Of blackouts and candles...

Ooh, look! Power! As we emerge from 12 hours of darkness. Eskom and City Power are conspiring to turn South Africans into raving lunatics. They publish "loadshedding" schedules and at the top of the page in large red letters write "we are NOT currently load-shedding", and then all goes black when you're in the middle of doing something on the computer. Last time that happened our fridge died.

At least it provides us with another topic of conversation apart from the weather, and a common cause of complaint apart from the government... Although maybe not that far apart. At least I hadn't decided to bake for last night's book club.

Sudden power cuts do have their positive sides as well. While extremely irritating, the lack of man-made noise makes one more able to appreciate the sounds of nature. Right up until the idiot over the road starts revving up his noisy car again and one yearns for the white noise of the waterfall in the fishpond. 

Another positive is the lack of Internet access, as even the cell companies are affected so mobile data is unavailable, so one must perforce read a book or write with pen and paper,  perhaps even get the creative juices flowing with some drawing.

At least the power tools next door are silenced, and when the traffic noise dies down, it's lovely to sit in the garden...