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Published: December 31st 2009
Tuesday, December 29th
At 2am Talita woke Ferdi. There was a familiar gnawing sound coming from behind the fridge. After more than two peaceful weeks Mr Bus Rat was at it again. The game was a-foot, but we were ill prepared for his sudden return, all of our well laid plans forgotten during the quiet weeks just past. While Ferdi was still rubbing sleep from his eyes Talita got a thick plastic bag and a canvas bag. The idea was that when Mr Rat flies into the plastic bag and chews through it he’ll end up in the canvas bag and we’d have a chance to smash him against the floor, hopefully terminating him. Grizzly and brutal, but our options were limited. If given half a chance he’d chew his way to freedom through the canvas bag and it would be Mr Rat-3, Ferdi & Talita-0.
When Ferdi was in position Talita poked the stick in the gap on her side and banged away. Mr Rat made his appearance, running at the bag. At the last moment the clever bugger stopped, took a good look at the bag, and decided to brave the stick rather than the bag. In the
blink of an eye he disappeared behind the fridge only to come barrelling out on Talita’s side. He ducked below her stick and shot out the gap, hitting the floor running, and like greased lightning he disappeared to the front of the bus. Luckily there are no neighbours near, cause Talita’s yell would’ve woken the neighbourhood! Well, we’d lost yet again; Mr Rat-3, Ferdi & Talita-0.
…Damn...
As we lay in bed, trying to get back to sleep our minds were working on a plan to even the score with Mr Rat. He’s making us look like monkeys! Eventually we drifted off and four hours later woke to another wet and misty morning.
As we drove towards the holiday park we encountered more flooding on the gravel road. A local guy stopped us and cautioned us to take it slow and not to think that this is as high as it gets. We proceeded on and found that the water was deeper than we’ve encountered before, but the Boesman forded the flooded road well, proving its amphibious prowess.
At the holiday park we helped Margaret clean one of the cabins, then performed our other cleaning duties.
With weather like that every interior was filled with grass and mud. It made cleaning “fun”! Since starting to clean the bathrooms we’ve found that the female bathrooms are always much dirtier than the male’s. Strange, we’d always thought men were messier than woman, but it appears we were wrong.
With the cleaning done Ferdi sanded the “permanent frames” for the canoe, smoothing and rounding the edges. Talita went into to town to pick up some supplies and rented two movies. We joined Margaret, John, and their daughter Wendy for tea and ended up chatting till nearly 5pm.
On the way home we found that the flooding had worsened. We’d expected the flooding to lessen, since the tide was out, but no such luck. We managed well during the first two crossings, but at the third crossing Ferdi had Talita, with the aid of a hiking stick, walk ahead in her “wellies” to gauge the depth. The water came almost to the top of her “wellies”. Ferdi judges it “safe” and decided to go for it. He dropped the van into low and waded in. There was a hairy moment when the water came over the bumper, but
the Boesman swam through. The forth crossing was over a bridge that was completely immersed. It was a sealed section of road, so we didn’t worry too much, but we almost got caught; the water was much deeper than expected and we nearly came to a halt in the dip before the bridge. With a burst of power from our trusted machine we made it through, cruising easily all the rest of the way home. If the rain kept up we weren’t sure if we’d make it out the following day.
Back home Talita cooked dinner, then we tried to enjoy the two DVD’s we’d rented. About halfway through the first one, just as we got into the movie, the DVD would play no further. After trying everything we could think of we started to watch the second one, only to have the same thing happen! Arghhhh! We hate not being able to watch a movie to its conclusion. It’s better not to watch it at all. After again trying everything we could think of we gave up.
When we checked our emails before bed we got the bad news from Robbie that we couldn’t change our tickets
home from end of January to end of April. She had tried to extend them, but Emirates would have none of it. So, either we fly home on 20 January, forfeiting our very expensive visa extension, or we forfeit the very expensive flight… Mmmm… we’ll have to talk to The Big Guy about that one.
Today’s highlights:
1. Making it through two sets of floods.
2. More progress on the canoe.
Wednesday, December 30th
The rain lifted during the course of the night and in the very early morning the full moon shone with such brightness that it cast an eerie light over the jungle. It looked almost fake; like a movie scene shot during the day and made to look like night (day-for-night for those in “the industry”).
When we woke next it was raining like crazy again. Even armed with an umbrella Ferdi got soaked when he went to feed the ladies. By the time we left for the holiday park the sun was starting to peak through the clouds though. After the recent flooding most of the road surface had ended up next to the road and there were deep ditches criss-crossing the road.
When we inspected the top panels of the canoe we found that with the recent high moisture content in the air the resin did not set properly. We pulled these apart, cleaned of the failed resin and sanded the panels again. One of the panels were badly warped, so we wet it and weighed it down, hoping that we’d be able to straighten it out. We puttered around the rest of the canoe, not doing much. We soon gave it up and performed our cleaning duties.
After having spent a few weeks cleaning showers, toilets and kitchens we’ll never look at cleaning crews in public places the same way again. It’s a hard and thankless job and people do terrible things when they know that they don’t have to clean up after themselves. From now on we’ll remember to give a word of thanks when ever we come across a person cleaning a public area. It might just make their day!
After lunch Paddy came by for a visit and inspected the canoe. He was very impressed and said we should build and sell these for a living. He was of the opinion that they’d sell really well.
After Paddy left we called it a day and went home. Our spirits were a little low and we didn’t feel up to any more activities. Back home we spent some time reading and in the late afternoon Paddy showed up with a stack of nine DVD’s. He must’ve taken pity on our failed movie night last night and came to our rescue! He also brought a little present for Siubhan. He’d hoped that they’d still be around and wanted to give her the present, but now we’ll just have to post it to her. What a special human being old Paddy is!
Today’s highlights:
1. Paddy saves the day
2. Fresh courgettes from the garden for dinner
Thursday, December 31st
The last day of 2009 dawned bright and sunny. At the holiday park we installed the bulkheads and the permanent frames to the canoe. We didn’t glue the top panels back together again, judging the humidity too high for success. With the sun being out our cleaning duties was easier to perform since most of the campers were out enjoying the sunshine while they could.
After lunch we drove into town for some supplies, drinks
for the evening’s festivities, and a rat-trap. Mr. Rat has reigned long enough. It was time for us to take back the bus. On the way home we swung back by the holiday park to drop off a bottle of “bubbly” for the Mansell’s. John also gave us some non-poisonous and poisonous bait. Rats are very intelligent and eat only a little of a new food source during the first feed. They then check if they feel okay and if they don’t they won’t eat of that feed again. The idea with the non-poisonous bait is to get the rat to eat for a few days until they are used to the food source, then substitute it with the poisonous bait. We’re coming out all guns blazin’ now. We’ll win! We have to…
We set the rat-trap. It’s super sensitive and gave us a couple light heart-attacks when it went of while setting it. We’d not like to be zapped by
that bad boy. We spent an hour reading, then had a nap in preparation for the long evening ahead. After dinner, a couple beers, and a shower, we set off for a party with Gary, Rose and a
whole bunch of other people.
The party was out-doors and there were kids and dogs all over the place, making for a family picnic vibe. There was also a stage, a DJ, and a live band called Midnight Kitchen. The band was pretty good, performing some light and some funky tunes. We spent most of the evening chatting to Danielle, Rose and Abby. We didn’t feel like mingling much, so we just sat on our butts and enjoyed the relaxing vibe. There was a full moon shining brightly, and we were told it was a “Blue Moon”. Just before midnight an old guy, his wife, and Seth got on stage and played a great blues set.
It was almost time to welcome in the New Year.
Today’s highlights:
1. Installing the bulk head & frames, no stress.
2. A beautiful sunny day.
3. Relaxing New Year’s party.
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Bob Carlsen
non-member comment
Happy New Year
We wish you a happy new year...may it be even better than the last! Concerning cleaning public toilets, my son had the job of cleaning the toilets at the concession at the top of Pikes Peak (14,119 ft), here in Colorado. He said that the women's toilets were much worse than the men's...so you both share the same insight. It was so bad he quit after three weeks. I was proud that he lasted that long! I am praying for you as you make your decisions about returning to SA or staying. You haven't written about having applied for a job in your professions and whether you are waiting for an answer.