A sharp encounter in Seminyak Bali

Ika, Yenni and I enjoyed some Javanese food at Warung Batavia on Friday morning and strolling back down our alley Ika said to me, Give me the key. I told her I did not bring it as I thought she had one. When we left Wayan, (the pembantu) was cleaning and the front door was open. Neither of us thought to bring a key and now Wayan was gone. Oh brother, I thought, Now we have to screw around trying to get hold of the owner. Of course my phone was also locked in the house. I checked the security mans office and he was gone, so I walked to another property owned by the same person. No luck there. Ika went to the lady who lives behind my house and called the maintenance man who was on his lunch break. I was dripping sweat after walking around trying to locate the owner and arriving back found Yenni sitting alone on the steps outside the house.

The maintenance man is coming, I said. I am thinking of using that ladder, said Yenni, looking at the hand-made thing hanging on the wall. When a woman says, I am thinking of using that ladder, she means, You should use that ladder. I thought it was a bad idea, but checked it out anyway. My garden wall is about 8 feet and has barbed wire. Put the ladder against the roof, advised Yenni. Like a fool I did and climbed up. After knocking a couple of roofing tiles off with my backside and ending up perched on the wall with nowhere to go I felt rather silly. I could not release and hang because barbed wire was all around my hands and feet.

Scooting my ass back on the roof Yenni passed the ladder up, which I lowered and used to climb into the garden. While I was washing my punctures and scratches the maintenance man showed up. Lesson: If something seems like a bad idea it probably is.