Thursday, August 03, 2006

Noah's Ark in Saigon

Our house flooded last night. Christoff and I were out in the Pham Ngu Lao backpacker district last night, enjoying the Tiger beer happy hour celebrating that we didn’t have to work this morning. Anyways, we called it a night at about 3 o’ clock after Christoff got batted by a few chicks and his self-confidence was lower then Bafana Bafana’s (coupled with the waning of the Proteas might and the stumble and fall of the once-fearless Springboks, that’s doesn’t leave a lot of confidence at the bottom of the barrel).

Sorry, I'm digressing. So we arrive home just after three and unlock the gate. Christoff says: “Wie bad die tyd vannnie f*kken aand?” I plead ignorance. Unlock the front door. I realized something had gone pear-shaped when little cockroaches come rowing out in peanut shells, with toothpicks for oars. The geckos run across the slick walls two-by-two. There’s water everywhere. A waterfall runs down our stairs. Our empty fish pond is nearly full. The water comes out of the walls, out of the door frames (it looked like one of those rustic beaded curtains).

Ankle deep in water, Mr Diep – the man’s man, ladies man, and man about town – comes wading in with a smile and says: “No problem!” Luckily, both Christoff and I had dulled any sense of anger or worry we usually would have had in this situation whilst wrestling with the Tiger. Diep’s inside the roof, shoveling buckets of dirty water out, his sister’s on the floor sweeping the water off the balcony and his wife’s downstairs mopping. Christoff and I form a human chain to empty the full bucket appearing out of the roof into my bath. It was grand. A real group effort.

The more we tell Diep and his family not to worry and wait until the morning, the more adamant he is to fix it. We manage to rescue our house bar a few damp spots and fallen insect heroes.

Finally, Diep’s party left and Christoff and I just laughed trying to think of what insects and animals escaped the flood and what they used for boats (the mozzies proved their worth with a valiant and daring sea-rescue, picking up capsized ants who had tried to escape through the backdoor on canoes chiseled from Christoff’s toe-nail cuttings.

What a night. And best of all, Christoff regained his confidence: being part of a group working towards a common goal and finally achieving that goal with hard-work, teamwork and determination can do wonders for a man’s morale. Every story has a moral...

13 comments:

M.E. said...

heavy days! klink soos dit wat nou in george aangaan...

henno said...

Ek onthou julle het mos daai lekker Vrydag nuustoetse of hoe? 'n Mens moet maar op hoogte bly...Ek voel net jammer vir die mense in die Suid-Kaap - hulle het nie X-toff toenail cuttings gehad om hulle te red nie.

M.E. said...

nuustoetse...ja nou is die goed sommer op maandae en omdat ek nie rapport lees nie weet ek nooit wat angan nie!!!!

Anonymous said...

Ek sal nou-nou jou laaaaang inskrywing lees, maar kan nie langer wag om dié nuus te deel nie.

Dit is vir al die Kitty's wat ver in die wêreld is:

Ek het gisteraand ná die Stellenbosch Wynfees saam met die BOYTJIE (deesdae sonder 'n ander helfte) in AKKER gekuier! Handlyntjies gegooi vir dood en wat ek kry ek daarvoor? 'n Standing Dinsdagaand-afspraak in die Shack gekry!

Anonymous said...

Christoff se toonnaels = OVERSHARE!!!!!!!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Haha, what a cool story, its the little details that make it worth reading. toenails...heh, at least you didnt say scrapings of his 11th toe. Hope none of the fish in your pond swam away, its always sad when pets run away. Ah well, its something you can definitely tell the grandkids: "The night we got fuct and the insects worked together".

Anonymous said...

I think it is all a bit of a fib!! You guys were just too drunk to think straight and those little damp spots . . . Leaves much for the imagination to explain what went on their . . . Nice touch on the Mr Diep angle and anyway "Why spoil a good story with the facts"

henno said...

It's all true, you can ask the geckos if you can find them - Mr Diep too, except his English isn't very good and he'll probably recount the story about when he was a fighter pilot bombing the Khmer Rouge off the coast of Cambodia...

Loesil: Boytjie het nie 'n ander helfte nie? Ai wat, ek wens ek kon hom e-mail en troos maar hy weet nie hoe om 'n PC aan te sit, let alone email check!

Anonymous said...

Ha-ha-ha! Nou verstaan ek waarom hy so 'n wasige uitdrukking in sy oe gekry het toe ek hom van jou blog vertel. Hy't nie 'n clue gehad waarvan ek praat nie!
Sal julle op hoogte hou van ons Dinsdagaand-afsprake.
En moenie worry nie, ek gee nie om om hom namens jou te troos nie!

henno said...

Ja blog sal hy nie van weet nie, maar bou - daar's nou iets waarvan hy weet - daars nie 'n baksteen of teel wat hy nie ken nie. Laat my maar weet hoe die Dinsdagaand storie gaan - maar wat van jou ander helfte? Then again, dit het jou nog nooit voorheen gekeer om met handlyntjies vis te vang nie nie...

Anonymous said...

who uses words like "fib" anymore? haha

Anonymous said...

I think I'll try to use "fib" in a sentence today. Maybe in an enquiry I have to send to the government. (Wonder if they'll understand it...)
Junstin ek hoor jy is deesdae 'n kranige bergfietsryer! hehe...dink jy moet bietjie vir ons 'n foto post van jou&boytjie in jul fietsrydrag!

Anonymous said...

Alet jy is seker laf - Wil jy rerig n foto sien van ons in ons "Ball braggers" (fietrybroekies? Not a pretty site maar ons was in n worse toestand gewees na die fietsry. Damn, since when does 30km = 45km. That was just rude.