So, for the past week or so, i've had my Uncle Sam from the UK stay at my place while in the country.
Let me give you a little background on this.
Last year, Having consulted with my Dad, my beautiful aunty Ngozi calls from the UK and asks a favour. She wants us to help evacuate all their stuff from their house in Lagos since it has been unused for a couple of years and the landlord was sh*tting bricks about them moving out. My aunt Ngozi ranks very high up there on the list of my favorite aunties, so without giving it much thought, we agree to do it.
My Goodness!! it was really stressful. From searching out and hiring a truck, to moving stuff out of the house(all the while being prodded on by the prick of a caretaker to hurry up) to getting area boys help with the loading, to the difficult journey back and yes...to my apartment where all this stuff had to be unloaded and stored in...only God knows where.
Anyway, to cut a long story short,we got through the day successfully with the maximum damage being the burnt gearbox of Nnamdi's car.
So, i learn much later on that my Uncle Sam (Aunt Ng's husband) is to come to Nigeria and stay for a while so he can sort through the whole stuff. To my real surprise, he is proposing coming to stay with me in my little bachelor pad!! hmmm....
Uncle Sam gets in touch with me and starts communicating on details of his proposed trip. He sweetens the whole deal by asking which premier league team we support so he can get customised jerseys for us all. Ha!!! Being the Manchester united fan that i am, i let him know that the three guys in the family all support teams, so he promises to get three jerseys for Namo, Uche and i.
Hollup, hollup, hollup. It ain't going to be that easy for you sir.
The minions quickly remind me of something else and i add another item to the list of what i'd like him to get for me. A new Samsung phone!. To his credit, he hesitates only slightly(lol) before agreeing to it but letting me know that it might not be a Samsung Note(as they got for Dad sometime ago). No problem Sir!..as long as its not an S2 which i currently use.
He arrives during the week and i pick him up at the airport.
To be honest with you, i expected it all to be an awkward experience trying to bond but unexpectedly, we actually hit it off very well!!. He's a fun guy and it wasn't hard at all for us to jell. He hardly eats, drinks quite a bit and is very generous with booze so my fridge has housed a very respectable quantity of liquor these past weeks. But even better, we really gist together. He tells me of his various experiences, life in the UK, his much improved relationship with his wife and kids and other stuff about certain family members who, well.....have issues.
We've sorted through all the house stuff and after disposing most of the heavy items (furniture, car, generator) to different people, he was really generous and gave me a lot of his personal stuff which he hadn't ever used. So in addition to the new Samsung S4 mini he got me and a lovely Man Utd jersey, i've gotten a whole new range of shoes, teeshirts, luggage, watch, fridge and sound system and bedding.
Not a bad haul at all!!
You know, the truth is that you can always change your friends....but Family will always be family and to a reasonable extent, you can never put yourself out enough for them.
He should be on a flight back to the UK tomorrow and well..it was a good experience.
