More on Zubara

When we met the old man he must have sized up Damian so he came wandering across and wanted us to get up on the roof of the fort. It turned out that the flag was a bit tatty and he wanted it changed. The knots on the rope of the flag pole were beggared so the flagpole needed to come down. So Damian was able to get the pole down. I helped him get the old flag off and the rope sorted for the new flag. Then came the challenge of getting the new flag up. The pole was probably 5 metres in length and it had to be placed into a steel sleeve. Not too challenging apart from the fact that we are 3 storeys up with a nice sea breeze blowing. I held the end of the pole at the sleeve end while Damian (being taller of course) had to walk along the edge of the parapet moving the pole into a vertical position until it would slide down into the sleeve. Damian was in his kiwi workboots (jandals) on the edge of the parapet which was about 400mm wide. There was some edging on the outside of about 300mm and then a 3 storey drop. We did it without loss of life and the old man was grateful. We put it down to community service.