These are very interesting times. In fact, one would say they aren’t called festive for no good reason.
This festive season is coming with more than we bargained for. Of course as men, pleasing our women is high on the agenda, even though in pleasing them, we are striving for our own selfish pleasures.
But because the festive season has this notion of family written all over it, for most men, it turns out to be a nightmare. You see, for most geezers, family, as is conventionally known, is not what it quite frankly is.
It could extend even to business associates and beyond. Family may well mean those folks that make you feel at home, to whom you have an affection that is airtight. Most geezers have ‘family’ members that are so repulsive to their actual family that such seasons only come with the opposite of the word reunion.
Imagine this man who ordinarily runs his harem of, say three concubines, over and above his two wives. To him, the entire set is family, but the festive season means he can only deal with one ‒not at a time ‒but at a season! So, then how and where do these others be?
To compensate and keep the roof steady, geezer has to run the rounds to ensure he compensates his absence with ‘eye covering’ antics like sending them on solo holidays, or paying a package for groupies so that their interests are well taken care of on friendly territory. But boy, this comes at a cost. A huge financial cost! This could explain why January feels like it has 60 days!
That’s before one mentions that the kids are back on holiday, meaning extra spending on domestic consumables, from food to Yaka! It means cable TV has to be fully on, lest you have a riot on your hands.
It also means coming home earlier than usual in case the adolescents start asking “waddawa?” It means less drinking on Friday because the Saturday morning cannot be peaceful as the kids expect to spend it bonding with Daddy.
And all this, including bonding, comes at a cost, a huge financial cost. Because a walk into one of the new malls in town with them means a whopping Shs 100,000 could be spent at a whim, only on ice cream! Yes, mere ice cream. That’s before they pick on a gadget or fancy wear, airtime for bundles to keep in touch on social media, etc.
This is actually the last week in which to make the month’s money. Anything after Friday, forget! Few debtors will be able to honour their obligations after this week.
Many will have their known phone numbers off while others will lock their offices and go undercover. But as you move about making ends meet, the demand side of the money only gets deeper by the day as we edge towards Christmas.
To make matters worse, the police are getting even more unforgiving. A microscopic crack on your vehicle side-mirror could attract a five-figure fine or some jail time, if you do not play ball. As for those of you without driving permits, dare not sit behind the wheel this festive season.
Though it is time for festivities, boss, it could also denote misery!