Hermanus and its architecture

A typical style of the houses in Hermanus is a thatched roof house. Ours is one of those, with a brick coloured wall,just to create a difference. Now, the thatch roof is a whole old ball game. IT NEEDS TO BE MAINTAINED, COSETED, LOVED AND NURTURED. It is an old art, thatching .Even we did not realise how old until we called our local thatcher to nurture our roof and to replenish the reed . He arrived with all his bushels of reed, a very, very long step ladder and an assistant. The assistand must have been about 100 years old. We did not say anything as we did not want to be age prejudiced. It is so important today to be politicallyand socially correct. We stood and watched. Even Yuppie, our dog , was curious : how is the assistant getting on the ladder and how is he going to stay on the roof ???? He did both. Very slowly. Once on the roof he seemed to be asleep for a while. Never theless, at the end of the day the spot to be mended was mended. The roof looked nurtured and the assistant still alive. Hurray to the thatcher of Hermanus