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Day 3 - God's Rainy Acre (day 2 after start on site)
An atrocious morning with mist and dew all around the Rondawel; no visibility of the valley.
The team showed true character and at 7am jumped into the people carrier and headed to site to view conditions and start on the blockwork. No chicken foot prints in the slab to our relief.
The rain was persistent but all were involved in the various activities necessary to build a 12 course high house. We were at the foot of our Everest.
The mixing by hand of African mortar (they call it “mud”) was tricky and a very labour intensive task but not before long, a single course with door frames was complete.
The locals wanted to mutiny at morning break but we were able to force a continuation to maintain the progress on site. At conclusion of play three courses and the corners of the fourth were in place ahead of a blockwork challenge scheduled between Brookfield and locals tomorrow morning (no prizes for guessing who will win this one.) Due to the constant rain, no further progress was possible due to mortar taking far longer to "go off". Any further progress would result in instability of the structure overnight.
Special note to Nathan for taking on the difficult task of de-snagging the first three courses on all fours. We really didn't know he had that work ethic in him and the quality of the blockwork miraculously improved with this reallocation of duties.
Back to the Rondawel for food cooked by the canteen ladies, which received excellent 5 star reviews. Subsequently we were given an invitation to the choir practice. The singing and dancing was a sound and sight to behold. To our horror they requested our presence on stage to take part in a traditional Zulu dance. This tested our coordination and timing to the maximum. Nick had liquid moves and was stand-out performer. I think the locals were quite intimidated by his stage aura. Comments from the locals were not all positive; some of the Scottish members of the team looked in pain and needed extra help (giraffe on stilts comes to mind).
Simone's new nickname is Mone as he refused to attend choir practice. My office 7am tomorrow morning for a review of his performance!
Few cold ones back at the gaff and early one before a days graft tomorrow...all in a day's work!
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