Valentine’s Songs
La Jolie Salon Valentine’s Serenade
This afternoon I was entertained with two Valentine songs by four distinguished gentlemen wearing tuxes with red vests and bow ties!
They weren’t singing to me though. They came to sing to three of the staff at La Jolie Salon, where Tamala was taking care of my hair.
They are singers from the Chordsmen. The clients and staff were thrilled, and the three women being serenaded, who were given red roses, were proud and happy!
Tennis Champion Arthur Ashe
The New York Times is running a series of unpublished photographs from their archives for Black History Month.
Arthur Ashe, the first black man to win Wimbledon and the U.S. and Australian Opens, defeated the top seed in a tournament in New Jersey in July 1964.
Arthur Ashe from his web bio.
But The Times published two photos of the man he defeated!
Why didn’t they publish the photo of Ashe? The writer says, “On that day in 1964, he was ranked sixth in the nation. . . Perhaps that was why we didn’t run this photograph. Or perhaps it was because the shots of Ralston were more dramatic . . . Or perhaps it was hard then for our editors to imagine that the unexpected victory of a promising black player was more than just a lucky break.”
Chicken in the Kitchen
I wrote about the delightful book from Lantana Publishers in the UK, Chicken in the Kitchen, three months ago. I mentioned then that the book was slightly damaged in the mail.
Chicken in the Kitchen, a story of Igbo masquerades.
To my surprise I received an email from the publishers a few days ago. “We noticed from your blog that your copy of Chicken in the Kitchen arrived in less than perfect condition. Please accept our apologies for this.”
They offered me a free book. What amazing customer service!
The coupon to get another book covers UK postage. I’d like to order the same book and have it sent to a Nigerwife in UK who has a child or grandchild in the age range of 3 to 6 or 7. I think you’ll find it as charming as I did.
Even if you’re not a Nigerwife but you’re in UK and would like the book, let me know. First response gets it!
Nigerian Astronaut Needs To Get Home
I’ll bet you didn’t know that there is a Nigerian astronaut who has been in space for more than 14 years!
But you probably are familiar with Nigerian scam letters. They go by the name of the criminal code that prohibits them, 419.
The first ones came by mail. They said something like, “You are receiving this letter because your great-uncle who was traveling in Nigeria died. You are his closest relative. If you give us your bank details, we will deposit $10,000,000 that he left for you in your account. You will then remit $8 million to us, and keep $2 million for yourself.”
Only the letter usually had several misspellings and grammar errors. I have a file full of them!
Another more recent variety comes by email from someone you know whose email has been hacked. It will be along these lines: “You’ll be surprised to learn that I’ve been traveling in Greece where my passport, money, and tickets were stolen. I’m reaching out for your help. Can you send me $5000 to enable me pay my hotel bill and get home again?”
But the one former Peace Corps volunteer Brian found and forwarded takes the genre to a whole new level!
“I am Dr. Bakare Tunde, the cousin of Nigerian Astronaut, Air Force Major Abacha Tunde. He was the first African in space when he made a secret flight to the Salyut 6 space station in 1979. He was on a later Soviet spaceflight, Soyuz T-16Z to the secret Soviet military space station Salyut 8T in 1989. He was stranded there in 1990 when the Soviet Union was dissolved. His other Soviet crew members returned to earth on the Soyuz T-16Z, but his place was taken up by return cargo. There have been occasional Progrez supply flights to keep him going since that time. He is in good humor, but wants to come home.
This is probably not the Nigerian astronaut!
“In the 14-years since he has been on the station, he has accumulated flight pay and interest amounting to almost $ 15,000,000 American Dollars. This is held in a trust at the Lagos National Savings and Trust Association. If we can obtain access to this money, we can place a down payment with the Russian Space Authorities for a Soyuz return flight to bring him back to Earth. I am told this will cost $ 3,000,000 American Dollars. In order to access the his trust fund we need your assistance.”
In case you wish to reply, you can find the whole letter in two different publications, here and here!
Buhari Returns From Vacation, May Need Astronaut
On his first working day back from vacation in London, President Buhari met with the German President. The Punch Newspaper reported that the two leaders held closed-door meetings with other high level officials.
President Gauck said he had visited a refugee camp in Abuja. He said, he “was moved by their plight.”
“He promised that his country would offer support to the Federal Government where necessary in order to ameliorate the plights of the IDPs.” He also offered support for the Nigerian government’s struggles against terrorists.
The last line in the article said, “Buhari on his part used the opportunity of the interaction to seek Germany’s support for Nigeria’s quest to hold a permanent seat in the United Nations Security Council.”
I had forgotten that Nigeria was asking for this.
If they succeed, maybe the astronaut can be appointed as a new ambassador to the UN when he returns from space. After all, he’ll be very familiar with the Russians.
