Re-shuttered
The season’s monsoon has drawn its close.
But after three years of typical tropical weather, my roof’s old bamboo blinds have fallen apart.
Pigeons nest in the roof terrace beams, and crows roost at night leaving the floor covered in their droppings.
Sebastian, my carpenter, is busy constructing much sturdier replacements blinds:
lengths of hardwood bound by nylon webbing.
My hope is that they might outlive me.
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Picture of Sebastian and his team taken on my roof terrace in Fort Cochin
Neither Use Nor Ornament 
What an inviting area. The blinds look like they were meant to be.
November 29, 2012 at 6:22 pm
They look really great – but how we will manage to move the nesting pigeons is quite another matter!
November 29, 2012 at 9:22 pm
what a beautiful roof! My sister is living in FIJI now and their “cyclone” (and I assume monsoon) system is just starting. I guess everything switches season when you cross the equator?
November 29, 2012 at 6:33 pm
Yes, I am not at all sure when other tropical countries undergo their rainy seasons but our own cyclones tend occur in the summer months.
November 29, 2012 at 9:24 pm
Your roof is a lovely place to be, birds notwithstanding.
November 30, 2012 at 12:07 am
Yes, I’m truly fortunate.
Although there’s a paved yard to the side of our house, I have no garden as such. But sitting beneath the fans in the shade of my roof terrace, with a glass of something cool and gently alcoholic in my hand as I watch the ships steam in and out of Fort Cochin, has proved to be one of life’s very great pleasures.
Clearing up after the birds, once the blinds have all been fitted, might be rather less blissful…
November 30, 2012 at 10:10 am
But tempered by the thought of more ships?
November 30, 2012 at 10:09 pm
I must be honest. It’s not me who does any of the work in this house. Shaji, Dalila and Anu, with their summoned teams of artisans, see to everything.
This morning there are a total of nine people working here. All I have to do is relax and enjoy myself. It’s quite shameful!
December 1, 2012 at 11:40 am