JA

Five reasons I feel like I'm living in a Jane Austen novel:

1. There is a gentle formality in all our greetings. I'm Sister Pip, Aunty Pip, Teacher Pip... never Pip.

2. With these titles, there is a constant awareness of status. Members of any group can rank themselves and the rest of the group at any time in order of status. Each position brings different expectations, obligations and responsibilities.

3. Newcomers in town bring a stir of excitement. Have you met...? Where are they from? How long will they be here for? What are they like? Do they have a house already? Really?! So soon...what did they pay for it? We have these conversations face to face when we bump into each other around town or pass each other on the main road, this alone being reason enough to stop for a 10 minute conversation.

4. A short journey can be a grand adventure. On Sunday night I rode my moto home from the English School, a distance of about 2km. It was after 9pm. Before I left, I asked my host for advice about which route to take. Well, this road is muddy but very quiet. This other road is probably safer but it is flooded. Anyway... it's a good thing you have a full-face helmet. Nobody will know you are a foreigner. Better for your personal security. It is getting late....Ok. I think you should take the busier road. When you come to the flooded section try to stay left. It's deeper in the middle. Roll up your pants first though! I did.

I drove home... heart thumping.. without coming off. I slipped on the clay, skipped to the side when I hit a submerged rock, but I made it through. Each time the headlight on my bike reflected on the water I had no idea if this pool was a couple of centimetres deep, half a metre deeper or deeper still. It told myself to get a bit of speed and take it on.... (or it would take me!). I also tried to tell myself that this should be fun. A free dirt-bike adventure in your own backyard! I was an adventure. Even though I was too nervous to really enjoy myself.

5. My final comparison with a JA novel is this: Everyday life is peppered with one minor crisis after another. A friend came to visit the other day. He's been a few times so I guess this time he was comfortable enough to indulge his curiosity and have a poke around. He opened doors, looked at drainpipes, leaned over railings and checked the view from the top floor front and back. I like it! How much do you pay for this? Good work with the flowers on the roof. Then he called out one phrase I didn't so much want to hear, "Pip- there's a rat in your water tank!"

No way! I thought he was kidding so I objected before I even got close. It's not a rat. It's a crack in the concrete. Some peeling of paint. I looked and had to admit there was a strong possibility that there was a dead rat in our water supply. He asked, "What do you use this water for?" I said, "Everything except for drinking." I use it to wash my hair, clean my teeth, wash dishes and rinse vegetables. Not good. Rat-water showers. Rat-water fried veggies. This crisis needed to be resolved.

I waited until the morning, put on a pair of shorts and lowered myself into the tank. Bits of sediment were stirred up and clung to my bare skin. Cobwebs stuck to my arms. There wasn't a lot of light. (I wished I had a stronger torch.) I walked slowly to the back, left corner of the tank, armed with a plastic bucket. The thing sure looked like a rat. I bent down and looked closer. I saw a piece of black netting, probably used to filter this well-water before I brush and floss with it. I dipped my arm down to check, feeling the crinkly nylon. Woo hoo! No fur! Crisis averted! Back to work....another day of living a Jane Austen novel for Ms Pip.