Six weeks ago I'd never heard of a Gerni. Now the relationship is like family.
Round these parts a Gerni is a high-pressure water cleaner. It's a brand name used to describe the generic product - like Band-Aid, Kleenex, Hoover etc... and it's also a verb.
"I'll bring my Gerni over and have you cleaned up in no time"
"Give that a Gerni, will ya?"
"Yeah, love, you can Gerni the garden wall but watch out for me marigolds"
They were a ubiquitous piece of kit during the immediate aftermath of the floods and as we continue with our clean-up, Gerni-ing down the side of our flats was like welcoming an old friend. It's very satisfying. And in the blazing heat, it's quite nice to get sprayed with the water...despite some of it being filthy. Although it wasn't my Gerni so I didn't get a go. When it's your Gerni, you call the shots. Others are relegated to sweeping the water in the right direction and occasionally pointing at bits that have been missed. And then watching as it magically becomes shiny and clean.
9 comments:
We used to have one of those down at the greenhouses.
Great colors and great dialog and story.
These are very common in Germany, but we don't have a brand name for it, simple Hochdruckreiniger.
And let's not forget the moment when husband goes to Bunnings and comes back with a shiny new Gerni, which we all have to ohhhh and ahhhh over, despite secretly, on the inside going....'what the hell....!!!' ;)
"When it's your Gerni, you call the shots".... love it:-)
She looks downright lethal!
That looks satisfying!
"Hochdruckreiniger". Simple. :)
That sums up the flood aftermath perfectly. And makes me feel like less of a freak, as I too didn't know what a Gerni was but everyone else seemed to have grown up with them.
Oh man, I loved the Gerni - I too had never heard of one until January but I took to it like a proverbial duck.
(Although I do have a scar on my hand now where it had a too-close encounter with the Gerni while I was attempting to wash something small and fiddly. With great power comes great responsibility.)
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