Number 1, Kurunmi Road (80s – 90s IBADAN)
The Ojehs lived in a “bungalow” that was surrounded by flowers and had a small field beside it. The garage door had a little driveway, which was often where the Volvo was parked. Only a few houses on the UI campus had physical fences. Most of the individual houses used vegetation for separation. Outside the house was a field that could either serve as a car park when there were visitors or as a football field.
The field was a mix of grass and pebbles, which often made playing soccer challenging. Here, Uche had an opportunity to display a modest set of soccer skills. While Emeka was the one with the obvious sporting talent, Uche made up for this deficit with a lot of enthusiasm. He wasn’t fast, so he often chose to hog the ball while playing and shield you off with his body. Unlike Uche, I had a more realistic view of my talent levels and was quite aware that my dad was a goalkeeper and not an outfield player in his days. In times when we had no goalkeepers available, we would shrink the post size and play with a “monkey post”. This meant that everyone on the field became a player while the angels stayed at the posts. The most interesting thing about playing on that field was that it sloped downwards. If you had the luck of playing “uphill”, every form of attack became tiring as time went on.
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The house had two entrances, with the front entrance leading into the living room and the side entrance leading into the kitchen. If you used the side entrance of the house, it led you through the kitchen and then the dining area, while the main entrance led you into the living room. The door adjacent to the living room led you to the bedrooms. Depending on which entrance you came through, the huge brown piano sat majestically in the living room.
With the absence of the TV, the piano became the highlight of the room. It was on this piano that it became evident that Emeka’s skill levels were way higher than ours. On weekends, the living room would host Bible club meetings and piano recitals for children of other University lecturers. Right after the bible stories, board games would start. It was in this living room that my career in playing checkers started and ended. I would make a move, and Uche would make multiple moves across squares and “peck” all my pieces. My young mind couldn’t fathom the unfairness of a game where a player could wreck all your chances of success in one fell swoop.
If we got tired of hanging out in the house, you had many houses you could visit since Kurunmi Road was also home to the Arowolos and Iwayemis. The Adesomojus stayed next door to the Ojehs, and the Durojaiyes would move on to the same street a few years after. Whenever we got bored with Kurunmi Road, Pepple Street was not far away. Only the adults would go from Kurunmi to Sankore and then to Pepple, which was parallel to Kurunmi. We used to hop across the hedges to Pepple Street, where the Ogunrinades and Ikotuns lived
