Everyone loves a damsel in distress...

It had been a long ass trip from Victoria Island to Surulere. The end of year traffic was at it's peak. The driver who had been so gracious to help drive me because I was super exhausted was now showing his own tell tale signs of exhaustion after driving in tight Lagos traffic from 3pm to 9pm. 

We were hungry, tired, irritable and just wanted to reach our destination. I felt very sorry for him even more because he was going to drop me off and then take a bus to his house (which, thankfully, was just one bus away from our destination).

We reached the gate of the estate I was going at about 9.15pm, and I was just about to suggest that I drive the rest of the way so the driver could head home. Just as I opened my mouth to speak, my car stopped. 

Almost immediately people from different places came by to 'help'. At first, they saw the driver and cussed him while trying to help out..."see as you block road with this car", "oga na wa o...you no sabi your car?". They gave different quick fix suggestions without exactly trying to help and for each suggestion he tried that failed, he got an extra cuss dose. I had kept trying to tell them the car would not budge to anything until I got a battery to start it. No one paid me any attention or even heard my voice. I was too exhausted to be bothered. The poor driver took all the cussing he could and then just blurted out, "na the sister get the car o".

Apparently, that was all he needed.

Almost immediately, the cussing stopped and the lead "good Samaritan" greeted me and asked if this thing had happened before. I just calmly told him that I needed a jump cable or a battery and I would be able to make the car start. He had a jump cable. He insisted on running the connection...in his word "ah, fine girl like you no need dey do this kain thing o. we go do am". 

Eventually the car started and we moved and all the people who had been cussing the poor driver were filled with pity quotes for the poor poor small girl who had to stop for 30 minutes because her car broke down. One of them gave me his number and said to call him if there was ever a fault again. He added "na because you be woman o...if na man, no body for send am"

As I drove to the house, I thought to myself "and they say it's a Man's world? Pfft!"