Jozi in a whole new light.... literally!

Well... how a couple of months can change a country.

We perhaps complained a bit prematurely in December about having to experience load shedding. In the new year, load shedding has a whole new meaning.

Jozi went from being a kind of civilised western city (with a mix of first world and third world charms) to one of confusion and anger. Load shedding is the topic of the month and dominates all conversation. The main question asked and pondered by everyone is how long is this going to last? Is it going to get better or worse? Unfortunately no one will answer the questions as neither the government nor Eskom, the electricity provider, is willing to take the blame.

Load shedding dial:

The dial is displayed on the internet & occasionally on the TV. It indicates the state of the electricity network. As the dial moves towards brown, probability of load shedding increases. Once in brown, load shedding is in progress.

Timetable of loadshedding (ie. NO electricity supply to our suburb) for this week to date:
Monday: 12.05-2.17pm; 6-8.05pm
Tuesday: none (why????)
Wednesday: 8.40-10.10am; 6-7.30pm
Thursday: 8-10.30am; 11.10-1.15pm; 2-6pm (night is not yet here!)

Last weekend we decided to buy a few 'emergency lights'- fluorescent lights that recharge when power is on and run off a battery when power is off. Our small one headed camping gas stove is used for cooking when required, as is the gas BBQ. Many locals chose to buy generators last weekend (if not purchased already). Good decisions!
In less than a week the country has sold out of generators, small gas canisters and any method of lighting not involving electricity.

Today Pete wasn't able to work in the afternoon:
- the power went off at 10am, generator kicked in;
- generator ran out of fuel at noon (got to feel sorry for the guy that let that one slip!);
- no functional phones, lighting, printers, computer networks etc. once generator out;
- laptop battery died 1 hour later at 1pm;
- Hatch offices of at least 300-400 employees closed for the day at 1pm.

- it took him around 1hr to drive home because traffic lights also out due to load shedding (normally 25min)

How is the economy going to survive if this continues? A lot of businesses don't even have generators (and can't afford them) so can lose from 4-6hrs of business each day. Will be interesting to see how the country copes...

In the meantime, spare a thought for us whenever you turn a light on when it is dark!!