Independence as a Young Nigerian (Part 3)
It’s moving day!
You say your goodbyes to your parents (they are still not happy) as you put your bags into your waiting Uber. You’ve been able make the apartment liveable without exhausting your savings and now you’re ready to take on the world.
Your new landlord greets you with a faint smile as you transport your luggage into your apartment from the ground floor. He praises how fast you were with making payment for the rent and pleads with you not to disappoint the following year. You bow slightly and tell him he has nothing to worry about.
Your trials begin when you decide to take a shower and realise you have no running water and you hadn’t bothered to get a bucket and a bather yet. The bucket and some other household items are on the list of things you intend to get once you move in. You grumble a bit as you put on your clothes and head for the door. You remember how the painters asked to keep the paint buckets and how you readily gave it away. One of those buckets would have come in handy now (Proper “na me fuck up” moment).
You decide to look at the positive side, this would be a chance for you to get a lay of the land and be familiar with your new environment. Figure out where the convenience stores are, the main market and places you can grab a drink and relax. As you descend down the street, you take note of the religious houses, bars, provision stores, hair salon and a restaurant with a humorous name; Gbadun-emi-e, which loosely translates to “Enjoy your life” in the local parlance. You make a mental note to try out their food on your way back. You have no plans to cook (the little you know how to) for now.
You sight an open store with buckets and other kinds of plastic in display. You get the bucket, a bather, three bowls, half a dozen of cutlery, four flat plates and turning spoons. You cross over to the appliances store to get extension sockets, a small rechargeable fan (to trust any Nigerian electricity distribution company is to be a clown) and rechargeable bulbs. Your funds for a small generator would come from your next salary. The extra costs that came with furnishing the apartment came as a total shock. You had an idea of the things you would need but you hadn’t expected it to cost that much.
Your shopping comes to an end and you have a tricyclist take you home (after racking your head for the proper address right after calling your parents’ home address by mistake at first which left the rider puzzled). You beg him to stop at the restaurant you sighted earlier to grab dinner. You silently pray your stomach agrees with the food, as you plan to eat out for the next two weeks pending the time you’d get a small gas cooker, a freezer and microwave.
As you finish arranging your luggage, a call comes in. It’s the house agent calling to congratulate you and jokingly ask when and where you would take him to celebrate(He literally just made a lot of money off you a few weeks ago). He bids you farewell and ends the call. You quickly type some words of appreciation to your parents. You add your new address at the end of the text with pride and hit send. You figured they would eventually come around and be on board with your decision.
The water is running now and you take your shower. It’s been a long day. You settle down to eat your dinner while scrolling through Twitter. You tweet “here’s to new beginnings.” You are a fully independent adult now and it sure feels good. You’ve been waiting for this moment for quite some time and being able to achieve this makes you happy. Everything you planned is already taking form
At that moment, a familiar foe strikes. The lights go out (Damn you EKEDC!). You will eat this dinner in the dark(inner tears).
To be continued…
