How to Enjoy Your Relationship Despite Lagos Traffic

It’s Friday night and of course you wouldn’t spend it at home. What to do? It’s just 7pm, the night is early. So you call your girlfriend. ‘Care for a date?’ You ask. ‘Where?’ she asks. ‘I was thinking the movies.’ She squeals and gets off the phone to get dressed. You make a detour to pick her up but just at the street before hers a heavy truck is stuck and the driver looks clueless. So you call your babe and ask her to walk up to your car. It takes 30 minutes and then she finally comes scowling. Her shoes are killing her, her makeup has melted in the heat. You start the drive to the movies in silence, you know your one hundredth sorry wouldn’t make a difference. In fact you are even getting mad. ‘Is it your fault sef?’ You drive into Lekki expressway, the traffic is slow around second roundabout so you figure driving into Freedom Way would cut it off. You were wrong. You end up spending three hours just two minutes away from the expressway. By now your girlfriend thinks you’re the worst navigator and you are doing everything not to slap her mouth shut. When you finally come out of that jam around 11pm, the only option left is to take your nagging girlfriend home. And so there ends your Friday night… and your relationship. Sounds familiar? Well, here are a few tips to help your relationship despite the mean-old, nervous-wrecking, relationship-breaking, Lagos traffic. 1. Have a date in the car: Yeah yeah, I know how lame that sounds, but what’s the alternative? To spend every minute swearing at every driver? Why not make the most of the moment; Sing along to a song on the radio with your partner, bring snacks along and share, talk about times together, share stories about your day, play a game, laugh, anything but scowl! 2. Call from the car: Most nights you come home your partner is already asleep and you’re beginning to realise that you no longer know them or anything that happens in their lives, because even in the morning when you see each other it’s to share hurried goodbye kisses. What a bummer! But here’s something you could try; call while you’re stuck in traffic (with a hands-free device of course) and talk about your day or better still your partner could tell you what he/she’s doing at the moment. Are they stuck in traffic on another side of town or at home putting the kids to bed, you can share these experiences with them and not miss out in their lives so much. 3. Use one car: If you work around the same area why not use one car with your partner. Ditch one of your cars and use one instead. You’ll get to spend more time together. 4. Spend Saturdays and Sundays together: We all live for the weekends. It’s when we get to sleep and watch movies and catch up on our reading, or visit a friend, or go to the gym, or whatever else tickles your fancy. Here’s an idea, why not do all of these things with your partner. If you have to drive out, go together, visit your friends together, go to the gym together, shop together, try and make the most of your weekend and catch up on the lost times during the week. 5. Plan a weekend getaway: I know, I know, this is nearly impossible with your busy schedule. But hey, if you make up your mind to make time, you can. So set a date aside and surprise your partner with a getaway. Go to a resort, play tennis, swim, ride bicycles, play golf, have a candlelight dinner and rekindle that love that your busy life is trying to obliterate.