The day’s plan on track… and then not.

You know those days where you see things happening at the same lazy  African pace that they usually do? Those ones where you plan a bit of market shopping, then a bit of this and that?  For about an hour the day started off along those lines. Then it went way way in a different direction! 

I took the camera along to the market today to share some of the atmosphere with you. These are a few selections:  a few people I asked for photos wanted money for posing – I was not in THAT space of generosity today! 

I do use SOME of these sellers: the friendly veggie lady gets my support, and the banana lane is a regular stop (until our trees are in season).  You may be relieved to know that the butcher and fish seller have NOT yet received our support.  They probably will never.  (It takes more effort to get our beef.)

 

I had been home for a  just a short while and  started recovering strength:  a trip to the market takes foresight (wear the right pants to hide money; pack the kaveera –shopping bag; wear good shoes for muddylane traversing), strength and fortitude while there (gather a right momentum to keep going and not stop-at all!; saying no to several pleas for money, stepping over,under and around obstacles, moving from stall to stall – you cannot buy everything from one supplier) and a deep gasp for fresh air and energy once sitting in the vehicle again. 

Soon Deon received a call to say that the lady who we had thought of getting to spray against insects etc was on the way – we had about 5 minutes to prepare.  We knew we had to evacuate the house for the day, so I packed a bag with a few activities to keep me busy at the hotel pool. Prepared, right?

Not at all.  When Mrs Spuit arrived we saw that we were not at ALL ready: all furniture has to be moved the the centre of each room. All clothing and goods removed from cupboards, placed on bed, covered with a tarpaulin.  All food removed from cupboards, covered with a cloth. It was mayhem for 5 minutes, with Sarah, Deon and me frantically rushing to pack.  As I thought it looked like we might be ok, Deon spurred the action a bit more with an international conference call with his company- 3 minutes after Mrs Spuit arrived!  Further mayhem, action and frantic rushing.  Eventually the call was taken as we walked down cow-pooped roads to the hotel.

After several hours away from home we returned to hear that we needed to stay away for a while longer.  I wanted to stay away for a full month of holiday: Mrs Spuit’s deputy-spray-boy,Mist-er Mohawk had had a roof wetting, and floor wetting, and furniture wetting –and-anything-else-wetting party while we were away.

There are puddles of DDT on the floor still drying as I write this; we have had to rewash EVERY dish in the kitchen, and it feels like we are moving in all over again (déjà vu is just TOO soon in this case!) So I would far rather write a blog and deal with the repacking in a while.  But it has to happen tonight still… our bed is under the blue tarpaulin and PILES of clothing, towels, medicines…

 

The printer looks like it has dreadful dandruff. Know of a good printer shampoo?

I tried to get a sense of the puddles in the bathroom.

We are trying not to breathe in too hard. This is necessary to help with the mosquitos and we already see several cockroaches feet-up outside.  I just hope all our geckos are safe!