Pitch Up

It had been a long day. I was up by five and we left shortly after six. Sara and I team-drove two vehicles up to Lusaka, inching through hideous amounts of traffic the last 80 kilometres as we approached the city and made our way to the airport (the final 100 kilometres took a generous 2.5 hours to navigate).

We pitched up at the lodge at 7pm, completely haggard. It was an adventure just to find the place after dark, and we couldn’t wait to drop our sagging selves into clean sheets.

The longer we stood in the entry way, though, the more quizzically the two clerks looked at us. When we said we were ready to check-in for the night, they were even more confused.

“We have no rooms.”

I guess it could have been an epiphany moment, but actually it wasn’t.

Our friend explained that the couple in the room we had booked had decided to stay another night, so our room was not available. In fact, they had no rooms available.

I wish you could witness Sara’s persuasive bargaining powers one day.

Five minutes later they “remembered” the executive suite that only had slight renovation problems in the bathroom, and agreed that if we were willing we could sleep there for the night.

We were willing.

The pink walls in the bathroom were an interesting touch. The three steps from the door down to the main room were so traditional. The marble floors were quite something. The walls of mirrors were gym-like, and the unique ceiling was almost finished well enough to be impressive.

There are moments, though, when one can’t care whether or not the sheets are dirty and there’s a cockroach in the bread basket at breakfast.

[yes, this is a true story]

Exhaustion and stress can be the perfect and necessary triggers for thankfulness.

The end.