The Multistorey Debacle – Josh Journal
Have you ever been in a multistorey building and look down at the “peasants” beneath you? Doesn’t it feel cool to be able to see people from a vantage position, and they have no idea you are up there?
Add to that the cool breeze enjoyed by residents of multistorey buildings.
Those who live in the crowded areas of Lagos know how pleasurable that cool breeze can be.
At that moment, being free from the dust on the untarred and unswept roads. Escaping the reach of exhaust fumes from cars and generators. (That is if the occupant of the adjacent multistorey building doesn’t have his generator out on the balcony.)
I remember just over a year ago when a friend of mine was relocating to a new apartment. It was the top floor of a single-story building.
As the kind-hearted, generous, and magnanimous friend that I am, upon his request, I agreed to help with his relocation.
By Saturday morning, we had happily moved his properties into the moving van. It took us about thirty minutes to get that done.
With a less than fifteen minutes drive, we were at the new residence. Just as easily as we had loaded up the van, we unloaded it.
The next task was getting the properties up the stairs. What a grueling task it turned out to be.
Chairs, mattress, wardrobe, and others were part of the things we needed to get upstairs.
You needed to have witnessed the grunting, panting, and sweating involved. We spent over an hour on this phase of the task.
At a point, we were wondering if all the stuff were actually needed upstairs. You can rest in the knowledge that the washing machine didn’t make the cut. It was that serious.
As we tried regaining our breath after bringing up the last item, after spending less than five minutes in the new house, attention quickly turned to how these properties would be brought down when my friend and his family eventually have to relocate.
With the pity and permission of his wife, we agreed that only absolute essentials would be relocated.
Electronics and clothes would easily be moved. As for sofas, mattresses (despite how light they are supposed to be, but in truth are very heavy), those would be left behind.
Especially that wardrobe. Whoever takes the house next gets to keep the wardrobe.
Again, the magnanimity of my heart won’t let me in good conscience know that someone else would attempt to get a wardrobe up these stairs.
I have done it once, no one else has to go through it again.
As I left that day after a hearty meal and a cold bath, somewhere in the recess of my mind, a conclusion was reached.
I just might never stay in a multistorey building. Not even the bottom floor.
If I stay on the bottom floor, I would still be called to help neighbors move stuff up and down the stairs. I know I can’t say no. Except you are that bad.
I also am not ready to hear my neighbors “do the do” in the bedroom above mine. That would ruin my sleep. And the way I view them. And a lot of other things.
I don’t mind coming to visit you on the top floor of your multistorey house, but don’t expect me to move into one.
Life on the bottom floor is not that bad. Let’s leave the top floor for the birds and people who know how to fly.
Wilson Joshua is a Video Editor, Content Creator, and Creative Writer.
You can follow him on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. @IJOSWIL
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