Wind and rain lash Bendigo, causing Adam West to rue his decision to opt for the rustic look.
“Okay, okay,” said Mr West, holding a shoe box over his head, “I could have gotten one of those pre-fab ugly shacks and bought off a plan, but mud brick sounds so much cooler to say. Say it with me, ‘Mud brick house.’ That sounds so cool.”
However the house Mr West invested the life savings of his and his wife, Deidre, in has proved to not be so good.
“Yeah well the thing about a mud brick house, gosh that sounds good to say, is that it’s not designed to be built by five-year-old kindergarten kids,” said Mr West.
While young children know a lot about forming mud cakes, mud pies, mud chicken schnitzels, and mud bangers and mash, they do not hold licences in surveying or construction.
“Yeah, it turns out the mud bricks they made weren’t up to scratch, and first storm comes and away down the drain goes my $40,000 feature wall and cladding.”
While some might say, ‘Serves you right’ for not hiring professionals and using child labour, Mr West remains optimistic.
“One plus is that come morning, most of our building materials will be soaked into the ground. Along with my shoes, DVDs, books on hippos, and family photographs of that time I meet Big Foot and we had lunch.”