FIVE DAYS ACTING AS MANAGER AT RESTHILL

It all started with a tremendous thunderstorm on Sunday night.  I was sitting upright in my bed, comforting Gaya, my cat, as she is as scared of the thunder as I am.  A few times, it felt as though thunder slashed right into my bedroom, it was that close.  After the initial “donner und blitzen”, it rumbled on and on for another hour or so, just enough to chase up my already extremely high blood pressure.

On Monday morning, we woke up to darkness.  Thank goodness for solar power and a very powerful generator.  Last night’s thunderstorm somehow hit a cable, and the Eskom supply was non-existent.

The brand-new kitchen, which was so far only fitted with steel gates and no doors, was under water, and the cooks and assistants had to step carefully and work around the clock to dry up the kitchen and prepare breakfast at the same time.  They acted like champions, and everybody received their breakfast on time. 

Monday afternoon was a different story.  One of our male residents decided that today was the day he was running off.  He slipped out the door (though he was not seen) and started walking to the gate as fast as he could.  The poor Caregiver had to run behind him as he was moving so fast.  (This is someone that a year ago could hardly walk).  When the Caregiver caught up with him he threatened to hit her and was swinging his fists.  One of the other Residents came to the rescue just as I saw what was going on.  He refused to go back but his co-resident convinced him that going back was a good thing and off they went back to Robusta.  Just as we thought things had calmed down, he grabbed a glass of cold drink and threw it on the floor, grabbed the bottle of cordial and sprayed the caregivers and some residents with it.  Sister came running to the rescue and after a while, they calmed him down.

The next day, the carpenters came to fit all the cupboards and doors of the new building, and we were so thankful because it had rained the previous night, and the kitchen was wet inside again.  Fitting doors is an art, and it is not just anybody who can do this.  These guys are experts and did a stellar job.  Unfortunately, we had a resident who insisted that she was going to stay with them until they fixed the door to her room.  The door she referred to was swollen a bit from a water leak and was difficult to open and close.  This, however, was fixed before by our handyman, but she insisted that they must replace that wooden door with a steel door.  

In the afternoon, I had to feed the dogs, and exactly at that moment, rain started to pour down. I rushed all the bowls and dogs inside and got soaking wet in the process.  Shortly after the rain stopped, without my knowledge, two of the big dogs decided it to be an excellent idea to jump in the pool, after which they rushed into the house, one jumped on the couch in the lounge and the other jumped with his wet ass on my bed.  And today was only Tuesday!

Wednesday morning, barely awake, I was told that the diesel is now on 5% and that there is a gas leak in the new kitchen.  I did order diesel the previous day and hope they will deliver before we run out of solar power.  The sun is also not shining all that much.  All my worries were for nothing.  The gas guys came to fix the leak before we had the expected explosion, and the diesel was delivered just before we needed to fire up the generator again, as we are still waiting for Eskom to perform.

Thursday morning started off with early training, and all went well.  Our caregiver instructor was here and gave them 2 hours of caregiving intelligence after they had a one-hour English lesson.  The rest of the day was quite uneventful except that we still had no sunshine and no Eskom power.  Thank goodness for the solar panels and the generator.  In the meantime, 10 times a day, every day, you must deal with the “Hello julle” at the office door, someone looking for something to nibble.  Someone else visits the office with a two-page A4 list of shopping that needs to be done.  The kitchen calls as they need broccoli, which is on the menu but not in the fridge. 

Friday I had visitors.  Hennie and Andre from Ordiphase came to install more solar panels on the Burkei roof.  Hopefully, this will keep the lights on for a little longer while Eskom is still missing in action.

I have great admiration for my bosses.  They deal with these things every day, 24/7.  I only did that for 5 days, and I was exhausted. I couldn’t wait to go home that Friday.