“Do you know who I am?“, the older man yells with his nose scrunched up like I have never seen an African nose scrunched up before.
“Who the hell are you? Who cares who you are, Oga? Don’t touch my bag again. I have warned you“, the younger lady dressed in a baggy, brown T-shirt and tight, blue jeans spits out as she closes the overhead cabin rather aggressively.
“Look at this girl o. Do you think because I am on this flight with you that I am your mate? While you were still in nappies, I was a resident of Germany…“, the older man brags wagging his index finger at the younger lady. Further down the hall, the anxious flight attendants make their way down to quell the heightened tempers while I slide deeper down into my seat embarrassed at yet another argument. You’d think at that time I’d have become used to witnessing arguments that had ‘Do you know who I am‘ thrown out in every SINGLE flight I took from Lagos or to Lagos.
But thanks to the pandemic in 2020 that left me stuck in Canada, I really do MISS it. I really would love to witness another silly argument and actually laugh out loudly. As I sit at my work desk (I’m on my lunch break please…I am a responsible employee – thank you very much), I can almost smell the international Airports and I have been in many in this lifetime. I can see myself racing to find my gate in order to catch my connecting flight without taking a breath to appreciate the connecting flight-city pregnant with opportunities for exploration. I miss watching the never-ending flow of people going and coming dragging behind them stubborn kids who are tired or luggage or both. I can almost see myself looking out the big and wide windows admiring the different colours of all the aircraft at varying gates from different airlines getting ready to board or disembark. I miss feeling the hunger pangs as I wait for my next flight at Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport because I know if I give in to my hunger, I’ll eat all the delicious pastries sold. In my mind’s eye, I can see myself peering out the window of the plane as we approach my destination and I am reminded that I am just a speck in a world so big and special.
I guess it’s safe to say that the airports calleth and I shall be picking.
Picture: Taken on my iPhone over London, UK.
It's Fifi 