Ya ol'Geezer

Today was a rainy cold, cold day in Johannesburg. Actually the last three days have been overcast and cold. It is amazing how cold it is when the house you are in does not have a heater. I believe we have been in the 40s and 50s Fahrenheit, but we have been running the space heaters consistently.

Anyway, I did not start writing to talk about the weather. The reason I am is that I finally worked up the courage to step outside to go get the mail in between rainy spells. On the way I met up with the manager of the complex, a really nice guy who has made us feel quite welcome here. In the midst of the conversation I asked what he was up to today. He replied that he was working on an old geezer.

I got to thinking that if Jenny had said to someone that she was working on her old geezer I might feel a little unnerved. Somehow through the rest of the conversation I figured out that he was talking about a water heater that had quite working. He asked me what I called it and I said, "a water heater". He said 'Geezer' was an 'older' word.

"Clearly," I thought.

He went on to say it is an older English work for those things we have in America that shoot water from the ground.

"Oh," I said, "You mean Geyser." He affirmed my joy at figuring it out.

So that was my introduction to the word for water heater, pronounced 'Geezer' in the English in this particular part of the world.

He went on to show me the 'old geyser' that he had just removed from a town home and was about to install a newer version of the 'old geezer'. Somehow I wish it was that easy to fix us. Or maybe we are just replaced with a new one?