We heard a loud crash outside our house around 3 am. Although we were jolted awake and wondered what it could be, we were not concerned enough to go outside to check! We both thought it could wait until daylight. As it turned out, the high winds and torrential downpour during the night pulled part of our already-loose guttering from the front of the house. How were we to put the guttering on? Because we have 12 ft ceilings, we need an 8 ft ladder to change all of our burned out lightbulbs and had looked all over Zomba for one. Everyone told us to go to Blantyre.
When Harry, our gardener, saw the storm damage, he ran home to get his ladder. Great! Harry has a ladder. When he returned it was with a ladder he had made from long thin poles he had cut from the forest with shorter cross pieces tied on. He leaned the ladder against the house and pulled out an old rag. He tore this into strips, which he used to tie the guttering back on the house. Resourceful.
Harry surely knows how to deal with such a situation! Good thing he knows how to act and think fast in times of crisis. Anyway, how was the house after that? I can just imagine how it looked like after the downpour. But the important thing is that all of you were safe. And what happened can serve as a lesson on prevention and preparedness.{Cayla Dupont}
ReplyDeleteHarry is indeed a resourceful person. He has been the groundskeeper for this house for 19 years, and over that time, he has seen tenants come and go, some taking better care of the house than others. The owner lives in Dubai, and in his absence, over time, the house has had some wear and tear. But, since we moved here in November 2012, little by little, this old house is shaping up to be the beautiful residence it was meant to be.
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