POWER CUT BLUES
- 10/6/2007 <--Prev : Next-->
POWER CUT BLUES
I know there are probably more people in the world without power, than those who have
the luxury of power, but I suppose it all "boils" down to what you are used to.
Young people can see in the dark, cats can see in the dark, but Wannabe Twenty One Year
Olds have problems when it comes to seeing in the dark !!
HeeHoo is a wonderful provider and has made sure life is not too difficult by providing a
generator and an inverter, so I am not really complaining I promise you.....
However there are certain downsides to all these gadgets and gizmos.... Our generator has
a switch to turn it on, but my friend Lynn dislocates her shoulder every time there is a
power cut as she has the pull- start variety !!
And of course with diesel running at ZW$60,000.00 a litre, one has to be slightly
circumspect as to how long one can afford to run the generator at any rate.
The worst thing one can do is to nod off during a power cut, cos the minute the power
comes back every light in the house comes full on and wakes you up with the fright of a
lifetime.
And to nod off when you haven't gone through the generator turning off rigamarole, is
even worse. HeeHoo spent a chilly half hour last night during a particularly long power cut
when the gate would not open, the phones were not ringing, SheHoo was fast asleep and
her cell phone was attached to the inverted, but the inverter had gone dead as the power
had been cut for such a long time... et-cetera etcetera etcetera !
Being Friday night he was in no condition to climb over the gate, and who could be
absolutely certain that the electric fence would not come alive in the midst of this delicate
manoeuvre!!!
Applying one's mascara is one delicate task I have not managed to master in the dark. By
torch light the shadows flummox one totally and sometimes result in black smears on the
nose....
Eyeliner is even more troublesome, even if one has lived with one's eyes for over half a
century, for some bizarre reason it is still difficult to find one's lids in the dark !!
However help is at hand with the daily morning hairdo I gather, as some ingenious soul
has invented a hairdryer that can be plugged into the lighter in the car. !! Oooh, that could
cause a lot or irksome situations in early morning rush hour traffic I would imagine !!
Dressing in the dark makes colour co-ordination impossible, rule of thumb, never ever
buy the same shoes in different colours or you could the subject of much mirth at the
theatre !!
Second rule of thumb, always make sure the generator is full of diesel, as pouring diesel
into the tiny opening in the dark is well nigh impossible. Our generator must have been
designed by a man I am sure or the fuel aperture would be considerably larger....
Of course the very worst thing about the power cuts is those "friends" who proclaim loudly
"Oh I never have power cuts ".... This is tantamount to immediate and total social
ostracisation .... and could result in serious bodily injury if it continues... .
Oh well, the lights have gone out yet again, the fifth time this week, I have more bruises
on my shins than shins these days...and the strange thing is that my electricity bill just
keeps getting higher and higher ! "Load shedding" they call it , I ask you with tears in my
eyes !!
Buts that's not all, we are getting "water shedding" as from tomorrow they tell me, that will
be loads and loads of fun....
