A couple I met here, Iain and Judie, got me very drunk one
night and talked me into caring for their two dogs while they vacationed in
Malaysia for a month. I enthusiastically
agreed and thought that staying in their handsome, old Victoria Island home
would be much more fun than living in my pokey apartment. I made all arrangements while under the
influence of about a gallon of my favourite Shiraz.
Despite waking the next day with a hint of regret I embraced
the house swap. I met the dogs and we
were a match. They have a large garden
so don’t require much walking and the live in maid basically takes care of
them. I’m just around to keep them
company. I moved in one week ago and
have been quite comfortable.
The dogs are great and I feel like I have a couple of
companions while completing my work in the evenings. They laze around on ‘their’ couches most of
the day and let me know when they need the loo, water, snacks etc. I have also embraced the house. I’ve been cooking more in the large, well-stocked
kitchen – which makes a change to my student-esque fridge. I had a successful dinner party and I’ve
slept like a baby every night. The house
lacks a pool but I can nip back to my place for that at the weekends.
The house is an Addax Oil house so is very secure. It’s gated and has a security office, radio
link to the company and large, reinforced security doors externally and
internally. It’s strange though that I
feel safer in my wee place, which has less security but more people around
generally. If I lived in the house
permanently I think I would end up feeling rather stranded, as if on my own
little island perhaps. It makes me
wonder if this is the experience of other expats in Lagos.
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