'Africans going Dutch' - Part Four: Dutch signs

It took me about 30 minutes to cycle from Wassenaar to Leiden. But it took me another 35 minutes to get to Leiden Central Station. I kept losing my way at those numerous Leiden intersections. Some policeman tried to help me: “Keep going straight and you’ll get there," he said. But shortly after leaving him, I got to a T-junction! How do you keep going straight at a T-Junction? I missed my train and had to wait for another 30 minutes.

By Ayobami Ojebode
 
My return trip was easier. My friend’s dad had given me a piece of wisdom: "If you are cycling anywhere in Holland, just follow those white and red signs. They are for cyclists." I followed the signs and they led me straight back home, close to my doorstep.

As I cycled back, I could not stop thinking that some good people sat down many years ago, and designed those bicycle paths and signs for me. Those signs are such a blessing. In Holland, I concluded, there is something for everyone: walkway for the pedestrian, bike path for the cyclist, roads, waterways, train tracks. There are even paths for horses and dogs in Wassenaar! Someone has planned something for everyone.

Of course, comfort has its disadvantages. It means people have very little to struggle with and may soon forget to struggle. Just thinking: could some of the youth problems in Holland be the result of too much comfort? For instance, RIVM recently announced that Dutch youngsters drink more than their peers in most other European countries; and someone had to install “teen repellents” in some Dutch cities to prevent youths from loitering around on the streets and making nuisance of themselves.
Worse still, a recent study shows that Dutch youths are likely to start using marijuana before they turn 13, though the age for legal purchase of marijuana is 18. Therefore, whilst thanking Holland for those blessed signs, I think there is need to do something about youth idleness and nuisance. (Well, of course, in countries where life is harsh, youths still make nuisance!)

Cycling back that day, I also thought of Nigeria to which I must soon return. We struggle for everything. We struggle to get on the bus, and to get off. We don’t have walkways in most cities and so, animals, beggars, pedestrians, cyclists (okada), car drivers, bus drivers, tanker drivers struggle over the same piece of poor road. There are no timetables for buses — so you can’t miss your bus since you never had one. Nigerians are hustlers. In Holland students ask each other, “How’s study?” In Nigeria, students ask “How are you surviving?” As if life is warfare or a plague.
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