Hello my people. Been a while now that I was last here. Masky, Ice, Ijoseda, Axeman, Kingboy, all others, I throway salute. You guys have been awesome. I can see you've been keeping things rolling here.

The issue of landlords and landladies stole my attention. You know, staying in the same house with them could be a blessing as well as a curse. It depends on how 'lucky' you are. My family and I stayed with our landlady in our former house, and I tell you, it was hell. The woman practically manipulated and controllled everyone around her, from her children to her tenants, and even other people around. She refused to allow us hold house fellowship in our part of the duplex, cos, according to her, 'it disturbed her system'. She forced herself into the house of those living in the BQ, physically assaulting the occupant, cos, again according to her, the woman's prayers were too dangerous, and as such, she wasn't comfortable. She laid rules as she liked, and of course, was the only one who could break those same rules as she pleased. When we eventually moved out, it was the biggest of relief.

On the other hand, where we live now, there's been peace. Another landlady here, but one with the fear of God. Very nice, and above all, she minds her business. We really feel blessed and pray that we would be not be tyrants to our own tenants in the near future.

@Masky and Icey (lol. Combi does sound nice) 

Una dey enjoy o. E be like the winshes for una area don join forces to wreck havoc on our trans4mer! Believe it or not, now, we're practically on 5days off, 2 days on rotation. This has been going on for 3 weeks now. They say the it is overloaded; it's quite frustrating. Thank God the inverter is helping, especially at nights.

Water is back, tho we use gen to pump. DSTV also. A techy I called in said something got bad, so paid for a replacement.

As for recreation in my area, don't know of any. Oh. of course, there's Jhalobia Gardens, along Airport Rd. Very nice set-up, near natural environment. Only you have to pay to use it.

Things have really changed o. I remember when we were young, and there were lots of places to go relax,  Leventis, UTC stores, Kingsway, all at Lagos. These stores were the 'Mr. Biggs/TFCs/Tantalisers, etc, of that era. Mogambo Gardens (where Planet One presently occupies), beside Mobil Filling Station at Maryland; Love Garden, Ojuelegba, (I schooled around there); the Museum at Biney, Yaba (our house was located nearby); Amusement Park, Apapa. I had my first taste of 'Hammer House of Horror' here. Wow. That dark house with the imaginary moving objects that created the worst pangs of fear in children. (no mind us; we didn't know any better)

Bata and Cortina Shoes Stores were the favorite places to go buy your school shoes. I believe there still exists today a Bata Store along Broad Street, Lagos. The National Stadium at Surulere was another nice spot to go watch amateur boxing and wrestling on Saturdays. If you'll call it relaxation, I remember the Albati Barracks , Ojuelegba, was another favorite spot of ours; we used to go watch the army on parade, and boy, it was really interesting! Then, of course was the Festac edifice at Iganmu. That was the hot spot for stage drama et al. There were many others. Really, I believe today's young ones are missing out lots on learning about their environment. Too much TV/DVD/Playstation/Cable etc. Sometimes feel nostalgic about those days gone by.

Howdy people. Hwd your week been?

@ice, sorry about your phone. Hope you get another one soon.

It sure was a very boring easter for me. But then again, I survived, thank God.

Lol. Your plumber. I suppose I shouldn't hope on him. Maybe, God doesn't want me to meet him.

I'm hoping to get this DSTV problem sorted out once and for all


@Masky,

I sabi 'Yoruba' language pass you sef, u wan try

But sha, I do sometimes have a hard time decoding the pigin language used here. It does seem like hard work 4 me stringing the words to make sense. You guys are really advanced. But sha, I no complain

@bisowo

sorry my sisterly,u know wat they say about 'when it rains, '.sometimes excreta really does hit d fan.y not call dstv customer care first instead of drivin all d way?may b somethin a fone call could take care of.As per landlady generator matter,u just havta close your eyes and swallow your medicine since u r not d 'owner'.my landlord fixed his gen in my own compound(he has 3 of em) so they r alws on since he is tryin his damnest to produce 10000 megawatts of power.d noise from one of them is so bad i have to close every portal\9windows/doors/ratholes sef) to preserve a bit of sanity.Adura l'ama a gba koloun she tiwa fun wa(if u don't rap d lingo,sue me! ).Take it ez sis,it is well!
[quote][/quote]

Been calling the customer care since the weekend, but they just weren't picking their calls. Tried again today, but no show.

As for landlady, I think there may be a wicked streak in some of them. Imagine, installing her gen on our side of the compound, so all the generators are on our side. Her side, she kept free of cars and generators. In fact, when we first moved in, she instructed that we should not put our gen along her corridor, which also serves as our backyard. Neways, God dey. Make God make us all to become landlords too in this Lagos o. Amin o

@ house,

I'm still waiting for the contact details of a very good plumber for our water machine. Thanks

Feel really wretched. Everything that could possibly go wrong in a house has actually gone wrong in mine. No light now for 4 days, though my neighbours to our right and left have been having same uninterrupted. That's the most painful part. To think that I was here praising them a few weeks back. In fact, I take back my words

Called Nepa manager, and all he had to say was they would come and fix it, something about fuse problem, Well, today makes it the 4th day, and we're yet to see their break light

Again, our water machine, newly bought a couple of months ago, has not been working. Our plumber seems to have run out of ideas on how to fix the problem. Pls, anyone in the house who has a good plumber, not expensive o, should please send one to me, before I freak out totally

Thirdly, our DSTV decoder has not been working. Only God knows what the problem is; suspect my kids may have been fiddling with the remote, and possibly got things out of order. Have to visit their office at Opebi for a check.

Lastly, my landlady's gen is driving me crazy. Can't just figure out why people can't be considerate of others when using stuff that they know very well would affect the well-being of others Of course, it's understandable when you use your gen at night, at least we all know it's totally needful then, but in the daytime, aarrrrrrrgh, especially, wnen it's they type that seems to be built to damage people's eardrums,

I really don't get

@ axeman,

Auto drive is the cheapest thing ever. I had a driver teach me manual for a couple of months, but auto was a breeze. Was told what to do, and pronto, I was on the road. As easy as A-B-C.

I've been on auto now for 5yrs and really can't imagine me buying a car with manual transmission ever!

Really, if I were to turn back the hand of the clock, starting from 1997 when I had my first network marketing experience with GNLD, I would have run far far away from it. I did get involved in many others since my first, and I tell you, the main driving force behind these fad in Naija is really to acquire quick money. The marketers know this very well, and they exploit this knowledge to the max. Most Nigerians don't have the patience to do it slow and steady, the way it is done abroad. That's why you have a few peeps in Naija instantly becoming highest earners within a short time of joining the business. Paradoxically too, you have the highest drop-out rate in Naija as well, cos people soon see thru all the hypes, _{talk of monkey dey work baboon dey chop!}

In all honesty, if you feel you can work with the business model, provided you get a very honest person to tell you the honest truth (my brother, this may be harder than looking for a pin in a stack!), then you can go ahead and do the business. You must also be naturally gifted in talking to people, and also have MEGA PATIENCE, else, you will definitely fail before you even start. Just set your mind on achieving success in the business for long term. And please, avoid those ones that sell supplements, i.e. GNLD, FLP, TIANSHI, etc.

Hi mamus.

Network marketing, hmmmmmmmmm. Abeg my brother, avoid it the best you can. I've done so many of them, and found one thing true about them: the hype is actually the same everywhere. Promising the unattainable. You join today, and it's like you're actually on dope, full of expectations, athe next, and by this, I mean, 1 month after, reality hits you, and you feel you've been had. Unless you have never-ending endurance to watch the top earners eat from your sweat, and nothing seems to be happening your way. Anyway, the choice is yours.

@ Ijoseda,

One very important thing you must look out for when scouting for an apartment, especially in Lagos, is to visit the properties on offer during the rainy seasons. You don't get to notice the hazard of living in a flood-prone area until the rainy seasons, and you bet, the agents won't tell you jack. You must take it on yourself to do this check so you don't end up being sold a lemon. Never ever take the agent's word for it. Visit the prospective house, and see if the street is flooded, and so also the compound. Many properties in Lagos still have this challenge, so please, look well before you part with your hard-earned dough. BTW, Lagos State Govt. has recently warned residents about the heavy flood to be expected this year. So pls be guided

@ Fiver,
Generally, the landlords are not responsible for providing alternative power supply for their tenants. Everyone takes care of their needs according to their 'abilities' to generate the much needed power. That's why we have different categories of 'power pullers', ranging from those with large and noisy gen sets, to the not-so-large but equally noisy sets, to the small, petit, and wildly noisy ones. The 'I-better-pass-my-neighbors' generally fall in the last group. This is Las gidi. Wetin man go do na.

However, there's a new emerging trend of inverter users who are helping to reduce this wild competition, (at least at night) These days, we sleep better in our house since the generators have been given the red card with the advent of our precious inverter. I tell you, GET ONE TODAY![size=8pt][/size] lol

I hear there's light from the national grid now. Is this true?

Me thinks if you truly want to sell this land, you should go there and get yourself some pix of the current state of development there, and post here. Pics are invaluable in adverts.

Cheers!

Let me boast here jare. My area, Ajao Estate, is also a nice area (i.e. if you don't mind a few bad roads sha, which is everywhere neways). It is nice and quiet, not over-populated. It is quite accessible to other areas like Okota, Isolo, Oshodi, Mushin, Ikorodu Rd. Anthony/Gbagada/Maryland, and of course, Murtala International Airport, Ikeja

One very good thing I've observed is the low crime rate here. We've been here 3yrs+, and I'm yet to hear of the first incidence of armed robbery. Even with the popular Aswani Tuesday market, there's still a modicum of decency even on market days.

Light is very stable, tho, there are the days of total darkness, which would take the intervention of the almighty PHCN officials to fix. And they do try sha, given that they respond to our SOSs anytime within a 24-48hr period Indeed, we've been having free-flow power supply in the last one week, with an average of 18-20hrs daily. This is however not always the order of the day o. _{[/sub]I hope the winshes at Igando no dey hear my boast o[sub]}

@ Chikeorji, how's GH City. I do own a plot there, and the last time I went there, there were a few nice houses built already in the estate.

@ Ice. Nice list you got there. For me, the most important when we went searching for a house was few no of tenants in the same compound. Having got the bad experience of living with a bully in our previous abode, I was not keen at all on sharing compounds. But God so good, we got a house with just one neighbor, aside from the landlady, and a good neighbour at that.

My second most important consideration was that it had to be a new house, which in effect, eliminated a lot of the hassles listed above. For e.g, everything was working when we moved in, tho, in naija fashion of course, we later found out that most of the fittings were fake, and needed replacement only after just a few months of usage.

@Ijoseda,
Magodo is nice, but the problem is the traffic situation to and from the island. I guess to is bearable, but the fro aspect could be terrible, especially if you leave the island anytime after 5pm. Alaka on the other hand is ok. If you mean Alaka Estate, I think the place is really nice and quiet, at least, looking at it from the road. Me, I no know the internals of the place. Surulere is generally a nice place to live in. You could also try Gbagada/AnthonyMaryland. Their accessibility to all other parts of Lagos is key.

@ maskuraid: i live in the pent house, and there's gr8 ventilation, so the breeze is like WOW! unfortunately even that isn't enough for me sometimes, so i have to use dusting powder at night b4 i sleep.
enough igbadun for you this weekend. i feel you jare

@ Ice. You're enjoying o. Our apartment is downstairs, and here's one more reason why I hate this situation. The heat! Worse still there's no cross-ventilation in the living room. The bedrooms are a bit more bearable. I simply use DAMATOL powder, as that's way more effective than dusting powder, tho these days, with the advent of my precious inventer, I could do without.

iceblue:

oga lawyer tank you o! glad u enjoy the thread

@ maskuraid: i live in the pent house, and there's gr8 ventilation, so the breeze is like WOW! unfortunately even that isn't enough for me sometimes, so i have to use dusting powder at night b4 i sleep.
enough igbadun for you this weekend. i feel you jare

just when i was really beginning to enjoy our 3-month young mai-guard, the one who late last yr 'trafulled to see his fiiful' returned. not happy. this returnee's one lazy bum. infact your gist of them disappearing never to return gave me hope that the current one would stay a while longer.

My take on this is, pls don't take him back! Just tell him you'll call him whenever you need him. I tell you, these boys are silly! I'm even surprised at this lapse, cos they always seem to know stuff going on with their members. I bet they have a leader (al capone style), who directs all their activities, including regulating their employment status. I once saw one of our own former maiguard, who had told us he was 'trafuling' just days earlier, carrying people on okada .

I must say things are beginning to look up in my once again. I mean, the water machine is working again, and about time too! We suffered without water for days, all because the plumber couldn't work without light. The old machine was eventually condemned, cos Nepa high voltage succeeded in killling it. Same for the landlady's, which had to be replaced too. My landlady got another one same day, while we and our neighbor got ours 2 days later. And now, glory be, there's water.

Light: It's been fairly stable in my area. At least, we 'enjoy' anything btw 8-14 hrs daily. And this is enough for us to charge our inverter batteries. So, technically, I've been enjoying light in my house 24hrs daily,  . We were advised by the guy who installed our inverter to go for the bigger batteries, i.e. 12V 200AH batteries. We got 2 of these, then changed all our light bulbs to the energy saving ones. We had to isolate some power loads, to give room for the essentials only, i.e. lights, TV and of course fans to sleep at night. And trust me, I've been working like a hawk, trying to safeguard against wastage. My kids don't watch the TV anyhow anymore, cos more than anything, having the fan on at night in order to sleep superceeds every other day-time luxury.

Mai-Guard: Our mai-guard problem is finally over. When the last one that worked with us simply left without informing us, we finally concluded that we could very well do without them. Over the course of 3 years, we have had to deal with scores of them, most of them leaving within 1 month of work. As soon as they collect the last salary, you would hear, madam, I wan traful to see my fiiful, lol

Initially, I used to pity them, and sometimes, we would contribute and give them something for the road, but eventually, we discovered it was a classic by them. I guess being nomads by nature, they just can't be loyal to you. Hence, we concluded that the best thing is to do away with them altogether, and keep our gates ourselves, with each person holding their keys to open and lock the gates. This has worked beautifully for us.

Sorry for the epistle. I do like to be detailed.

I live in Ajao Estate, off Int. Airport Rd.

We moved in 3yrs ago. It was a relief from the previous place, though smaller. 4 nos 3 bedroom flats. The lower flats being occupied by tenants while the top 2 is owner-occupied. Luckily for us, we got ourselves a nice neighbour, with whom we share one side of the compound. But one major snag in the place is the parking. With very little space, cars are parked bumper to bumper. Between we and our neighbor, we have 5 cars, which need to be parked back-to-back. Initially a very quiet environment. But over a space of two years everything turned tupsy-turvy.

Ajao Estate is actually a nice neighborhood except that quite recently, it has been overtaken by a myriad of traffic problems, starting with containers, containers, and even more containers. You could hardly drive out without an incidence, which are largely man-made and preventable. You would puke at the drivers' arrogance! As though they owned the area. This problem is further aggravated by the impatient and irresponsible driving style of most residents. No one would yield to the other. And the result, utter chaos.

Otherwise, incidences of armed robbery, if any, must be quite isolated. We also manage to live with the total state of disrepair of the roads, due to lack of maintenance by govt. In fairness to the dominant industry there, Chivita, there have been effort by the company to fix the roads ocassionaly, (this is done obviously to make the journey easiier for their container drivers - selfish lot I might add!)

Light: Sometimes we're on the daytime schedule, sometimes night. most times, we never get the light for the 12 hours we thought we'd be entitled to. sometimes none at all. recently though it's been pretty fair. we're told it's because of one popular guy who lives nearby that we get such 'good' treatment. else we'd be searching for PHCN power with a torchlight  . Getting an inverter is a good idea, i guess i'll talk to some one about my power requirements.

[quote][/quote]

@ Iceblue
You may want to reach the guy who installed mine. He's a Nairalander, by name Afam Nnaji. He's quite detailed and honest. His contacts:

08023519492
08067328968

You can discuss your power needs with him.

Cheers

@ Kingboy,

What I did basically was applying space management as a tool to make the room more comfortable and appealing to them. Aside from keeping the home organized, home management is very much about giving your home ambience and style. First, I took out the old drab furnishings, that made the room appear tiring. I changed the drapes, using cool colors, a mixture of beige, burnt orange brown and chocolate. I also changed the bed spreads, matching the colors with that of the drapes.

I added wall decor stuff, e.g. a few cheap paintings, their own pictures, and a wall clock. Again, with my knowledge of interiors, I bought a shoe rack to keep their stuff out of the way. One of the things that create disorderliness in the house is when stuff are kept hapharzadly. Everything has its own place, and care must be taken that they are kept there. So, I hung all their shoes, canvases, etc, in the rack. Their bags, belts, other knick knacks also got some attention. I asked the carpenter to do a little wall something to help keep these things in, and sure enough, that has given the room a semblance of orderliness.

I also splashed on fresh paints, using mixed shades to give the room depth and texture. Remember, paints always liven up the house. Be sure to pick light colors that will usually go with most furniture style and motif. To go with these, they have their usual potted flower arrangement in a corner of the room.

Then the lights. I went for energy saving ones, that would reduce the heat generated by the other types, and at the same time give enough illumination. The overall effect was quite striking, and of course, to them henceforth, that erstwhile ignored space had suddenly become 'their room' lol.

If you need further help in this area, pls don't hesitate to call on me.

Cheers!

As for me, I used a fresh decor concept to keep my children in their room. This cost me a little, but the result was well worth it, cos at least, they found something interesting enough in theirs to keep them away from mine!

Water machine? Seems many of us have that problem currently. lol. First, when it stopped giving us water, plumber said the pipes were bursted by someone (we all believed it was the landlady's unruly houseboy). Next, when the problem persisted, the plumber said that the tank must be dirty. So now, we've been without water for about 3 weeks now. Thank God the kitchen sink still runs, as it's connected to the landlady's machine.

Compound? My husband and I share one with our neighbor, who are as nice as anyone could wish for. Major snag tho; it's too small! We all practically have to walk sideways, especially when all 5 cars are parked. Not a nice thing I tell you.

Light? So-So. My area is particular crazy. You'll see light in your neighbor's house, while yours is bathe in darkness. This happens cos people on the same street are connected to different transformers. In my house alone, we've had to shift poles so often, Nepa officials have ceased to take us serious! Finally, my husband and I got tired, and decided to have a back-up, hence we got an inverter. This has been serving us pretty well lately. My neighbor's in the process of getting theirs. So at least, their will be less noise pollution

By the way, I live in Ajao Estate, by Airport Rd, known as an industrial area. Living in an industrial area has its own unique challenges, and I shall talk about this later.

lawyer:

I will encourage this and bump it to the top. Even though it is a Property Forum filled with lands and Property, Accessories in a Home should also be given a look too. Whats the point of having the most expensive house built and its empty without anything pleasing to appreciate it apart from bricks and mortar!

Good work and more Nairalanders with home accessories should also step up too. You will also be encouraged !

Cheers

Lawyer, may God bless you for flying this to the top of the page. This has been on my mind for quite a while, but I didn't know how to go about it. Interior decoration is my passion, and I've noticed of late that people actually like good accessories to go along with their beautiful houses; only that most times, the know-how of interior decor is mainly concentrated in the hands of people who don't know how to do it, but who are just doing it as any other business.

@ Others, you can actually have your home beautifully decorated, without breaking the bank. If you would allow a professional to do it for you. And this may not necessarily translate to a huge expenditure on your part. As a trained interior decorator, (I'm into floral decor, and soft furnishings), l can help you turn that 'dump' into a lovely den, and at any budget. Watch out for my own thread shortly.

This car is still available

At first, I had hopes for a livelyshow from Nkenna. But honestly, I've been disappointed over and over. Infact, I don't like it anymore anytime the camera's on her. I feel she has nothing new to offer; just trying to 'belong'. Personally, I think G'dine is a better female rep for Naija, tho, both of them could very well get ejected this weekend for all I care. [sub][/sub]Methink Nkenna's obviously intimidated by the other girls, hence, her muteness!

Beautiful thread. Read through the whole 17 pages in 2 days. Makes me more convinced than ever before that marriage is HARD WORK. I've been married 10yrs, and I'm enjoying my marriage, to the glory of God. There've been the ups and downs, of course. But I thank God that in spite of all, my marriage is waxing stronger by the day. Shall post my story later. God bless all those who have posted their stories. May God be your strength. Cheers all!

whitelexi:

This is not romantic naaa. . . kai but the boy looks stubborn sha - may his soul rest in peace.
Uju, i hope u are seeing this face?? My pikins must not look this stubborn ohhhhh

Really tragic. And even more tragic is the fact that some people can actually make light of this story.