Surrey - Meet the Fam

 Sometime earlier in the year, we got another invite from Chioma’s uncle and aunt who have been here in the UK for a long time now.

Uncle Arthur and Aunty Uche have been…well… let me just say they’ve been a bit reclusive ever since we came over to the UK and even though they’ve reached out once or twice and we indeed went to visit them in 2023 when we came here, it’s been that kind of distant relationship where everyone just kind of keeps to themselves and checks up on each other once every blue moon.

The difference this time around was that they had invited all family members (Spouses and children included) who were in the UK, from Chioma’s maternal side and i think it was intended as a sort of reunion for the family here and to reconnect with their own kids who, suffice to say, have long drifted away from this side of the family. Hmmm..

Everybody accepted the invitation and one fine August weekend, we found ourselves making a trip back to Surrey to visit the family. 

It was a lovely trip as we took a train ride first to Coventry and linked up with Ify and Gbenga who were driving to their house. It was a good, fun road trip.

You know, it’s just so weird to see the effects of what Japa does to families firsthand. We arrived last at the house and met everyone else who had shown up earlier. Now the thing is that Uncle and Aunty’s children have no active bond with their cousins, so it was a bit awkward with everyone just sitting in different spots, scrolling on their phones, and trying to make small talk with each other.

Overall, though, the atmosphere lightened up eventually. Gbenga brought a game of Monopoly and that was used to pass most of the time there with the cousins. They’re lovely people but i guess for Chioma and the rest of the Naija crew, it’s difficult forming any sort of meaningful relationship with people you’ve only known from a distance all your life. I engaged in conversations with them as best as i could and had a lot of gist and banter with the parents.

All in all, it was a lovely time, the food was amazing! Aunty Uche always goes all out to put up an awesome spread. They had also booked us all into a Premier Inn close by so we didn’t have to drive back that same day.

We came back the next morning and had a lovely breakfast before setting back off in every direction whence we came.

The journey back was not as smooth, though. After a lovely trip to London Euston, where we strolled around the capital and even had time to visit a beautiful museum of Human history (I’ve missed being in London, honestly) our train to Birmingham got delayed at one koro location like that and everyone had to get off and wait for the tracks ahead to be cleared. It was a long delay which put everyone off but we eventually got back safely. (The Train company eventually refunded the fare sha, so no wam).