Monday, July 27, 2009

Gas ! a necessity NOT a friend!!

We are renting this place on a farm, very beautiful and every time people come visit us they are amazed at how we got this place. We live on a farm in the middle of the city with lots of friendly animals like deer, horses, ponies, goats, ducks, hen, cows, crazy wild cats etc. and we are really at home; paradise is what we sometimes refer to it, however we have encountered some difficulties and these particular one only appear during winter. We have had electricity black outs no power for days and when there isn't power it means we often run short of water as the system runs on an electric pump which isn't a big issue since we also have the municipal water which is turned on. We had no power as one of the main boards was on fire and the municipal here take their time to fix things. In fact if one had to wait for them, they would the chances of them having power is never as they are full of useless excuses as to why they wont pitch up to do their work or why they will pitch up in the dark to fix electricity but wont do it because its dark and they are cold. We had had the same problem a couple of weeks back so when it happened this time we called up our wonderful friends the Parsons who where kind to lend us their generator till our electricity was fixed. First we spent about two hours driving up and down looking for gas for our gas heater turns out that the size of the gas bottle we had were out of stock so we eventually head out to Sean and Shelley's to pick up this life saver, and they even prepared dinner for us since it was quite late after 9pm. After dinner we headed home all happy as we were going to have hot showers and have some light at home and not worry a bout the deep freeze and fridge and our stomachs full. Wayne set up the generator and the last bit needed some light to make sure all was in place correctly. Then we remembered we had a gas lantern that we could provide us with the needed light. We lit two candles so Wayne could see clearly as he replaced the lantern canister. As he did that he asked if i could push the candles nearer so he could see properly. Next thing we know the gas is leaking out and there is a hissing sound and baam!!!! , Wayne is on fire literally his hands, his face, his hair a.d
Im watching in shock as he slaps the fire off his face which he eventually does. and the canister is on fire the flame is getting bigger and bigger and to make matters wore we were fixing this in our kitchen that has a grass thatched roof. He eventually manages to run out with the canister to the porch and we try to use a dry cloth to put out the fire which doesn't help, then we remember lets try a wet cloth , nothing helps lets try a blanket nothing works the fire gets even bigger eventually Wayne the genius shouts "sand" i know what we should do, SAND!!!! he runs to the garage grabs the shovel and scoops dirt form the flower bed and throws it on the fire which dies after about eight trios of sand were made. We then use a candle to fix the generator and turn it on. And then check Wayne out to see the damage done. As we checking him out we just burst out and laugh so hard, I think it was from all the shock. The damage his eye brows his hair and part of his arms had been burnt so I took him to the bathroom and used a small pair to scissors to trim the eye brows and hair that had been burnt and we applied first aid to the burn on his arm. Thanks to elastoplus the burn spray it worked like magic as when we woke up in the morning there was no sign of a burn on Wayne's arm yet when it all happened it was starting to blister. So We ended up having hot showers,sleeping in a warm bed and watching tv with the whole house smelling of fried/brunt hair. We called mom to tell her about it as we thought she would laugh with us but boy she wasn't thrilled at all that we found it funny but was alright the following morning. But we were both grateful for electricity and more so for the fact that Wayne wasn't hurt so bad. I must say the whole day I have been in shock from the incident but getting over it slowly.We have learnt our lesson and hope something like this never occurs again. Once is enough.PS: Gas can be very dangerous
We are so grateful for the protection the lord has blessed us with and for all the many blessings He has given us.

Friday, July 10, 2009

Bridget and Colin !!

Being far from my first home is something that I sometimes wrestle with... but after i got married home is where i am with my wonderful husband. Back in Uganda, while i was a university i lived with one of my close friends Bridget. she was my flat mate a wonderful one at that. I hadn't met her for the first time at the campus we in fact went to the same primary school thought we didn't talk much but we became quite close at uni she was like a big sister to me since she was the more responsible one of the two of us. After we finished uni we both drifted into different ways didn't see much of each other but kept in touch. she got married and we even drifted more apart. but kept in touch occasionally. I then got married and moved to south Africa and didn't really get the chance to chat and all. After getting married I went to Uganda for my sisters wedding hoping i would get to see her but because of different arrangements we just spoke on the phone and didn't meet up , i came back to south Africa,. then one day i got a text message she was arriving at Jhb the following day , Wayne and i rushed to meet her at the airport she was on transit to Botswana and we didn't see each other as she wasn't allowed to come to the domestic departures to which we had access. Then in December she sent another text message this time she was coming to South Africa-Capetown so we would meet before their connecting flight, it turns out, the timing was wrong, at the time they arrived at Jhb Wayne and i were in Durban so we missed each other. Then eventually last week she sent me another text and this time they were spending two days in Jhb so we made it and managed to see each other after three years of missing one another as her hubby Collin put it " we were like in the movies" so a happy get together in the end. It was great to catchup over dinner and talk till late in the night. We had a wonderful time and looking forward to catching up again sometime soon. It was a late night as we got home after mid night. We paid the following day coz we use to going to bed at 8.30pm but it was so worth it.