True love lasts a lifetime

I thought that having a simpler, more basic existence in Nigeria would make me appreciate the smaller things in life and realise the insignificance of the trivialities that consumed my days in the UK. I’d hoped I might gain a little perspective on my consumerist, materialistic ways.

Unfortunately, this doesn’t seem to be the case. On the contrary – I am all the more impressed with fancy hotels, burger and chips, air conditioning, pizza, nice bathrooms, television, etc. because they have now become a prized rarity.

And far from weaning myself off reality TV, I am actually following it with more vigour, reading endless LiveBlogs for the many and varied shows that seem to be gracing British terrestrial channels at the moment. The wonderful thing about it, is that I am no longer hindered by the fact that I cannot (try as I might) always be in on a Saturday night, nor by the fact that many of these shows seem to clash in the scheduling. No, I can read the Guardian’s fabulously sarcastic minute by minute commentary whenever I have time (and internet connection, and electricity), and it’s not only like I’m watching it, but like I’m watching it with witty friends!

Perhaps this is all a good thing. Perhaps what I’m learning is not that calorific comfort food and crappy telly are just traps laid by the unhealthy society I was living in, but that they are, as it turns out, genuine love affairs that overcome the barriers of distance, time and culture.