We were very badly prepared for our first real rainstorm.
At about 23h00 we were both working on our laptops when we noticed the first few flashes of lightning.
It crossed both of our minds at the same time that we had not had a chance to put up our lightning conductors, and that we were on top of a hill with a metal roof.
I assured Sonja that our beds were the safest place we could be because their wooden legs perfectly insulated us and the children.
Except for Caleb, who because we are a bed short, we have moved to a camping cot that is squeezed into the corning of the kids room.
I took a pair of my rubber slip slops, and another pair of rubber strops (sandals), and put one under each leg of the cot, thereby insulating him as well.
We were a little unsure what to do with the laptops, but unplugged them both from the solar system just in case.
Then the rain came.
Glorious rain to fill up our water tank.
And it came, and it came, and it came.
Gentle falling rain is a beautiful sound to fall asleep to, so romantic, so peaceful. Bliss.
Our thin tin roof, two meters above our heads with no ceiling or insulation was another matter altogether.
It sounded like a cattle stampede, like somebody was firing cannon loads of gravel onto the tin.
No chance of sleep with the storm at its peak.
I dutifully got up and put buckets under our three leaks.
These three quickly multiplied to seven or eight.
Soon we were running out of containers.
There are really only three or four leaks. But the problem is that with enough water, each leak drips down onto a roof beam, which is slanted at 45 degrees, and then runs down the roof beam. At three or four strategic spots, along it course to the outside wall, it forms a little waterfall. So in this way, a single leak can quickly multiply by four or five.
With the rain really falling we also realised that two sets of window frames are very badly sealed. The rain basically pours in through the porous cement above the frame, runs down the inside of the glass, hits the sill, and then runs down onto the floor.
I discovered another really great feature about a mud and dung floors.
They absorb quite a bit of water.
None the less, suitcases and clothes stored on the floor were all hastily moved.
This only left the rain that was hitting us in the face while lying in bed that came from the holes in the wall that had been left for airbricks.
There had been a communication gap on our October visit, because I could see that the building was so porous, and that there was so much air moving through, that the air bricks were redundant, and I asked the guy plastering to make sure he closed them up.
Anyway, they were still here when we arrived, and last night they said hello.
We sacrificed one towel per hole, which was quite a substantial sacrifice as we could only bring two towels each, with us.
We rolled the towels up and stuffed them into the holes and seemed to do the trick.
Finally we drifted off to sleep.
It was now about 1am, and we were both pretty tired. The volume of the rain on the roof made it impossible to fall asleep.
Then, just as it seemed we would manage it, I pointed out to Sonja that Caleb with his gastro, was going to wake two or three times during the night to deal with (hopefully) imminent, but quite possibly historic, explosions.
And if he called us it was highly unlikely that we would hear him.
The rain was that load.
You couldn’t hear yourself speak. You had to shout.
I am all for a married couple shouting in bed and encourage this at every opportunity, but not for straightforward everyday conversation.
So we ferried the two youngest kids into our bed with Sonja, and I went to go and sleep in Mila’s lice infested bed.
At about 2am, Sonja stumbled through in the dark (it was pitch black).
She had lost her torch somewhere in the bed, and the two kids were wriggling and kicking so much she couldn’t sleep.
So back came Caleb.
At that was it until the morning, although I did get up at least three or four times to check that bowls were not overflowing and during the course of the night discovered two new leaks.
The rain was still here in the morning, with no further damage to the inside of the house.
About 48mm of rain had fallen over a seven hour period, which was great for the water situation.
In fact our water tank was over flowing.
So I spent the first hour or two out in the rain.
I plugged up the overflow pipes, and this allowed me to get about another 350 litres in the tank. Then I removed one of the inlet pipes, and replaced it with an elbow that allowed me to extend the height that the water would be stored to.
This really maximises the tank, and it is now full to capacity.
It is over flowing as we speak.
I then emptied three polyprop drums that I had in the trailer. They were being used to store hardware in, and were then going to form part of our new loo.
Anyway, as each holds about 250 litres of water I thought we may as well fill them as well, as 750 litres will give us another 10 to 14 days worth.
I was thinking of clever ways of running extra pipes to the drums, but as the rain was falling so hard, all I had to do was stand each drum, one at a time, under the disconnected inlet pipe, and they filled up pretty quickly.
I have also filled up our jerry cans, and when there is a break in the rain next I will fill our last container, which is about a 75 litre bucket.
If we had another tank we would fill it no problem, so I must check, because I don’t think this happens al that often.
The Eastern Cape id officially experiencing a drought.
Anyway, a sleepless night, but no real harm done. Buckets are still strewn all over the floor and outside it is still belting down. It hasn’t stopped once.
It sometimes slows to a strong drizzle, but it is coming down big time.
As soon as we have dry weather we will prioritize getting the leaks fixed and try and find a way to get the windows sealed.
I also need to put in an overflow pipe to the water tank that will divert extra water to our vegetable garden area, or anywhere away from the house.Oh, and we must work on finding an old AGA stove, or something similar. The lodge has a fire going and it looks so cosy.
enerally chill out a bit.
