Load shedding, rolling blackouts, planned power cuts… what ever you wish to call them, they are inconvenient and in the heat, distressing. They happen here on a Wednesday, the day the factories have a holiday. The power is switched off and if you don’t have a generator (like us), you have to just sit and wait until it comes back.
I remember having power cuts as a child, very rarely, but if it was after the sun went down it was exciting. Lighting candles throughout the house and looking outside to see the other dark houses, sometimes people would gather in the street. During the Indian summer however, power cuts are not exciting, not one bit. Yesterday, the power went out in two hour intervals which allowed me to cool down but last Wednesday, the power was out for five and a half hours straight…
10:00
The fan just stopped, leaving me in an uncomfortable silence. I live with the fan on (day and night) and have become accustomed to its whirling, without the constant soft drone, I notice that the clock on the wall ticks ridiculously loudly. It has taken me about thirty seconds to become too hot. Both my laptop and my phone are drained of power and I have nearly finished my book. Hurry up electricity!!
11:15
I’ve finished reading my book, but because of the heat I am feeling drowsy. I am not really sure what happened at the end of the story, I will have to reread the last couple of chapters once the power comes back (The Devil and Miss Prym, Paulo Coelho). It has to come back soon. I have had to cover Alfonso with water to keep him cool, he looks really fed up and doesn’t want to play. Not sure whether it’s because I have covered him in water or because of the heat but he is grumpy!
12:40
I fell asleep in a hot haze, waking up I feel so sticky, strange and disorientated. What did people do before coolers and fans? When I look out of my bedroom window, I can see homes which still don’t have either. How do they cope with this heat? I feel so drowsy and light headed, please come back electricity, I will never take you for granted ever again…
I think it is best I have another shower to cool off.
13:00
The water from the cold tap was boiling hot, either the electricity or the rains need to come now! I’ve made a fan from folded newspaper, I remember making these at school when I was about ten or eleven. I didn’t have much use for this skill in England, glad I remembered it (it’s just folding a piece of paper lots of times, quite simple). I fan both Alfonso and myself, I should maybe start exercising more, it only took a couple of minutes before my arm started to really ache.
14:20
The ticking clock is really annoying me now, it is so loud! I have considered taking it down and taking out the batteries but then I won’t know the time (both the laptop and my phone have no battery) and I don’t think I have the energy to do it anyway.
I am going to have to go to sleep again, this heat is exhausting and I think I have just seen a mirage!!
15:30
I have just been woken up by the air conditioning unit beeping, the fan slowly starts to twirl once more. Finally, bliss.
Load shedding makes me sad
Whilst writing this post, the power went out again…
It’s not just Wednesdays after all!
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