General

A chance meeting - via the ubiquity of the internet - with Yousef Komunyakaa’s poem ‘Ode to The Drum’ left an indelible mark on me. The sheer beauty of the lines, rich imagery that harks back to a time of hunting for sustenance in Africa and the ritual of drum making are things that I have never been able to forget. In the poem a hunter kills a gazelle, skins it, and uses its skin for a drum. The hunter maintains an ongoing monologue, almost apologetically stating the case for killing the gazelle. There is meat, and the need to drive trouble from the valley via the beating of a drum. In the process of creating a drum, the gazelle is reborn - from dead weight slouching in the grassy hush to a drum beat filling the valley and exorcising evil. This, to me, is the under-girding theme - transformation; from evil to good, from death to a different sort of life. As the year 2010 wraps up, perhaps the closing lines are apt.. ...

A few of the info-graphics that captured my eye this year.. Football Chalkboards: For us the discerning football enthusiasts, chalkboards were the revelations of 2010. Granted the Guardian debuted with them in early 2009, but the Roy vs Rafa debate for us Liverpool fans ensured chalkboards became the ultimate resource for assessing how high up the pitch the lads press, passes completed, oh and the aptly named heatmaps. Twitter is not a conversation: Us Twitter apologists usually claim Twitter as a conversation for being one of the reasons we stay on Twitter. Sadly, the data does not support that claim, as this info-graphic from 2010 showed. The world according to Facebook: In December, Paul Butler at Facebook came up with an interesting info-graphic; a world map based on Facebook connections. Marriage In America: TIME asked if marriage in America was still required. Al Mohler argued that we all do, and this PewSocial info-graphic captured the data. Infostate of Africa: Fascinating… via AppAfrica Flickr account…

Waking up to the strains of We Three Kings Of Orient Are on the BBC’s Radio 2 brings back memories of days long lost - of youth, of creativity and an unfettered enjoyment of life. When I was much younger (close on twenty years ago now, cringe), I took part in the carolling, recitals of bible verses committed to memory, and nativity plays which were the highlight of the Christmas season in our small University town in Nigeria. This hymn though, is one especially important to me because it marked the first time I was selected to sing a lead vocal. Granted, I ran over the lines, forgot some, went ‘off key’, and probably knocked my knees so loudly a few well placed microphones might have picked up on them, but it was still a ‘solo’ performance. ...

Words that were burned into my conciousness in 2010.. swingeing |ˈswinji ng | adjective chiefly Brit. severe or otherwise extreme : out-with | out- wiθ | preposition. chiefly Scot. outside: knackered |ˈnækərd | adjective British Slang. exhausted; very tired: ta | tɑ | interjection British Slang. thank you: wee | wi | adjective chiefly Scottish. little:

I think cab drivers are a microcosm of the larger society and that if a sufficiently large sample is analysed, one can gain critical insights into the mind of a city. This has to be the year where I used cabs the most. Tight deadlines at work, atrocious weather conditions, moving houses and a few late night jaunts around town conspired to leave me needing cabs at various times this year. The downside was largely financial – I ended up racking up significant costs on renting cabs over the year. On the plus side, I think I gained a window into the mindset of this city. ...

The number 16 bus into the city centre is packed - brim full with people heading into town. The atrocious weather of the last few days let up briefly today, and with the imminence of Christmas, everyone seems to be up and about to get the last bits of shopping done. The bus stop where I clamber aboard the number 16 is mid way between the starting terminus and the ending terminus, as such I can only find standing space, ironically next to a sign that ostensibly marks the limits of standing room. Next to me are a mother and her daughter. The daughter cannot be more than six years old and still possesses the unbridled energy and uninhibited curiosity being young and carefree brings. The atmosphere is tense - of the kind where a word out of place potentially could let loose a fire storm. There are people plugged into iPods, people huddled together in groups chatting away and people like me who are alone, with lowered eyes looking into the distance. The little girl becomes the side show though - firing off question after question to her mother, peering into people’s faces, and at some stage leaning in towards her mother and planting a kiss on her cheek whilst whispering “I love you Mum”. When she gives the wizened old lady behind me a fixed stare. I wonder how the bus scene would look like in a different country, south of the Sahara. For the first time in a few months, I remember my mother.

Winter has struck its first tentative blows - two successive days last week we woke up to see our world carpeted with a thin layer of snow. Karla - Benny’s wife who has lived all her life in this town - swears that this is the first time she’s seen snow fall in October. Considering last winter was one in which several firsts going back thirty years were bested, that singular piece of news leaves one with a sense of dread. Those who should know better also swear by their instruments that this will be yet another long, hard, harsh winter. In anticipation - and I should add as usual - the gas and power suppliers are inching the rates upwards. Not since 2008 has there being such a significant hike in prices. Predictably there is discontent at huge profits, pay for executives and other such perceived signs of exploitation in the face of price rises. One paper goes as far as saying ‘Christmas will be ruined’ - for an annual average increase of a princely seventy pounds or 67.2 bottles of Becks premium lager…. The days when we bemoaned twenty-six degree weather seem so far away now.. ...

Texas in Africa gives a clear cut example of how correlation is not causation but notes the difficulties involved in finding the distinction in real life contexts… The distinction between causation and correlation - and the obsession with making sure the two are not confused - sets quality research apart from shoddy or sloppy research. It’s incredibly frustrating to me to read a hastily put-together advocacy report or journalist’s account that assumes correlation means causation, despite the lack of evidence for such a claim. I understand why it happens; advocates and journalists have to work quickly, and if they talk to people who don’t understand the difference, how would they know otherwise? But it’s incredibly frustrating to see these errors made, especially when they lead to bad policy decisions. ...

Sighing, is all I can do….. Fantasy Queen and Adia said it all.. :(

Broken lifts - gave me free exercise but thirteen flights of steps went a wee bit too far… Empty bottles, spilled liquids and much more in the lifts when they actually worked…. Extra rowdy football crowds - if only they actually won something….. Jehovah’s Witnesses proselytizing - oh and they offered to come back… Mr Landlord - who smoked in the house, once decided to remodel the bath on a Monday morning and was generally a pain in the nether regions…. Attempted murder just across the road and in broad daylight too… A notorious park within the neighborhood… Hate messages scrawled on freshly painted walls, and scratched on lift doors…. Raised eyebrows when I give my post code at the GP… Regular police fliers in the mail requesting information on crimes committed in the neighborhood…… Ten months after making the move up north - and opting to go the cheap route to stay in the vicinity of a council flat - I’m finally moving houses… Its good to be moving on…. If I can only get the heating and the internet to work.. ..