The next morning started with a typical Lagos wedding. You know how it goes. Distant family that you haven't seen for yonks suddenly flood all available guest rooms the local clan have to offer. They come in droves, loud and ever present. The church was a typically sombre affair, with the groom looking as pleased as a Cheshire Cat and the bride demure and dazzling all at once.
The fun really started at the reception; first at the parking lot where twice the number of people that were at the church were already parked and installed in reserved seats in the crammed hall. The food had already started flowing and as soon as one had been seated the offers started coming in. Whether you wanted water, or juice or wine or beer or small chops or rice, or not, the required show of hospitality meant that one had all these delivered through the cramped spaces to an already heaving table. Seated around you were all the relatives, still picking their teeth from the last meal, whilst they scouted around with eagle eyes for the next unofficial course. The largess on ones table was of course directly related to how connected you were, or whether there was a big uncle on your table. Alas, the table I was ushered to had little pull, nor did we have a waiter tipped off to ensure we were served all the banquet had to offer. The table next door was very well equipped with elderly relatives, and thus amala followed the rice course, and they were given ofada rice just after one of the waiters supervisors had come to inform the lady on my left that the service points were fresh out. A plate of chinese style party rice helped to take the edge off the hunger, and of course the obligatory comedian was on hand to keep the lips moving horizontally when they weren't chomping down on the food offerings. It was interesting to watch the faces of some of the guests, eyes darting around like twin gold fish towards every scrap or morsel that enters the space around them. Further entertainment came with the arrival of the bride and groom, dancing down the aisle with the abandon that only those who have just been lawfully given a license to act like jesters in royal garb with everyone required to say "aaah" throughout the day at everything they did.
The evening came, and it was $22 spaghetti on the menu (there is a separate post on that which you can check out - Twenty two dollar spaghetti). Not going to say more at this time. I've moved on and not sure I will be going back of my own volition. Then there was time for a movie with mixed sweet and salty popcorn for desert. I do like me some Silverbird Cinema, but the parking still sucks (InsideLagos thinks they should be shut down and forced to build a Mega-style multi story car park before they are allowed to reopen). The movie was good, though the hall was freezing (InsideLagos tip - if the hall is too cold or warm, the attendant just outside the door can adjust the temperature apparently). All it all a nice day. Silverbird still rocks, just wish they would sort out the parking.
And that was just the second day of the weekend!
Sunday started off with spiritual nourishment, then a private lunch, which was lovely but will not be critiqued on this forum (it was lovely by the way :)). The discovery of the day was that Bestfoods on Raymond Njoku sells fresh milk in bottles by the half dozen. The milk was sweet and creamy and delicious drizzled over some local ice cream and half a chocolate chip muffin from the Ice Cream Factory's treasure trove. An all local desert that was all bliss. Yum.
The evening was capped off with a feast for the senses, with Arise at Federal Palace Hotel, and a concert at Eko le Meridian. InsideLagos got complimentary tickets to both events, so I will give a limited review as one cannot hand on heart judge the value for money.
Arise was a typical ThisDay event. Lots of flash and glitter, and it was obvious lots of money was spent. And of course, it started late, the ticketing stations were rather porous, the drinks at the 'cocktail' were in limited supply and there was a mad rush get in and it was fortunate no one got trampled on. Talk about death by Jimmy Choo! The place was packed with fashion conscious and trendy people. You know, guys in yellow skin tight trousers and ladies with mardi-grasesque make up. The show itself was fine, when it started. Again, typically it didn't follow the program. Still looking around you could have been anywhere in the world, so fair dues to ThisDay for setting up a decent ambiance. It was one of those experiences you find yourself watching on TV and thinking to yourself that it looks better than it really was. InsideLagos thinks this is the predecessor to what will be a vibrant Fashion Week in Lagos. Didn't see the need for the foreign designers though. Not being zenophobic, but they mostly came with their winter collections! At least they could have made the effort to be more climate friendly with their garb. It was interesting to see the crowd response though. The applause, the cheering, the chinning of certain international models (not sure what that was about!). I guess Lagosians just have to do things their own way. The gimmicks were amusing too - the twins' violin entrance, the pretty model who bounced down the runway, the ladies walking at a 70 degrees incline, the poor child that was dragged out past his bedtime and the old man and the pram. It was nice to see some creativity in the presentation, though unfortunately many of the models were wearing the wrong size clothes which didn't flatter the designs.
The night and weekend, was rounded off at the 9ice concert. It was the same venue as the BBD/Bobby Brown concert. There was some thought and creativity put into the stage design and production, but perhaps not as slick as two nights before. The guest artists (of which there were many (Wizkid, P Squared, Tiwa Savage, Don Jazzy and some others) seemed to be more of the main attraction than the headline act. Still with DJ Jimmy Jatt on the decks all in all it was a good night out.
Let it not be said there isn't anything to do in Lagos. It was as struggle to fit it all in!
So, how was your day?
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