Perpetually closing down sales, a diary discovered & kudos and a plea to Obasanjo

Today it's freezing but bright, sunny, crisp and clear- the kind of day that still fascinates me- I suppose because I grew up in the tropics- associating sunlight with heat....

Last weekend, walking down bustling Oxford Street, I walked past a shop with huge red signs plastered all over its front windows -proclaiming "Closing Down Sale- Everything Must Go" Fantastic bargain you'd think, except that I could have sworn that that shop has been closing down ever since I arrived on these shores a couple of years ago. The owners certainly seem to be taking their time with the closing down- judging by the tackiness of the merchandise, perhaps even with the sale, they're finding it difficult to shift the goods. Or perhaps, as is more likely it's a form of English 419 to hoodwink the gullible tourists searching for a bargain.....

I've stumbled across the online diary of a young Nigerian woman professional living in the US . http://www.nigeriavillagesquare.com/content/blogcategory/0/135/ It's incredibly frank and honest, if true; and if it's fiction, then that girl better start looking for a publisher.....

On the Nigerian front- since too often people like me are criticized for seeing nothing good in the government- kudos to President Obasanjo on the recent appointment of the eighth female minister into his cabinet. As far as I can remember this is probably the largest number of female ministers in the Nigerian federal cabinet at the same time, and they are certainly making their mark- most of them.......Now if only Mr President would follow Thabo Mbeki's example and announce loud and clear that he's not interested in a third term, instead of this Abacha-like read-my- lips stance that he's adopting at the moment that'd be great; The current situation where the sycophants around ask him to stay on forever and he, like Abacha before him maintains a deafening silence is unhealthy. If only he'd speak out, it would let everyone concentrate on weightier matters, like bird flu.....