Coming to Halifax was such an exciting journey for me as it will be the first time I will travel out of the African continent.

I expected things to be different and to be in a certain way better and more organized than the country where I was coming from.

A little about Lagos, Nigeria where I am from. Lagos is a colorful city filled with a wide spectrum of people, places, and things, for example, you could buy anything from the comfort of your car on the Lagos highways because of the heavy traffic jams on the highways and the emergency delivery services offered by the road side-hawkers, of course, hawking on Lagos roads is banned by the government but who cares, it goes on anyways as no one wants to suffer the double whammy of Lagos traffic and Lagos heat without the comfort of at least being able to get a cold drink and a snack on the fly. That is my Lagos where the impossible is nothing.

Now let’s bring it back to Halifax, Nova Scotia Canada. A lovely and serene city filled with polite people, a city and a system that works (IMO).

The public transportation system in Halifax is one that even the best of transportation in Lagos cannot be compared with but on this fateful day at the beginnings of the winter months while I was heading to my work assignment in the adjacent city of Dartmouth I hurriedly got on this bus plying route 29 to escape from the biting cold even though I was decked up in thick winter clothing as advised by my NSCC ISA (if you are reading this from outside Halifax, please never forget to come here with your winter clothing as it can be very cold).

Some minutes before I was due to get off the bus, I decided to fiddle with my mobile phone so I took off my glove as the inner part of the bus was warm and anyway, I couldn’t operate my phone with my gloves on. Little did I know that that was going to be the last day I ever saw my glove again (I really liked the glove as it fits well and kept my hands warm).

So, it was time to get off the bus, I pulled the yellow stop line and made for the door once outside and as the door closes, I realized I had dropped my glove. I immediately turned back to enter the bus but it was too late the door was shut and the bus was on the move. A kind-hearted lady picked up the glove, with the desperate hopes of throwing it out through the window, alas the windows were shut and the bus was speeding away to the next stop with the velocity and I watched my glove being carried away as the bus speed off.

My heart sank within me and I thought to myself this would never happen to me in Lagos as the driver would and can stop anywhere just for me to get my glove and even if he didn’t stop, I could quickly jump on an Okada (a commercial motorcycle) and meet the bus at its next stop but alas I am not in Lagos, I am in Halifax where things work in a different way than I imagined or was used to, where buses don’t or can’t just stop anywhere on the way to their destination.

That day I went to work without gloves and learned a hard lesson that jolted me and made me realize that I am in a totally different place where things are done differently. It may not be perfect and it may not always work to one’s benefit but it works for the majority of the people and they love the system and if I settle in and learn to work with the system, I may just love it as much they do.

N.B I haven’t heard back from the Halifax transit office on whether my precious glove was found or not😉