A Soggy Return
Dead Robots in Thunderstorm!
Having torn ourselves away from the Caribbean, landing back in Johannesburg was a bit of a culture rather than temperature shock. (If you exclude 36 hours of shivering in the UK that is.) Exchanging T-shirt and shorts for a suit and wearing shoes again seemed extremely alien, as did having a haircut for the first time in 3 months!
But what really took us by surprise were the afternoon thunderstorms. Really loud and accompanied by a lot of water! Thunder is also a warning that the power might fail at any moment, so there is the additional risk of death by trampling if the storm is around 4pm as everyone does a runner to get home!
Fortunately the government tries to acclimatise everyone to the risk of electricity failure by scheduling power cuts area by area on a regular basis. Euphemistically referred to as ‘load-shedding’, these give you the opportunity to see what happen when all the robots (traffic lights) instantly expire, and to think creatively about how to have supper in the absence of cooking facilities and light! (Try cheese sandwiches by the light of an iphone!)
These cuts are now really biting; seemingly every day one is suddenly powerless. The business areas suddenly roar as all the generators start up, the lights flicker and commuters despair.
Beware Britain; this could be your fate if you do not plan far enough ahead with your electricity supplies!
Thankfully the laptop has an illuminated keyboard……..
Freebooter 