Now this may be a foreign concept to
readers in other countries (as most of my readership recently are
from the US and Canada) but it ZA it is so real. Load shedding is
like a power “sharing” scheme brought in by our monopolized power
supplier Eskom. They don't or didn't, depends on their excuse, make
provisions for our growing power supply. That means in winter we have
some neighbourhoods have power and others don't for a few to many
hours. (We also don't have gas as much as in other countries. Ovens,
stoves and water heaters/ geysers are all electricity. When the power
goes off you sit with your finger in your bum)
 |
| So real that we have memes |
This post is born from an unfortunate
instance. To avoid making this a soap box for a rant about the
government, I'll just say persons stole our power cables. (This
happens EVERYDAY in ZA!!!) And it sounds like this time they weren't
lucky to walk away. (Yes some survive pulling out LIVE POWER CABLES).
But again, looking at the good side (if
there is a good side to someone paying for stealing power cables with
their life) here is my top things to have a good load-shedding
experience. (you can use this if your power is unreliable as well):
Get a cool bag to keep everything
together and keep it in a place where it's easy to access in the
dark. This is what I call my Mermaid bag that I got for R20 at Typo.
It's the 'Not Just a Tote Bag' from the #cottononfoundation.
Any LED battery powered light is cool
for immediate light. I have a head lamp but there are many other
options like camp lights or even a normal flash light.
Keep a fresh box of candles in the bag
with a candle holder (I use a clean Cheese spread jar) and matches or
a lighter. Bonus tip: Have a candle burning in the bathroom. Then you
don't have to walk around with a candle like and old timey person and
then you burn your hair or the house down.
Especially now with winter approaching
it's a must to have a blanket for the cooler nights.
Easy snacks are a must because chances
are a power outage will happen over a time you want to cook. That is
the law. Chips and bars are good. If you are not going to have people
sneaking bites, some biltong. Dried fruit and nuts are cool too.
Bonus tip: Don't open the fridge and freezer too much. Things will
warm up and defrost faster.
Also have a charged power bank for your
phone. Its not like back in the day where everyone had a landline
that has it's own power. Get cool here atSuperbalist or here at Takealot. Bonus tip: Stuck with out a charge?
Most cars or car radios have a USB port. Or switch your phone the
Ultra power saving mode. It stretches your battery power twice as far
(if not more as it limits some of it's apps)
Pack in some power-less activities like
a pack of cards. Battle ships are also good. I was stuck without
power alone and group activities are impossible (my dogs didn't want
to participate in Uno as it might destroy our friend ship
#takefourcards) so I pulled out my colouring book. Here is my previous post that has activities that don't involve unfriending.
I hope this post is helpful as Eskom
executives' multimillion Rand bonuses. And not their helpline.
é
