I’ve been off this blog for waaaay too long!
But I’m back again thanks to people who keep attacking me
for not blogging anymore and to that writer’s itch that needed to be scratched.
I’ve always been a writer and no matter how much I delve into other things, my
first passion will never elude me.
Talking about the itch that I’m now scratching, there is a pressing
matter which precipitated my coming up on my blog today.
It has to do with carrots.
Yeah….Carrots.
It started on a Monday (May Day precisely) when I was
driving home from an outing. Along one of the network neighborhood roads that
led to the estate where I lived, I saw this Hausa guy selling carrots,
cucumbers and other types of vegetables. I actually wanted carrots as I had a
plan in which I was adding vegetables to my diet.
I initially thought of buying in large quantity but when I thought of the fact that some of it might spoil and waste away as I wouldn’t be able to finish it on time, I opted for just a small batch that cost me just N100.
After dinner that evening, I chewed on two small carrots before
relaxing to go through my mails and social pages.
Sometime later that evening my body began to itch me. First
it started with specific sensitive parts then spread to various areas all over
my body. Then I noticed that the itching areas on my skin were partially
swollen; it was clear I was having an allergic reaction to something.
The itching was bad.
I tried to find out what was behind the itching and started
tracing my steps back.
The Premier Cool soap I used in the bathroom when I took my
shower that evening was suspect. I sniffed it carefully and compared it with
another I just bought from another shop.
The newer soap smelled stronger and its wrapping design had
some differences to the suspected one.
Could it be that this soap was expired
or fake?
I threw away the soap and decided to use the new one
instead.
Meanwhile, the itching continued and I did all manner of
things to quell it – rub my body with palm oil, bath again and cover myself in
medicated dusting powder. The itching was driving me nuts.
It wrecked my sleep that night but subsided by the following
morning.
Getting ready for work the next day, I packed all I needed –
the laptop in its bag along with my lunch bag which consisted of breakfast and
lunch and a couple of fat carrots (I usually leave early for work so I don’t
eat till I get to the office).
I had a hearty breakfast, ate my carrots and got to work.
Somewhere in the middle of work, my arms began to itch.
I suddenly realized that the strange reaction had started
again. The swellings appeared all over my arms and I was confused.
Why was this thing relapsing? I thought it was gone….
My mind raced trying to figure it out…it couldn’t have been
the new soap. If it was I should have reacted not long after my bath. Besides I
had changed the soap…
Then it hit me…
The Carrots!
It was after I consumed the damned things that I started
having these reactions minutes later.
The carrots must have been contaminated with some chemical
during planting, harvesting or preservation.
Not long ago someone warned me that I should be wary of just
buying apples as it was said to have been discovered that people use wax to
either preserve or ripen it. I don’t
know how they do that but
I must say that the thought of it made me start
thinking twice about buying vegetables.
It wasn’t that I didn’t rinse the carrot before eating it…
Maybe because I didn’t wash it in well enough and in salty water…
Whatever the case, be careful what you consume, even if it’s
organic, wash PROPERLY with water and if necessary salty water. In my own case,
I just passed the carrots under running tap, rubbed it through a few times
before eating it.
Well…I’m staying away from carrots for a while…that itchy
experience has scarred my memories