Another Day as a Bookdealer March 29 2018
I sometimes think that if I was a novelist people would scoff at my ramblings as being too fantastical to be worth reading.
Move over Bridget Jones.
Our lives are far more interesting .
Or rather way wierder than you can imagine.
Even my home life is conspiring against me.
For instance what happened to me yesterday. Living in Johannesburg we have more than our fair share of infrastructure failures. A recent visit to Cape Town was a stark reminder of what would happen when the taps run dry.
Thus in the midst of grouting a mosaic ,hands full of cement I turned on the tap and nothing came out I assumed there was a problem with the municipality.
Many bottles of mineral water later my hands were clean and I had mopped the floor being a messy worker.
The mosaic looks awful but my floors were clean.
I launched into Cape Town mode.
Mineral water to brush my teeth .
Thank goodness I had showered earlier.
Coffee made with mineral water .
Cisterns filled with the same and off I went to work.
And then I panicked.
What if I had left the taps on and the water had come back after I had left.
I had tried them ALL. My earlier thinking was, if one didn’t work who was to say that the others might not gush forth.
I envisaged furniture and the horror of horrors, books floating in a deluge of water.
I dashed home. Still no water.
But then I noticed my neighbour washing his car.
Does he have a bore hole I enquired. No.
He has water...
Maybe it was just our house.
Time to call a plumber.
And then a thought occurred.
Hercules Poirot would have been proud.
Our garden service had been earlier in the day.
They had watered the garden and THEN the water had stopped.
Did this mean anything?
It was time to investigate.
And lo and behold instead of switching off the water at the tap they switched it off at the mains
This is Africa...
I just have to buy some more mineral water.
Move over Bridget Jones.
Our lives are far more interesting .
Or rather way wierder than you can imagine.
Even my home life is conspiring against me.
For instance what happened to me yesterday. Living in Johannesburg we have more than our fair share of infrastructure failures. A recent visit to Cape Town was a stark reminder of what would happen when the taps run dry.
Thus in the midst of grouting a mosaic ,hands full of cement I turned on the tap and nothing came out I assumed there was a problem with the municipality.
Many bottles of mineral water later my hands were clean and I had mopped the floor being a messy worker.
The mosaic looks awful but my floors were clean.
I launched into Cape Town mode.
Mineral water to brush my teeth .
Thank goodness I had showered earlier.
Coffee made with mineral water .
Cisterns filled with the same and off I went to work.
And then I panicked.
What if I had left the taps on and the water had come back after I had left.
I had tried them ALL. My earlier thinking was, if one didn’t work who was to say that the others might not gush forth.
I envisaged furniture and the horror of horrors, books floating in a deluge of water.
I dashed home. Still no water.
But then I noticed my neighbour washing his car.
Does he have a bore hole I enquired. No.
He has water...
Maybe it was just our house.
Time to call a plumber.
And then a thought occurred.
Hercules Poirot would have been proud.
Our garden service had been earlier in the day.
They had watered the garden and THEN the water had stopped.
Did this mean anything?
It was time to investigate.
And lo and behold instead of switching off the water at the tap they switched it off at the mains
This is Africa...
I just have to buy some more mineral water.
