African Time

There's a difference between "now" and "now now."

"Now" means eventually. When you call a taxi and they tell you that they're coming "now," you know that you have time for at least another beer or to take a quick shower or to eat dinner.

"Now now" means right now. "Now now" means hustle. "Now now" means get your stuff together or you'll be left behind.

Whenever the girls call Priscilla from upstairs, she yells back at them: "Ma's coming now!" and then she turns to me and continues the conversation that we're having.

Whenever Mike comes to pick me up, he tells me he's coming "now now" and then he appears out of the field before I even have time to end the call.

African time is a funny thing. Sometimes trains are early, sometimes they are late, sometimes they don't come at all.
African time is a relaxed time. Now can be tomorrow, the promise of something done hangs in the air until it's completed. It's going to be eventually.

Priscilla and I always say we're going to clean tomorrow, and then the next day, we repeat the declarations. The vacuuming has been put off for nearly a week, and we're quite alright with that. And of course, tonight, I've got plans elsewhere (the Wednesday social - dinner and drinks down in Town), so there will be no vacuuming, unless by some miracle I get it done this afternoon.

But it's no stress; it's not important.
It will happen now, sooner or later.