17. Shitty Compliance

I hadn’t been in the job long before I was to manage the lodge while the Manager had time off. I hadn’t received much training and essentially was thrown into the deep end. The day began with a guest saying they had no water coming out of their tap and the toilet wouldn't flush.  

The night before the Lodge Manager and I had discovered that the leak in one of the pipes that fed the kitchen had got bigger and would possibly empty out the water tank overnight.  However it was late, dark and not safe for me to go up to the tanks and turn off the water for the night.  We sent a message to the Maintenance guy and hoped for the best. Unfortunately the tank had emptied out over night.

At 5:30am the next morning I was deciding how best to deal with the water issue. I went up to the guest’s room and sure enough, the tap was dry and the toilet was filled to the brim with toilet paper.  This could only mean the tank had emptied over night. 

I walked up to the water tanks and tapped on the main one and heard the echo of an empty tank.  I then climbed up the emergency tank and opened the lid and saw it was full.  I climbed back down and looked at the pipework.  I could see a pipe that connected from the empty tank to the main supply was on and a pipe that connected from the emergency tank to the main supply was turned off.  I turned off the tap from the empty tank and turned on the tap from the emergency tank and heard the water suddenly race down the pipe.  Phew, I thought, that would buy us some time until the leak was fixed.  That required a plumber and I could only hope one would come through the day otherwise I would be up and down all day filling water tanks! At least the lodge now had water!

There were duties to be done and by 7:30am I had finished stripping beds and was in the generator room about to swap the generators.  I had turned the 60kVA white generator on at 6am, but because it was missing its cooling fan as the bearings were being repaired, it could overheat. However the smaller 40kVA yellow generator could not cope with the heavier use of power during the morning. What to do?

I poured in a litre of oil as it was looking low, then turned the key and pressed the start button to get her going.  There was a click and then nothing.  I tried again and, nothing.  I decided to come back in half an hour to try again and as I left, I was thinking that it can't be a battery because it didn't even try and turn over. 

Meanwhile, I was still doing my many duties and once I got to the office, I saw a message from the maintenance man saying they were going to fly in today to fix the leak. I went back to the yellow generator several times and on the fourth attempt, it just started.  Thankfully I was able to turn off the white one before it over-heated.

The phone rang and it was the General Manager on the phone asking me if we still have a water problem.  Well, yes, but we are taking water from the emergency tank, and the other tank is filling, but I am not sure where the level is at.  

He asked that I go and check so I raced back up the trail until I found the entrance and headed up the track to the water tanks.  Once there, I tapped the tanks and both sounded solid.  I climbed the ladder up to the top of the emergency tank and it was full.  I got back down and then tapped the main tank as high as my arm would reach and the sound was solid.  Both tanks were full!

I returned to the office and the phone rang again with the General Manager anxious to know what the situation was.  I told him that both tanks were full and we have enough water for the day but we just needed the leak fixed so it wouldn’t drain the tanks again.  He said the helicopters were on their way but they had to go to Glade House first as they had a broken boiler.

My duties continued past my break time until I heard the crackle over the radio. "Pompolona, Pompolona, from IDA?"  

Ohhhh, that's the helicopter, I realised.  "Pompolona, receiving." I replied.

"Confirm ETA one minute and are we clear to land?"

"Copy that, one moment please," I replied, suddenly anxious.  Oh my gawd, I have never cleared the helipad before and thankfully an experienced lodgee suggested I started with clearing the many guests who were out on the balcony adjacent to the helipad. 

I walked over there to let them know that a helicopter was about to land on the tiny deck right next to them so they better get inside quickly.  I hoped the plastic chairs didn't need to be cleared away but I made sure the hallway was cleared, doors closed before replying, “IDA, you are clear to land."

The chopper came bearing down from the sky and onto the helipad.  The blades were still rotating as doors flew open and half a dozen people got out running towards me.  

There was the boss, the plumber and his assistant, the electrician and the operations manager.  Once the helicopter shut down, the pilot got out too. 

"Show us the leak", the plumber demanded, not mixing his words.  Immediately he and his assistant was unscrewing the decking and discussing how to turn off the water so they could quickly fix it.  The head plumber looked at me. "I don't see how this would empty your main tank.  Are you sure they were empty?"

"Yes!  Very empty!" I insisted, and immediately felt myself question if I had done anything wrong.

"Let's go up to the tank then," he said to his assistant and I watched them go before I asked the maintenance man if it would be okay to go up as I might learn something.  We both walked up and as we neared the entrance, I could see the head plumber and his assistant walking around in the bush, clearly no where near where the tanks were.

"The entrance is up further," I called out.  They come scrambling out and followed me as I led them to the spot.  "You just need to find the two hoses in the drain and you'll see the trail.  It's past these big rocks" I told them.  "It's quite hidden."  

I watched as they walked up and the boss plumber knocked at the tanks and then went up the ladder, calling out that they are both full.  Yes, they are... as I had told them earlier.  No, I don't know how the tank emptied so quickly over night, but it did.     

"Did I do something wrong?" I asked.  

"No, you did everything right!" the boss plumber said.  I designed this and the pipework is designed to use the emergency tank in cases like this.  I just don't know how it emptied..." he replied, trailing off in thought.  "Perhaps there was a blockage at the inlet?" he added.

He switched the taps back and we all returned to the lodge and I watched as they isolated the leaky pipe and made the repair.

I asked the maintenance man about the generator problem and he suggested I go to the generator room and talk with the electrican.  She was installing the cooling fan.

I went down there and told her about the starting problem and of course when she tried it, it started first time.  She suggested we keep an eye on it and let her know, but without it showing the fault, she couldn't ascertain what the problem was.  In the meantime, she had repaired the cooling fan and the white generator was happily chugging away.  

The boss plumber had asked the maintenance man if he smelt the sewage when they first landed.  Well, it turned out there was poo oozing out from the lid, the very lid I had tried to get off earlier but couldn't.

A few days ago it was my time to stir the poo and I was all kitted up in my PPE gear but I couldn't get the lid off to save myself.  I could see air-bubbles popping from under the lid and I suddenly had the sense it could blow.  I decided it could be a job for the Lodge Manager to tackle.  She told me afterwards that she had to get on top of the tank and give it everything to open that lid... she was a very tough cookie. 

In any case, the maintenance man worked out that the water levels were too high and this pushed the layer of poo higher in the tank, until it reached the top.  The gray-water sprinkler taps were only half turned on, so he put them on full and instead of a light sprinkle of water, they were now spurting out over a much longer distance.

There were a total of four lines of sprinklers that distributed the gray water over the "dispersement fields."  We must turn off the pump that feeds them before we change the lines as part of our compliance.  With the more powerful sprinkler system, we would be very wise not to forget to turn off the pump before we headed down there to open and close taps.  

I watched as the people all scrambled back into the helicopter and took off and noticed the guests were lined up at the windows taking photos.

I walked back into the office to take stock of the day.  So, the leak was fixed, we had water, the white generator was going, the yellow one might have a problem, but early days... the leaky septic tank was fixed.  

"Oh Kris" I hear.  "Have you done the stock count for the liquor yet?" The Lodge Manager stood nearby.

It was an intense and long, long day, working without a break between shifts but I felt pleased that I handled all of that, especially without much training.

Not long after this, when I was holding onto a crate of dirty linen, I stepped out of Room 6 and fell onto my right ankle having misjudged the ill-placed step.  The foot bent over and immediately hurt, but fortunately it wasn't a bad sprain.  I had sprained the very same ankle when I was in India back in 1994 so perhaps there was a weakness there.

Thinking back, I had just arrived in New Delhi from London and had met up with my brother who had travelled from New Zealand.  Incredibly we had both booked a holiday to India without knowing the other had, and arrived within a day of each other.  We only discovered we would both be in New Delhi weeks before our arrival.  

My flight had been delayed because there was a sudden outbreak of the Black Plague and flights were being cancelled, including my flight with Thai Airlines.  Thankfully I found a flight with Air India and there was just me and another westerner on the flight.  Everyone was wearing masks, except me as I had forgotten mine.  

When I met up with my brother, he wasn't too worried about the plague and said we would be fine.  My brother was waiting for his friend to arrive, who had travelled separately.  When he finally arrived, we all went out to explore and get something to drink.  It was a busy street that separated us from the shop that sold Coke in a bottle.  

Nonetheless, we were waiting to cross but there were many cars, motorbikes and rickshaws to navigate and I watched as my brother and his friend stepped out and immediately began dodging the oncoming traffic.  I waited a little until I saw my chance and I stepped out over the curb, except it wasn't a normal-sized curb as I was used to.  No, it was a deep curb designed to take huge volumes of monsoon rain.  

I lost my balance and fell awkwardly on my ankle.  "Help!" I called out to my brother above the noise of the traffic. My brother came back and told me to get up, but I needed his help to hobble across to the side of the road.  He didn't realise the seriousness of the injury until then.   

There was no ice but I noticed by some local men dressed in a white shirt and pants and when they saw my ankle, they spoke with each other before one ran off and returned with an elderly man who pulled out a bag filled with oils. He massaged my ankle and I watched as the swelling receded.  Eventually he motioned for me to stand and I did!  He pointed to my boot and I put it on and walked a few steps.  I could walk!  They all laughed and clapped!

So 30 years later, I managed to grab hold of the railing in front of me so I broke the fall and kept mostly upright before I uttered a small word under my breath, mostly in relief.  I could have landed on it and broken it. 

I spent the night massaging it like the old man did and hoped for the best. The following day bruising had replaced most of the swelling and despite the pain I could walk on it and keep working.

This place was extraordinary, I realised. There were no words but I was determined to keep working and make the most of it and learn from this experience. I was pleased I did, looking back.