Lesson number one: Don’t count on your 27 year old unemployed son to take care of the house while you’re on holidays. He will mess it up.
Lesson number two: Do not neglect your roofing. Roofing maintenance around Melbourne is just a phone call away!
These lessons were hard-earned by yours truly upon the untimely return from her first holiday in three years. She’d finally accrued enough holiday pay to go to Europe for a number of months – until her rendezvous was cut rudely short by a disaster back at home.
I told Damon to keep in touch. He didn’t. Of course this meant things were going fine, no news is good news, right? I’m sure he was trashing the place having parties and whatnot. Little did I expect just how bad things could get.
So, it wasn’t really Damon’s fault but his ignorance and inattentiveness certainly caused the problem to get much greater than it needed to be. What happened was that a rat died up in the roof gutter. We’ve never ever had rats at our place or in our area, so I’m convinced it was Damon’s slovenliness and filthiness that led the the infestation in the first place. After the rat died, it blocked the gutter drain. There was a huge build up in debris from tree leaves and the elements, and then the rain came and the whole thing got clogged up with deteriorating gunk. By this stage, it was too late for roof repair. In Melbourne, the rains were hitting hard and the ceiling was leaking in the kitchen, the whole house smelled of dead rat in the roof, it was a nightmare. Damon called me when the situation was at its most dire, and I was recalled home.
He’s rather a lot like his father, who thankfully I see little fo anymore.