Rain is always welcomed until it is no longer welcome. The latter is the current relationship that most of Lagos and Lagosians have with the seemingly unending rainfall that has besieged Lagos.

It is looking more like Lagos no longer has time for dry seasons. Over the last couple of years, before the last drop of rain for the rainy season drys up, there is a couple of weeks of sunshine that passes for dry season, then it is back to the rainy season.

As for the once dreaded harmattan, the one Lagosians used to use for rehearsals for what the temperature will be like when they eventually relocate to Canada, the USA, or the UK, we’ve barely had two weeks each of it in the last two years.
Although the two extremes of hot and cold during harmattan are now more severe. The afternoons are scalding hot, you feel your skin boiling. The nights meanwhile, are so cold, you fear freezing before you wake.

I would have dared to say a few Lagosians will be contemplating never relocating because their destination of choice must be colder, but when you remember that the Judicial Panel of Inquiry on the killings that ended the #EndSARS protest just submitted an indicting report and the General Muhammadu Buhari led government is acting like all is normal, then you can understand why I believe Lagosians will gladly brave colder climes for a better life.

As for me, I don’t mind the cold. The future holds colder weather for me, so I might as well get familiar with it.
My only grudge with this rainfall is that more and more, it is looking like the rain has got it in for me.

I should preface my next statement with the fact that I own two umbrellas. In more than ten years that have preceded this, I have not owned one.
I always saw the need for one, I just never had the time or patience to purchase one. Finally, this year, I got two.

To maximize my use of both umbrellas and minimize the possibility of being caught unawares, I domiciled one of my umbrellas at home while the other resided with me at home.
Now all I needed to do was to wait for the rains to begin pouring.

You can understand my frustration that for the last four Saturdays without exemption, I have been thoroughly beaten by the rain.
How can a person with two umbrellas, whose movement has largely been restricted to where those umbrellas are, continue to get caught up in the rain?

This is where my belief that the rain has got it in for me springs from.
On Saturdays, I leave for the office a lot later than usual. No two Saturdays are the same, so I don’t leave at the same time. Since my journey to the office is about 15 minutes of walking and a 5 minutes bus ride, this should be incident-free.

Except for the fact that on each of these Saturdays, I wake up and it is as bright and sunny as any other. I lazy in bed, catch up on social media, maybe cook, maybe do the laundry. Whatever chores might take up my time, by the end, it is sunnier as midday can be.
Next, I get ready to leave for my office.

In the time it takes to get ready for work, the sun only gets brighter. There is nothing bothersome about that, so I leave for work.
As soon as I get halfway through my street, it begins to rain.

Because every house on my street is gated, there is nowhere to hide from the downpour. My options are either to go back home or trudge on.
Because the rain doesn’t seem heavy, I walk to the end of my street from where I’ll get a bus to the office. Before I get halfway through my journey, the downpour is torrential.

Thanks to the fact that I’m getting to the bus stop later than everyone who was there at the start of the rain, every available shelter is taken. Now, I either perch in an uncomfortable position, securing my wares while getting soaked, or walk in the rain.
There are no prizes for guessing that I walk in the rain and get soaked by the time I get to the office.

If this has happened one or two Saturdays in a month; maybe two Saturdays in a row, I would think nothing of it. But when this has been my fate four Saturdays in a row, it will be incredulous of me not to present my plight to those who might have something interesting to contribute.

For the foreseeable future, I won’t be leaving my house without an umbrella on Saturdays. Exclusively on Saturdays.
It seems the rains of other days are more sympathetic to me. I might have to keep this until the first frost of harmattan is felt. But that is a worthy sacrifice to stay dry.

Wilson Joshua is a Social Media/Community Manager, Content Creator, and Creative Writer.
You can follow him on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. @IJOSWIL