Hot and Gatvol
Man it's hot. It's like Africa hot. Tarzan couldn't take this kind of hot. - Matthew Broderick, Biloxi Blues
As I write this, it’s the middle of December, and that means summer is on the way.
It also means it’s getting hot…like Africa hot. It seems like we’ve had endless days in the low to mid 30’s (that’s like 85-95F to the non-metric inclined), and as you know, we don’t have central air here in South Africa.
To top it all off, this has been one of the worst years for loadshedding in recent memory. We haven’t had more than five days off of loadshedding since the beginning of September, and those days off?
The beginning of September.
Yep, we’re over three months solid of loadshedding.
Eish.
Normally, though, it’s not that bad. Most of the days have been Stage 2, meaning 2 blackouts of 2 hours in a day.
But lately…joh… it’s been Stages 4, 5, and 6.
Eishkom recently announced we’ll be in Stage 5 for the near future. That means 2x2 hours and a bonus 1x4 hour blackout in 24 hours…
My fok.
Needless to say South Africans are gatvol of this and think Eskom is in need of a moerseklap.
Sies!
Even Nando’s can’t take it anymore!
It’s also wreaking havoc on our work from home life. We have a UPS, sure, but the one we had died from the endless on and off cycles over the last few months.
To which I popped off to the shop to get a replacement.
Which died 2 days later.
To which I popped off again to the shop to get a replacement…this time I upgraded. R1900 for this thing, just to keep the Wi-Fi running.
Honestly, we’re looking at getting solar installed. Yeah, it’s kak expensive, but with no relief in sight from this loadshedding nightmare, we may just have to bite the bullet and do it after the New Year.
See…life isn’t always wine and biltong here. Though most days it is, the heat and loadshedding are starting to wear on us.
Kim and I are both hot, sweaty, tired, and cranky.
But we’re hanging in there… the unofficial/official South African shutdown is just a few days away, Christmas is coming, and we can celebrate surviving another year.
Plus, like with anything else, South Africans deal with life with humor, so the Loadshedding memes are flying fast and furious.
Anyway…that’s about it for now. Still no word on my visa, and with the 16th coming this week, I don’t expect to hear about it until sometime in 2023.
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