Otherwise subtitled, never underestimate the power of termites.  Those horrible, terrible, awful, nightmarish creatures are eating their way through this country, ceiling by ceiling, house by house.

So tiny, yet so powerful.  Gobsmacking what they can do.

So yes, finally the ceiling fell down.  Yesterday.  At 12 noon exactly.  The living room ceiling, no less.  This was the scene…

The whole ceiling was put in 4 years ago – obviously and sadly by a cowboy builder who used cheap wood.  And yes, the landlord deeply regrets asking him to do it.  In those 4 years, the termites have managed to eat their way through 2 of the ceilings.  Yesterday’s was the second.  Or the third if you count the one brought down by the typhoon 3 years ago, which was no doubt weakened by the termites.

Well, you have to laugh ~ I’ve been here 3 years, and this is my third ceiling to bite the dust. Hey it makes a great story!

And if I stayed here much longer, they’d bring down the rest too.  There’s already signs that the back of the house is infested.

Note that the termites are not eating the ceiling boards. The ceiling appears normal from below.  The termites are eating the wooden supports that are holding the ceiling up.  Completely eaten away.   So not until the ceiling is almost ready to fall does it start to droop and slope and that’s when it’s noticeable.

Last summer, we replaced one ceiling before it fell. That’s when we discovered the termites.  This time, we just waited.  And so, with an almighty crash, it fell yesterday.  Bringing down the light fittings with it too.

Termites are also eating their way through my cardboard boxes.  The bigger the better.  Just don’t ask me what happened to all those Christmas decorations I used to have.  Gone.  To the termites.

Today I’ve had a great time telling everyone my stories of my fallen ceilings.  And showing all the photos.  Ah, I love it.  Such a great story.  And so wonderful that it fell down yesterday at such a convenient time.  I’m never normally here at 12 noon on a Monday.  But I was yesterday.  Just arrived home, walked through the living room and into the kitchen. Grateful to God that it didn’t fall at that very moment.  But then again, I’ve been expecting that ceiling to fall since the weekend, been avoiding that area of the living room for about a week, and had cleared out all the things I had there.  Termites might work quietly and quickly, but not completely unnoticed.  Anyway, the landlord came immediately, got to work, and within 4 hours, everything was cleaned up.  Now looking great!

And the poor landlord was so nice and so apologetic that he returned later with a huge watermelon to say sorry.  Yummy yummy!

So, never ever ever underestimate the power of termites.

And, yes, Noah was a very brave man to sail in a wooden ark with 2 very very dangerous termites… 😊😊😊