Within my circle of friends, it’s well known that I can sometimes be an idiot. My best antic is mixing up my words and saying the wrong thing, or acting without thinking.
Most of my family and friends smile and say “Oh, Fleur….” when I’ve done something particularly ridiculous, and today I think I might have done my best.
We start shearing tomorrow and the little atco hut, where Anthony and I used to live, is now the shearers ‘quarters’. They’re able to use it to go to the loo, or eat their lunch if they want – our shearers don’t camp out.
Usually we have a ladder leaning up against the wall so Anthony or I can shimmy up to the roof and use a hose to put rainwater in the tank there. The ladder was mysteriously missing today.
‘No worries,’ I said. ‘I used to be pretty supple. Give me a leg-up onto the tank stand and I’ll climb up onto the roof.’
The boss didn’t look happy about it, muttering that he thought I might be getting my ambitions and capabilities mixed up, but I didn’t agree.
It was all going well until I decided to leap from the tank-stand, (Superwoman cape and all) to the roof from where I struggled onto the tin. Unfortunately, my foot slipped on the way across and collected a window.
Yep, my foot smashed all the way through, leaving a hell of a mess and a wide open fan right next to the loo – I thought it was fairly well placed, really. The boss didn’t agree!
I’m fine — thanks for asking — no one else has. And hey, the shearers will have an ‘outside’ loo now!
To add insult to injury, the boss walked across to the shed while I filled the tank, red faced, and he came back carrying the bloody ladder!
