Day 4 in Nigeria

Good grief,
that was a long time away in the life of a blog. I apologise for the delay to all my many readers. I was under a lot of pressure tying up loose ends before leaving and have just now found a computer (I'm now in Lagos) with internet access that I can use.

Anyway, I'll catch up as follows...

Friday night
After a hectic few days, I flew out of London on the 10.30pm Virgin Atlantic flight bound for Lagos arrival time Saturday 5.30am. The flight was fine. I was opportuned to have a Premium Economy ticket which is VA's business class so went through priority check-in and had a nice wide seat. The inflight entertainment was abandoned in preference of some much needed shut-eye. My mind was churning...

Saturday 5.30am!!!
NIGERIAAAAA
Good grief. The flight went so fast I could have been somewhere in Europe on a nice vacation. Murtala Mohammed Airport was very straightforward. No problems with passport or luggage or anything to declare or "wetin u carry" of the good old days. Rather civilised old chap and a good day to you too. Or maybe it was just too early. It was great to see my in-law strolling up to meet me. It's always great seeing your people at any airport I suppose. Lagos had not changed one jot(on the outside anyway)

As an aside, Its time I started putting up some pictures. As they say "a picture tells a thousand words..."

I settled in a bit and on the same afternoon I came in, I went with my cousin in-law to the kids carnival/bazaar at their (private) school. It was very vibrant and full of life. My kids would love the school but coming from England, I would probably be seeking something a bit more restrained. I saw at least two friends from the past so that was nice. We discussed the merits of coming home or staying in Nigeria.

Sunday
went to The Palms shopping centre in Lekki. I was blown away. Really. I could have been in Brent Cross with a Tescos in it. I was overwhelmed cos I was wondering how we would navigate the markets to buy meat and vegetables and what not. But this was something else. Rows and rows of fruit juices, fresh meat counters, patisseries, DIY tools and every model of jeep parked outside. Wow I was blown away. Lekki is the yuppy part of Lagos by the way.

Monday
First day at work. If there was no work, it would be nice but then you would get bored. I was really excited about the type of work but the hours are long. The people are cool and my boss is cool but the hours are long.

Tuesday
It's 11.16pm and I am staying in a hotel. I've been put up for a month courtesy of my bank. We went to two hotels before this one. Both fully booked. The proprietor (from The Lebanon) said it is all going down in Lagos and he expects to be fully booked till the end of the year. Lagos is booming! Things are happening over-night. Everybody wants it all and wants it now.

As an aside, I'm working on Private Equity, Real Estate, Oil and Gas and anything else that has an equity component (bank investing their own money). You can probably read between the lines and see that I'm a bit overwhelmed. New country, new job, new ways of transacting business, new accomodation, new shools for the kids, new cars and working from 8am-7pm. It will all come together with time, but as for now I am overwhelmed and I miss my family who are back in London. Anyway, as I always say "God is in control". I'm off to bed - Good night.