all the presents she got! Once in a while, she'd pop her head in and ask if I had any questions, I never had, I was impatient for her to go back to the living room so I could listen in on her conversations with her different "men friends". Just before the end of my lesson, (it was two hours, 4-6) I'd look at the back of the book and copy the answers! Sometimes, she'd go out with the men, leaving me with a couple of films, the remote control and a packet of "choclate fingers" or whatever she had just received as present. I tell you, the fun I had! I used to go to her room and try out all her high heels and jewelry, pretend I was her, talk like her, move my hips left and right as I had seen her do,oh, the fun! I never did anything in her house, yet I was one of the best English students the school had produced.I was in the "debate" group, I remember us travelling to Benin, then it was still "Bendel state" to do debates on television.I won prizes,was cast in different "plays", scored the highest in English in "entrance examinations", wrote prize winning essays, all my success was attributed to the two hours after school lessons I had with Miss Diane. My parents sang her praises everywhere, I was seen as the protege of Miss Diane. The funny thing is we both knew we did not do anything, but we lapped up all the praises like a "team". She would often put her arm around me when people commented about how good I was and make remarks like "you see, I told you the extra work on vocabulary will pay off" and I'd say "yes aunty" or "I make sure she reads a lot of newspapers" etc. We really had fun, oh and all this time she was engaged to a very wealthy man who my parents knew! She was very nice to me and I must say, she's one of the few teachers that I have a fond memory of. Sometimes, she would "load" my chopper in her car and drive me home, we'd listen to music and sing all the way. I remember my bicycle, I remember primary six being a wonderful time but most of all, I remember Miss Diane who made that year truly special.

19 comments:

Admin UD said...

Oh! dear, such sweet memories...hmmm

uknaija said...

LOL @ Chopper- I had a purple one which I inherited and then passed on my Tomahawk...

Anonymous said...

aww... how sweet (in a way...)
wonder where she is now and what she's doing...

LondonBuki said...

I had a Chopper too.

She was lucky oh... she was being paid to entertain men, since she just left you to enjoy. LOL!!!

Nice :-)

♥♫♪nyemoni♫♪♥ said...

Wow, memories of TRUANCY!!! lol... Thank God you didn't dissapoint! You were just natural in the subject... going to her place was just your daily get-away!

EDNUTEY said...

LOL, very funny
yeah, sometimes I remember primary schoolm, the old sings we sing on the assembly ground
memories
it was fun back then

Anonymous said...

waffy! waffy!!....na so u dey enjoy chocolate fingers. I hope u no get constipation sha due to your ijekuje. LOL

omohemi Benson said...

I love bicycles but I never got to learn how to ride!*sobs* my mum was always too scared I'll hurt myself or get hit by a car!

I see you learnt more than English lol. Where is she now?

Standing Truth Betold said...

hhh this is such a nice post. oh the memories!! great post waffi

Idemili said...

Na wah o! Is that when you became crazy? LOL

Kidding. Great story. Took me back to my primary school...

UnNaked Soul said...

sweet
where's she?

IJEOMA said...

cute story..
i have little recollection of my years in primary school in naija.. its good that you can remember yours so vividly and with happiness

BiMbyLaDs** said...

lol.. sweet memories...lol@u trying the lesson teachers shoes.. lol..

iconoclastic said...

is miss diane r real name by d way? this is only bcos im thinkin she mIte be my aunt...but wait oh my aunt no sabi english like daT

laspapi said...

chopper came, then bmx, then grifter...

kramer said...

Eya, you really seemed to like this anuty Diane. So sweet, can just imagine you straining to hear what she discusses with the uncles that visited. Im sure at that age I too would have looked up to a cool, indepedent, single lady who seemed to understand the mind of a young teenager. I know I used to admire the older daughter of the nigerwives.
Ur feeling for writing must come from ur natural affinity to english. LOL

diary of a G said...

WUP?

excuse me but can you drop it like its hot? like snoop D O double dizzly? lol

ziariz said...

teachers like that make the world go round.... i never had the priviledge of having such a relationship with my teachers..lol, mostly i hated them and wanted them to drown in a shallow lake brewing with leeches..lol, kidding.. nice one as usual... and funny... so did she end up getting married to her original boyfriend...

ziariz said...

oh... and i love bicycles... my first bicycle was a neighbours own, it had no brakes and no chain but i learnt with it, tore a lot of skin and ligaments and yesss... i had the wind blow through my threaded hai... i was in primary six... but i loved it especially riding down a hill...