Jo Jo Joy Joy

Regular readers will know that we have been having problems with our water supply. Water to our taps returned some time ago. Long may it last. Unfortunately it isn’t really drinkable. It can be made safe by boiling. But it tastes disgusting (for an empathetic experience try drinking a glass or used bath water; your own or somebody else’s will do). A much better source for drinking water is the Jo Jo that collects rain water (each house has one of these). On emptying our Jo Jo (see earlier blog explaining why we did this) we found the bottom of our tank to contain about 2 inches of filth – spiders, worms, ants, caterpillars etc.

I have delayed doing anything about the situation for three weeks. Yesterday, I finally relented. Having summoned up courage from St Roger of Billhurst, I decided I must tackle the problem. I emptied the Jo Jo again. Then with help from one of the workmen, I tipped it on its side. Donning a head torch I crawled through the small man hole and into an Ingwavuma Hades. And suddenly I was Andy Dufresne from Shawshank. For I spent the next three hours crawling through indescribable muck.

The rest can be told in one picture. And I will endeavour to attach it asap. Very surprisingly, I can report the whole experience as being quite fun. It was also very rewarding. We now have a pearly clean Jo Jo. It is the envy of Mosvold. Everyone that comes to visit is taken out to inspect it. It smells of apple washing up liquid. I am a very proud man.

In the midst of cleaning the Jo Jo I nearly had my first snake experience. I overheard reports that a snake had been spotted in the trees. The moment a Sammy has been eyed the locals immediately try to butcher it. I rushed over to try and catch a pre death glimpse. Sadly, the snake had vanished. This morning one of the workmen came and called for me (I am getting a reputation as the snake obsessive). Taking me to the bins by HR he showed me a dead green mamba. Unusually it was still in one piece. I got to perform a dissection. Very thrilling. Momentarily I considered taking him back in a bag and slipping him under Mary’s pillow. Then I gathered myself and threw it back in the bin.