Another Friday

Today is Friday. The day comes with some bliss. After all the hurly-burly of the week, starting from Monday, through Wednesday and finally to the blissful and cherished Friday. Everything is winding down and one looks forward to the next day, where it seems you virtually own the day; no schedules as such. As far as I can remember, Fridays have always been like this for me.

The mind goes back to those days in the boarding house when a visit to the bursar’s office was compulsory. The odd pocket money had to be obtained for the next day’s shopping at the now-defunct Kingsway Stores or down the road, UTC. So somehow, Friday virtually slips into Saturday. But even then, back to Friday which signifies the start of the week-end. Little wonder, over time, a seductive phrase crept into usage: ‘Thank God It’s Friday’ (TGIF). For the schoolboy, TGIF was something of a reprieve from the harsh week, which started on a Monday. Among other things, you have to contend with those seemingly harsh teachers. Some of them knew their stuff; while some were just plodders.

Other memories flood in at this moment. There was this Chemistry teacher, who was as cynical as they come. It was clear that he was labouring under one grievance or the other.

Clearly, he was battling his own demons. Thus he seemed to delight in torturing the boys. Here he was teaching School Certificate Chemistry. Rather than teach at the students’ level, he would take the subject beyond O-Levels. On one particularly testy occasion, an intrepid student asked him whether what he was teaching was in the school certificate syllabus. Our man’s response was: I do not teach the syllabus; I teach Chemistry!! The Mathematics tutor also had his own package.

Clearly, the man was something of a socialite on the Lagos scene. He would be on television and radio, serving respectively as a compere…. And sometimes, as a Squash partner to the then Head of State, General Yakubu Gowon. Now and then, he never fails to slip it in that…… ‘while playing squash with Jack yesterday’ …. Jack was of course Yakubu Gowon.

Almost at the same time, while contending with the teachers and their various idiosyncrasies, there were also the boarding house rules to contend with. And the expectation was that boys being boys would be hatching up one scheme or the other. So it was always a kind of perpetual struggle for the boys. They are usually having to dodge punitive darts from both the teachers and the prefects during the week. And more often than not, they do not always succeed. This is because, there is an elastic rule, which has been purposively defined to catch out the students. The rule which is a study in both generalizations and British humour goes thus: A breach of common sense is a breach of school rules and regulations. There you have it. And if a mischievous boy should dare to counter: What did I do wrong sir? The immediate response would be …..‘A breach of common sense is a breach of school rules and regulations’. Consequently, having gone through all of these during the week, Friday serves as something of a breather. This is more so as the day winds down. The night is relaxed. After dinner, the boys soak in the temporary reprieve from teachers and prefects on Friday. Even then, in other climes, Friday is even more relaxed than what much of the foregoing suggests.

In the Gambia for instance, what obtains is a four-day working week. So what exists is a Monday to Thursday work day. Thus, the week-end starts from Friday Morning. But such was the innocent prism through which this Friday thing was viewed that, there was the tendency to feel that, as soon as school life was over, there would be no liberating Friday to contend the horrors of the week. This has turned out to be a grave mistake.

After school, the horrors of life surface again in the workplace. You have to contend with that ogre of a boss who does not like your face. You may also have to jostle for preferment with that colleague. And the greasy pole of upward mobility has to be climbed. Another phrase, which best sums up much of the immediate foregoing is: Office Politics. You have to battle with these from Monday to Thursday, and then comes Friday.

Things begin to wind down. At least there is the consolation that all those goons will disappear from your radar, albeit temporarily. In the pre-Covid-19 era, Friday was the precursor to the binge and sybaritic life, which characterizes life in this and other parts of the world. It starts with the night life in the big cities. Take Lagos for instance. All the way from Lekki through Yaba to Ikeja, there were the swinging parties and nightclubs.

In the course of time, the electronic medium, the television began to chip in and participate. In what is dubbed, Events and Places, coverage is done for a fee. Everybody is happy-you get the media orchestration for that big event of yours, and the television station also smiles to the bank.

Today being Friday, chances are that the parties and other soirees have resumed in earnest after COVID. Citizens Kola and Aisha are looking forward to tomorrow- Saturday. Those parties must be attended. But before you know it, Sunday will soon roll in. By Sunday night, you are grumpy, knowing full well that the ordeal of the working week will soon start for the besieged worker or hapless student. Still, it would be churlish to think too far. This is because, all said and done, today is still Friday. So give thanks and still remember to say: Thank God It’s Friday.

Prof Soremekun, the immediate past Vice Chancellor of Federal University, Oye Ekiti, is the chairman, Editorial Board, BusinessDay Newspapers.