1Hello there.
2I was asked to tell you about the extent of the damage to the main building, caused by the recent storm.
3Oh, that's right. I take it that most of the damage is just to the main building?
4It is indeed, since the building is so old.
5However, luckily, the damage is minor,
6and all of it can be fixed in one day, given that we have five people in our team.
7What will you be doing first? I understand you start at 8 in the morning.
8That's right,
9and we were going to remove the fallen tree,
10but we've been told there are exams that morning,
11and I'm sure the sound of those saws and other heavy equipment will disturb all the students,
12so instead we'll fix that leaky roof.
13That's a 4-hou job, since it involves substantial repair,
14not like fixing broken windows, which can be done quite quickly.
15So you'll fix the broken window after that, from midday?
16We could do that,
17but since we'll be working in the ceiling, it's more logical to get rid of those birds' nests there.
18It's a small job but will require crawling inside the ceiling cavity,
19which is not an easy exercise, so that will take about an hour.
20But this is good, since by that time the exams should be over,
21and we can address that tree which has been blown over,
22after our 1-hour lunch break of course.
23It will be quite noisy dealing with that, but it will be finished by three o'clock.
24Some of our staff will then leave to fix things on another site,
25an office nearby needs a new window,
26but two of us, including myself, will remain here to paint over that discoloured patch of wall in your office.
27Oh good, it looks so horrible at the moment.
28Well, we'll certainly make it look good once again,
29and in the last hour of our working day, we'll fix up that problem with the wiring.
30Apparently the power doesn't go to one of the classrooms.
31Probably some water has gotten into the fuse box,
32so we'll just change a few wires, and clean up the moisture, and it should be fine.
33I certainly appreciate all the effort you and your team are taking to fix things here,
34but I do have one request.
35And what is that?
36You said you're going to paint the back wall in my office.
37Will it be the same colour as before?
38Yes, we'll make it a nice white colour.
39Well that's the point. I'd prefer it to be yellow, to match the furniture.
40The furniture is orange, actually, but I think yellow is a nice match.
41Can you do that?
42We can certainly do that. Yellow it is.
43Certainly a prettier colour than just plain white,
44or the blue in my kitchen at home for that matter.
45And we can leave the paint can with you, in case you need to do some touch-ups,
46or if the stain reappears.
47I'll just leave it in the garden shed, the one next to the main classroom.
48And incidentally, about those birds in the ceiling.
49I was just investigating, and I heard the chirping of little baby birds in there,
50so there must be some young ones in a nest.
51I just thought you'd like to know that we can give them to a wildlife reserve.
52There's one in the next suburb, so that should not be too much trouble.
53Or you could give them to one of our teachers.
54I have a colleague who can raise them.
55I would say the wildlife reserve is a better option,
56since the people there are used to dealing with animals,
57and as for that fallen tree, we'll cut it up into small pieces
58and that can be firewood in my house, so that won't be wasted either,
59although the smoke will cause some pollution,
60but I have a special licence for my fireplace, so no one can object to that.
61I've noticed also that the university has a garden bin, for the smaller items,
62leaves and sticks and bark, and so on,
63so we can dispose of material in that, also.
64You do have some waste piles out the back,
65but a proper garden bin means that the material will be recycled,
66and that's better for the environment, so you can rest assured we will use that.