The go-slow.

You're stuck in traffic, money in your pocket and, gosh darn it, in dire need of a snack. What d'ya do? In Lagos, you lean out your window.

Wherever there is a "go-slow" (in other words, wherever there's traffic), all sorts of vendors congregate to sell anything and everything, including shoe racks, toilet seats, mirrors, watches, fruit, potatoes, snacks and drinks, roasted peanuts, meat rolls, TV antennae, books, magazine, music CDs, etc. Usually I ignore them (even when they are knocking on my window calling "Madame, madame!"), but I have purchased a few things including bananas, apples, carrots and a DVD once (we bought Hop for the player in the car).

If the traffic suddenly moves in the middle of a transaction, the car drives on, and the vendor is forced to chase on foot until the traffic slows down again. I can't tell you how many times I've seen some poor guy running along with one bare foot because he lost his flip-flop giving chase to a customer.

Apparently, it is illegal to sell in traffic because one day this week a crowd of vendors suddenly started running down the bridge, weaving through the cars. It was as if we were in a disaster movie and the tidal wave/aliens/bomb/monster/(fill in the blank) were coming from behind us to attack, and the vendors were the first ones to notice and start running for their lives. Turned out to be a raid by the police, who usually just ignore the vendors, but decided to crack down this day for some reason.

These pictures are terrible ... I'm going to use the excuse that it was raining (although it probably wasn't), but they give you a good idea of what I'm talking about anyway.

Toilet seat, anyone?

Yes, that is a toilet seat he is holding.

Floor mats for a car.

Selling phone cards (minutes for cell phones).

Boxes of tissue.