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I have come to a conclusion: the "powers" that be at Eskom (pun intended) don't have kids. It's one thing if it's just you and your man coping with no electricity... picture an intimate (albeit cold) dinner by candlelight, followed by a romantic bubble bath for two, ending with an early night (nudge nudge wink wink)... but I'm sorry to say that with two kids in the house, those days are few and very far between!
So when Eskom arbitrarily decides to turn the power off willy nilly around 5pm... well the reality is far less romatic... trying to pursuade your four year old and eighteen month old that yes, veggies CAN be eaten cold and a cucumber sarmie DOES in fact constitute supper and even includes three of the main food groups - carbo's (bread), vegetables (cucumber) and fats (butter). And then try to pursuade your husband that a salad IS enough and that not having meat for one night Is actually GOOD for you... yes, I know we had salad last night too... DEAL WITH IT! After all, in my humble opinion a Big Mac does NOT make up the food pyramid.
Actually, I'm very lucky that my husband would not touch McDonald's with a ten foot bargepole (what is a bargepole?) and my kids have never tasted it, but hey, there's nothing wrong with the odd Nando's every now and then, but with Eskom's regularity it's a costly exercise on a daily basis... (hey, maybe Eskom and Nando's are in cahoots with eachother!)
It was over a lovely ten days in Langebaan in January that we experienced the first of the powercuts. In that time we were lucky enough to only have two... but boy did they both come at the worst possible times, and as usual, with absolutely NO warning! The first one happened after a lovely day at the beach at the other side of the nature reserve. We had planned to stop for a quick cuppa at the reserve restaurant (which closes at 6pm) on the way back and order the girls a kiddies calamari and chips for supper, but as it was nearly closing time when we drove home, we decided to rather make them supper at home. And of course we only realised when we got upstairs that there was in fact no power. So we called the local restaurant, and no, they had no power, but could cook some food on gas (like the R84 grilled linefish instead of the R35 hake and chips!). Anyway after much negotiation that a four year old and eighteen month old would NOT appreciate nor finish an R84 piece of fish, they agreed to scramble up some eggs for the girls. This was around 7pm... we eventually got the eggs (after our fish had arrived) at about 8:30. Now Caty is used to eating at around 5pm and being in bed by 6:30, so you can IMAGINE the fun evening we had.
The second occassion occured on the day we were due to return to Cape Town. Megan woke just after 6 in the morning, crying her eyes out. Turns out she had wet the bed... the very first accident she had had since being dry full time in November! Being, in my mind, the middle of the night still (we were still on holiday okay!) I just cleaned her up, put her in my bed and knowing I'd have plenty of time to wash and dry the duvet etc. when we got up. When we eventually did at 8am... surprise surprise, the power was off. So there was me HAND washing an entire set of linen and praying for it to be dry before we left for home. Thankfully the power came back on a couple of hours later and I was able to quickly spin and tumbledry everything!
So in all his wisdom, my husband sent me off to Makro to buy a generator. While it's quite simple to start and run, it only has enough power to run one major appliance (e.g. kettle, microwave, cheap two-burner stove) at a time. So I can just see myself: Put veg in microwave. Cook. Swop plug, trying not to fall over extension lead. Plug kettle in, boil water. Unplug kettle. Plug stove-top in. Cook pasta with pre-boiled water. Drain. Cook quick tomato sauce on ready-hot plate. Oops, pasta now cold. Unplug stove, plug in microwave, warm pasta. Pour sauce over pasta, veg on side, ready to serve. Realise that neighbours about to complain about jet engine outside house, run to switch generator off, again without tripping over multiple cables. And ALL this with an eighteen month old under one arm. Just call me Supermom!
Yes, this scenario has happened... and Supermom that I am, I just gave them scrambled eggs and bread for supper, forget the veg, pasta and sauce! That was just a Supermom fantasy, but I couldn't bring myself to irritate the neighbours for more than five minutes! And so far we have only had one afternoon powercut (apart from that Friday night a few weeks ago...). It seems as though Makro informed Eskom that one Mrs S Hetherington of Claremont purchased a somewhat expensive generator in February 2008, so, as a joke (laughing stock that they are), Eskom decided to seriously confuse us and actually give us uninterupted power! But all this aside I have to agree with my husband that we are in for the long haul and this whole loadshedding thing is just the beginning!
But I have to ask my husband one question... surely takeaways every other night would be more cost effective than a generator? I guess not... when you add the cost of the gym membership to work off all that excess grease! Power to the people? Wishful thinking!
© Sally Hetherington .
