Experiences of a Skunk

On Monday evening, I went for my first run since the half marathon. I went running with our cleaner Sophie’s daughter (age 14) and cousin (age 11). We only ran for 5 kms leaving me with energy unspent. This made me keen to join to join Nat (friend and fellow doctor) for exercise on Tuesday morning. (Our exercise routine involves me heading over to her house just after six and lifting weights, playing with fitness balls and running up and down a few stairs. We chat most of the time and it is great fun.)

My exercise meant that I was in need of a shower. (Indeed I had not managed to wash since the previous weekend.) On Tuesday morning after my exercise I stepped into the shower and turned on the taps. Little trickle. Then nothing. Not a drop. And out I got. With an empty jojo I was unable even to fill up a basin. Instead, I had to settle for using emergency cleansing wipes (a parting gift from Eimear). And then went to work to work 29 hrs in a row - great!. With my equally unwashed husband. Suddenly the double virtue of the ceiling fan became apparent. Not only would it keep us cool during the night but it would help to freshen the air. We put it on the third and fastest setting. And then kept our noses over our respective sides of the bed.

Having no water in the home is obviously unpleasant. But having no water at work is potentially extremely disastrous. It is impossible to conceive of a UK hospital operating without water. Here, we must continue to try to function, albeit operating an even more reduced service. For example, no water means no x-rays – as the machines that we use depend on water for development of the images. At a more basic level, it means the toilets cease to function. This, in a hospital caring for 250 very sick patients. To add to the unpleasantness, the Tuesday and Wednesday were days of 40 degrees heat.

Despite the dire situation, somehow, life seems to continue to function as normal. Nobody seems to have responsibility for sorting out the situation – there is no atmosphere of emergency. What makes the situation even more frustrating is that there is no shortage of water in the dam at the moment. We are in the rainy season. The problem is mechanical.

Fortunately, the water returned to us relatively quickly - by Wednesday. We were hugely grateful, not least because periods of two weeks without water usually happen at least once a year. Suffice to say that this year I won’t have to think too hard about my wish for 2011!