The Evenbrookers

 Hola..

Just want to take time out to recognise some wonderful people who we have in our lives over here.

As i said earlier in posts here.. As immigrants in the UK, It’s pretty difficult to gain and maintain a good (emphasis on good) community which reminds you of home and helps keep your sanity.

We’ve been fortunate enough to have met wonderful people here in Brum who contribute positively and have become a big part of our lives.

The Agomos have been awesome friends. We’ve known them from way back in Lagos. Sandra and Chioma go waay back to their Uni days. Her husband Chidi is a fantastic guy and they’ve been very instrumental in helping us settle so well in Birmingham. Their kids, Adim and Kobi are just delightful. We’ve bonded so well with them and see them always being in our lives.

The other family, we met here in Brum through the Agomos. Jerry, Joy, and their family are also wonderful people who have made a positive impact and have become really good family friends. They also have two lovely active kids, Jolene and Jayden, who keep everyone on their toes..

Its so important to have a support system here and we’re really thankful to have these guys in our lives. We all stay within the same estate so its easy to bond and affect each other’s lives positively.

Long may it continue!!

Johnny, be good.

 Speaking of Naija music, one thing we’ve really missed over here in the UK is going to concerts and shows!

Ahh, the good old days of just knowing there are certain times of the year when there’s an overabundance of artists putting out concerts, getting tickets (free or otherwise), and driving to Eko Hotel Banquet Hall to enjoy yourself.

Now you have to actively hunt up upcoming concerts of musicians you fuck with, and do this months, sometimes (for really massive artistes) years in advance, which when you check the locations and pricing…you just respect yourself and stay at home.

Last year, Chioma, being the music purist that she is, found some tickets to a Johnny Drille show here in Birmingham. She really, really likes his music, and even though he wouldn't be in my top 3 (or top 10 tbh) list, he’s an awesome musician and has some really lovely music out there.

That’s how we found ourselves all dressed up and going to our first music concert here in the UK. The location was in a small hall somewhere in Digbeth. Johnny has this style of having small, intimate gatherings, which he calls ''Johnny’s Room Lives'', but this one was not so much like that, though.

We got there early (big mistake for Nigerian musician concerts) and there was a crazy queue of people already waiting to get in. The show was supposed to start at 7pm, so we got there by 6.15, yet had to wait for an hour before getting into the venue and then another two hours listening to other terrible opening acts, hype-man shenanigans, and lovely DJ music before Oga decided to show up. Bad Johnny!!

He made up for it, though, and it was a thoroughly enjoyable show. He put up a great performance and belted out most of his popular hits (most of which I know about). He’s Mavin Records affiliated, so of course, he has some massive songs.

All things considered, a really good outing for us.

Naija Playlists

 Hey there people..Hope all is good.

I’ve always loved curating personalized music playlists for myself… so sometime ago, with our premium YouTube Music subscription, I found time to put together two crazy playlists of Naija music.

One is titled ''Great Naija jams’’ and the other one is one of the best collections of music I’ve curated and is titled “Evergreen Naija Party.” 

I’ve always been a music head but haven’t always had time to keep up with what's going on in the industry recently. There’s the whole ‘Afrobeats to the World’ movement happening and it’s been a revelation. However, for me, the real gems are the music we churned out between 2010 and 2020. That was when the real magic happened which rocketed the Naija music industry into space and cemented our place in the World.

Kudos to all the people who made that happen…

I’ve been enjoying the playlist very much on the commute to work and whenever I’m chanced. 

Chioma is not an aficionado and turns up her pretty nose at most of the music😂😂… lol… Can’t really blame her though. If I’m being honest, the driving force for loving Naija music (apart from the artistes and their artistry) is the beat of the songs and the awesome production. 

Lyric-wise…errhh…not really there at all. 

Isn’t it ironic (thanks Alanis) that some of our best music features subpar, lazy lyrics? If you deep it, it’s amusing bopping and enjoying Wizkid crooning about a nymphomaniac Caro who doesn’t let him rest, or Davido croaking on about wanting to commit adultery with Kim Kardashian in a Bentley, or our beloved Wande promising to commit taboo by putting his love interest’s marriage asunder. Of course, even with these greats mentioned above, there are a lot of exceptions.

The new cats in the industry aren’t any better. Aside this terrible new trend of putting out 2-minute songs (who allowed this to happen?), the lyrics aren’t really all that. We still bop to it though. Rema could be singing about being an Area-boy who you cannot gatekeep, sweet talking women in yellow dresses and expressing his fervent desire to make women wet themselves, Ruger could be detailing how he’s going to lie to his babe who ignores all the red flags about him wanting to sleep with all the women in the world, Odumodu could be likening himself to Declan Rice and thundering on about using his ‘’Kala’’ to keep opps in line or Asake could be going on about how he’s now known as Mr Money, which is all that matters to him…. And we’ll still groove along, enjoying the gbedu.

I don’t know what that says about our music character but really…who cares!!! It’s all about the vibe and how the music makes you feel right?

Let the music play on!

Moving on up - Work edition

 Hola hola…

Another beautiful update to keep you all up to speed.

So, earlier this year, after we returned from the trip back home, I resumed work in the CC team and continued life as normal. A couple of weeks later, an internal ad for a position in the Payments and Refunds team was posted in our internal comms group.

Now, as you all know, I’ve virtually been in customer service all my career and I’m damn good at it. However, to be very honest, the pay in CC is the worst ever, and career prospects are quite limited. So, after some very serious thought, I decided to throw my hat in the ring.

Discussed with Chioma, spruced up my CV and cover letter, gave prior notification to some relevant parties, said some prayers to the most high, and sent in my application.

Great news came through soon. I had been shortlisted for the final interviews with two other ladies. 

Hmmm.. Preparations intensified along with brushing up on some long-dormant finance skills. Even if I say so myself, I aced the final interviews (for some strange reason, I’ve always been good at interviews) and was offered the position two days later!!!!

Yaaaaaaay!!!!!!

It’s a good move, and after some internal shenanigans regarding negotiating with the HR team on the proposed salary for the role, I officially resumed as a Payments and Refunds Specialist for Travelperk. (The pay was still very much below what I expected, but better than CC)

I’ve been in the role for about three months no,w and it’s a whole different world of new things to learn and grow into, but suffice to say, I can hold my own very well anywhere. I also have some great colleagues(Zurainy, Manpreet, Shabz, and Yasser) who’ve been very helpful with training and onboarding me into the team. My new manager, Becky, is also an amazing lady and yeah…it’s been all good so far.

Positive progress and steps in the right direction towards a better future.

Thank you, Abba.

Scousers for the weekend

 In our family, there’s always been this idea of good luck following me in particular. Not quite sure how this came about but I can always remember Lolo saying stuff like ‘’Okey is a lucky boy’’ when we were younger.

Hmm… I don’t know about that sha…why haven’t I won the lottery or hammered while in the sports betting sector?

Anyhow sha, I know there’s always been elements of good fortune throughout my life (check my wife, nah!) and this showed up recently at work.

So, there was an offer from one of our partners to sponsor someone for an all-expense-paid, family weekend trip to Liverpool. There were a lot of interested volunteers, so a Liverpool-themed quiz was organised, and all the winning names were thrown into a ‘’spin the wheel’’ thingie and mine was picked out of the lot!!

Yaay.

Chioma and I prepared and booked a train ride to Liverpool one fine Friday afternoon. We had been given an itinerary and a number for our contact person, so it was easy checking in to the hotel (Staycity Aparthotels at the City center).

I’ll be honest and tell you, we really really enjoyed the experience!

Initially,I was a bit bummed out when i heard it was the Staycity we were going to be staying at, but it turned out to be a fantastic, modern hotel with lovely decor and good ambience. The experience was made much better by our guide for the weekend. Marion is one of those rare people you immediately like and feel like you’ve known all your life. Great personality, lovely vibe and very very friendly. Chioma and I instantly warmed up to her from the first meeting and throughout the stay.

It was an eventful weekend.

After settling in on the first day, we had a meet and greet at the International Exhibition Center where we met other people that were on the same trip, enjoyed drinks and lovely food while admiring the lovely city skyline from the top of the building. Chioma and I later went on our own round the town and enjoyed a quite lovely light show over the Mersey river.

The next day was even more packed as we were taken on a tour bus round the city, shown most of the lovely buildings and given a detailed history of the city.

Trust the Brits, they dont play with their cultural history and Liverpool was brimming with it.

 A really huge piece of Liverpool history are the Beatles. Oh boy, the city is saturated with Beatles history and memorabilia. I mean, I already had an idea of how big those geezers were but omo, seeing the devotion which this city has to them, up close was amazing. From statues, pubs and buildings named after them to a specially dedicated Beatles Museum which was part of our tour. It was quite the experience.

There were other great activities that day. We were taken to the area where the Beatles grew up, shown Lennon’s house

, went on to see the Magnificent St George’s Hall

and followed up with a wine tasting event somewhere inside the building.

We were then taken to a local brewery and had a beer-making and sampling tour (the kind of event that’s right up my alley!)

Meanwhile, there were different hotels all programmed for us to have meals at. We had a breakfast buffet at our hotel, Lunched at the Hilton, moved on later in the evening to have starters at one of their popular, swanky restaurants, went on to the Maldron Hotel for a delicious dinner and finished up at the Marriott where they had set up this amazing desert menu for the group!!

Oh boy!! No be small thing gaan. By the end of the evening, Chioma and I were in a food haze!

Highlight of the evening was when another prize draw was organized within the tour group, and guess what…  I won another weekend stay at the Maldron Hotel anytime during the year!! Biko, long may this kind of luck continue.

The football culture here in the city is something else. As a Manchester United fan, I’m auto-programmed to dislike anything Liverpudlian, but even I had to admit that these ones here are absolutely bonkers for their Liverpool Football Club.

Aside all the activities lined up on the schedule, Chioma and I found time to tour the city and see the people, feel the culture, and just generally enjoy the vibe. Naah, Liverpool is a lovely place. 

My mind also kept turning over the fact that our Grandpa Joseph lived, worked and died in this city so many years ago. Given a different set of life circumstances, I might have been a UK citizen much earlier o …lol.

Anyway, we had a fabulous time and will definitely repeat this visit sometime soon.

Love Notes 1 - Birthday edition

 

I know I normally write these little notes once in a while when inspiration strikes... however, it's been a while and I'm not sure why..

It turns out, though that I'm never short of words when it comes to telling you just exactly how special you are and how much you mean to me

It's not just the little things, it's the whole package. your pure, beautiful soul, your positive outlook, your generosity, your love, and your Good heart. 

I thank God everyday for bringing you into my life. Not sure how I would have ever tried to do life without you. 

I love you so much and that will never change. 

I've watched you grow into the blessed woman God designed you to be and I couldn't be prouder of the fact that I get to call you my wife. 

Today, on this special day... I pray for you and declare that all the good things life has to offer will never elude you. It can only get better my love. God has you in his hands and he'll always be by your side...same as I'll always be.

Happy birthday my love.

Birthday Babe

 To celebrate Chioma’s birthday earlier this year, in addition to the out-of-town trip we planned here, we also decided to take our family and friends out somewhere fancy.

Trust Chioma not to play with any aspect of the day. My humble suggestion of going to a nice restaurant I had been to earlier with my team (Soho Tavern) was brutally killed (by reason of not being Insta-worthy😣). The search continued till we found a fantastic new place named “Koko”

I have to admit, she was right. This place was absolutely lovely.

We had called ahead and made reservations for the group, so on the evening, we dolled ourselves up and got ready for some fun. Confy happened to be around, so it was well-timed and she came along with us.

We set off with our friends, Chidi and Sandra, while Joy and her kids joined us there.

It was a great outing. Everybody looked nice, the ambience was fantastic!! It had this new and Insta-worthy vibe about it. Apparently, it turns out Koko Birmingham is the latest trendy spot for all the cool kids to hang out at. There were lots of young folk dressed in their peculiar half-dressed fashion who popped in later on and I realize it was a good thing we had come earlier, as the place got packed and there was pretty much no room left for the late comers.

As always, the ladies had a blast taking pictures in the picture section,

the food was amazing (if a bit pricey), the drinks were delicious..they had some signature cocktails which tasted like liquid love.

All in all, a really lovely evening to celebrate the sunshine of my life and let her know how special she is to us all. Highlight of the evening was when we had gotten the restaurant team to come bearing a cake with sparklers and singing for her...absolutely delightful!

Nuneaton

 

Hola guys...

Chioma’s birthday has become one of the annual highlights for our family and now demands its own place in the events calendar. (I learnt this the hard way)... Yeah, unlike yours truly, she realllllly takes it seriously.

So, earlier this year, in addition to an earlier outing with friends at a fabulous restaurant here in Brum, we also decided to take an out-of-town trip to celebrate my beautiful wife. Thanks to the good folk at Travelperk where I work, we still had a lot of unused travel credit, so we decided to explore other cities around. We searched around and decided to grace the city of Nuneaton with our presence.

We booked the train ride and made a weekend reservation at the lovely Hampton by Hilton hotel.

Guys…It was a great weekend away.

The city is one of those old, charming cities steeped in tons of history, and there were many things to see and do. One thing you can't fault the UK for is its History. Appears the British Government back in the day, true to their colonial nature, got a lot of the Gurkha population to fight with/for them (probably forced them to)in so many of their early wars. Apparently, these guys were hardy, tough bastards whose fighting prowess and contributions to the wars really benefited the Brits and helped them win many battles.

They were mostly stationed in the Barracks at Nuneaton and to reward them, they were allowed to settle in Nuneaton, and there’s now a huge, vibrant Gurkha-British community over there. We saw a lot of local shops and visited the museum, where a lot of Nuneaton's history is detailed.

We also saw a museum dedicated to the writer George Eliot. Fun fact, one of the earliest books that got me hooked on reading was ‘’Silas Marner’’ (a prize I won back in my primary school days) and I had always assumed this writer was a man because…well.."George’" ..duhh.. Turns out I was wrong. She was a native of the town and hugely popular for her work.

We had excellent breakfast food at the hotel buffet and wandered around some lovely parks in the town

Even though the crazy British weather didn’t cooperate with rain falling most of the days, it was well worth it and another beautifully spent trip away together.

Happy birthday Baby..

Heat and the freaks

🎵🎵 It's the summer time where the weather is fine…and you can stretch right up and touch the sky..🎵🎵

Yup…its that time of the year again over here. The sun is blazing, the bees are buzzing, birds are cavorting, the trees are in full bloom, temperatures are heading north and yes… the freaks are out!!

I know it really shouldn't surprise me anymore but there’s just something about the summertime in the UK that brings out their carefree nature as well as all sorts of weird behaviour from people here. It’s almost as if the long, cold months (and they're quite cold and long here) can be likened to solitary confinement in a prison and the few brief months of summer signal sweet relief and escape from the doldrums of forced imprisonment.

Its not actually surprising. Human beings are, afterall, social creatures by nature, and there’s something about being cooped up in your houses during the cold season that really drives people nuts. Not as if they don't go out during that period, but the terrible weather is always at your back with a whip, lashing and urging you to get back home asap.

The lovely summer weather is the antidote for all that.

Maybe it’s just me being a Nigerian uncle, but what I see every day on the streets as I pop out to work and back never ceases to amaze me. I’ve been here for about two and a half years now, yet the freedom and unbothered nature of how people walk around in skimpy (being very charitable here) clothing and exposed body parts is still slightly jarring. Of course, being factual here, it's the female folk who are the culprits here.

Now, I’ve learnt to unlook a long time ago and just pass by on my merry way, but honestly, you can't walk about with eyes closed now, can ya? It’s gotten much worse as well, with more people demanding the right to do as they please. Hmmm… I obviously know this is as it should be. People should have the right to all the freedoms associated with civilized society….However, there’s also something about public decency that seriously needs to be reviewed.

Now, I’m certainly not a prude (Lmao) but like i said, it’s still jarring and just a bit too much. Given how the youngins are being influenced by everything they see, hear and watch online nowadays, it really should give us concern as a society.  Especially when it involves children, I really feel more people (parents especially) should be involved in providing guidance and direction and truthfully be a bit firmer on the discipline scale. (Oh God…now I really sound like an elderly Nigerian uncle..lol)

With the adults, however, there’s really nothing much you can do. They’re allowed to be as freaky as they choose. Just adopt the Buhari style and become a professional unlooker. 

Also, with the weather being so nice and everyone being outside, there are much higher chances of encountering people struggling with their mental health. Unfortunately, there are a lot of people like this over here.. For those of us who use public transport, it can be a bit challenging, especially when you’re forced to be in proximity with said individuals. This is certainly not to discriminate or anything but it’s just practical realities of living here (and of course, y’all know I’m nothing but a practical guy). While being sympathetic/ empathetic about their plight, you also need to be cautious about any interactions you have. A lot of them of course, are self-inflicted via terrible life choices but there are also a lot who haven’t chosen that path, hence the empathy and understanding whenever you can.

Anyway…like I said, It’s the summer time, the weather is delightfully warm, life is up and about, the majority of people are wearing clothes, the pubs are full, the parks are alive, Kids are playing outside (as they should be) and it’s a great time to be alive!

Enjoy while it lasts. 

Use it or Lose it

 Hey folks,

It’s one of those days where I’m lying here chilling after a long week, and I suddenly realize how apt it is when the phrase ‘’use it or lose it’’ is quoted.

So, recently, on different occasions, I was involved in what used to be one of my favourite pastimes…. Playing video games. Bruh..the results were terrible

Back home, I engaged Uche in Mortal Kombat..one of my staple breakfast games, and it was astounding how he easily whooped my ass. I mean, this was something I was universally acclaimed (at least, within the family) to be the unbeatable champion at.

Other times, I tried to play Chidi and Jerry on PS Soccer (another of my faves, which I used to be very good at), and the results were similar. Then yesterday, a friend came over with a Nintendo Switch, and my performance in racing and combat games was the same. Woeful.

Bruh, I’ve clearly lost my touch.😵

It’s funny cos I used to have a moniker back then, “The games Messiah” based on my proficiency in dispatching opponents during games… 💪.. (I think there was a character like that on one game show we used to watch when we were younger).

The truth of the matter is that over the last several years, I’ve really not had the time to play games ..since 2022 when we moved over (even before then i believe), i dont really think i’ve touched a controller pad or even thought about games as much as we used to.

It inevitably showed in recent outings and just makes me realise that skills not utilized will really just degrade over time. This doesn't just apply to video games. It’s clearly relevant in all aspects of life. (even the more tongue-in-cheek applications😜)

At this point, I’ve just resigned myself to the fact that I’m a retired legend and focus on new pursuits..