27 January 2010
Last night was Night #4 in the Emmarentia house. At the best of times, I always have a slight un-ease at living here in Joburg. We have a nightime ritual of checking all the windows, locks & security gates and before getting into bed we close the “rape gate” (yep, that ‘s what it’s called) & arm the alarm system for the bedroom wing of the house. We have been working so hard on this place that we fell into a deep deep sleep immediately. At about 1:30 am, there was a huge pop in the bedroom, a flash & that acrid electrical burning smell. Simultaneously, the floodlight that illuminates the yard (which neither of us know how to turn on) came on. We nearly jumped out of our skins. Glen, in true South African mode, was out of bed in a nano-second with the maxi mag light he keeps next to our bed—looking out into the yard to see what was going on. Moments later, our tenant phoned to say he’d had a large pop and flash too. The source of it seems to have been the power box or transformer for the house security system which we have just had upgraded at great expense. The security company was called and arrived in seconds just to inspect the property. The security guard knows the place and remarked on how much improved the place was because of all the work on the garden. It appears to have been some electrical, not burglar, problem. This morning we are without power and Glen is trying to get this sorted with the insurance company. As Glen admits, it’s that damn spirit of Eileen haunting us--- as I write, he is contacting a sangoma (traditional African healer) to clear out those evil spirits…….
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