Category: economic issues

More on that thing

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The that thing in question being loadshedding. Rolling blackouts. Power cuts. And I’m sorry to go on about it because I know that it’s really not a thing that South African residents need to hear any more about, and it’s probably not a thing thing that is of huge interest to those overseas.

Yet.

But it is completely dominating our lives at the moment, and it occurred to me, as my inner voice breathed a huge sigh of relief that our planned 12 hours of electrical darkness was reduced to “just” 8 yesterday, that I’m clearly suffering from some kind of Stockholm Syndrome. I think that it’s important not to do that. In a semi developed country such as SA, we shouldn’t have to accept 8 hours of no power every day and just be able to turn the other cheek, smile and say “Well, at least it wasn’t 12!”.
We shouldn’t be normalising loadshedding. We should be angry about it.

The courier guy who just came to our door (alerting me to his presence at the gate by a whistle, because the doorbell isn’t working, because we have no electricity, because of loadshedding), was certainly angry:

No, man. I’m so moeg of it. And then your electrical items like your fridge and your TV get fucked up because of it.

There’s nothing quite like an expletive in a Cape Coloured accent to really drive the message home.

That said, there needs to be some balance and understanding as well (whatever your accent). Because the constant anger and stress will do our collective health no good whatsoever, and it won’t make a jot of difference to the situation.

THERE IS NO QUICK FIX. We’ve missed our opportunity to to do that over the last 14+ years.

Meanwhile, our government is doing very little to remedy the problems – some are even exacerbating them – although there was this absolute gem from serial disaster merchant and wannabe ANC leader, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma:

Well, no shit, Sherlock. Thanks for that valuable insight, just 14 years in the making.
What a woman, trying desperately hard to be relevant ahead of the December ANC conference.
So much soundbite. So little action.

Still, even given all the nonsense I have described, those individuals who go out of their way to USE MORE electricity (when they have it), just because Eskom told them not to and they don’t like Eskom, are equal parts irritating and amusing. Talk about shooting yourself in the foot. To be honest, I’m sure it’s mainly internet bluster and bravado: surely no-one could actually be that stupid, right?

Love it or hate it [Really?!? -Ed.], we’re unavoidably stuck with loadshedding for the foreseeable future and beyond.
And as is clear from the several hundred words above, my advice is to just get used to it, but also very much, don’t let yourself just get used to it.

I hope that helps.

Out and about

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Morning all.

You join me at one of the local Traffic Departments, because my driving licence needs renewing. This process is slow, laborious, irritating and archaic, but it does make the government plenty of money, given that everyone has to do it every five years. Nice.

So it’s not going away any time soon.

It’s a filthy Cape Town morning: grey, wet, blustery and dark, and no-one wants to be here. The clients, the staff, the security – no-one. And thus, it is a picture of misery which surrounds me.

I wanted to postpone my visit and come next week, but the inclement weather and the fact that it’s Friday and I’m in a predominantly Muslim area tempted me into heading out today to avoid the queues.

I have no idea if it worked, because I don’t have a control day for comparison, but I’m in 11th place, having arrived a half hour before the place opened, and I’m waiting outside, but UNDER COVER, as the rain batters down on those beyond 15th.
Sorry for you. Maybe arrive earlier next time: don’t you know that the system is hopelessly dysfunctional and overloaded?

Tomorrow’s post may be on a completely different subject, or I may still be here, depending on how things go, given that the place was supposed to open 10 minutes ago now, but… hasn’t.

Pray for me.

Powerless

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Here: Kriel Power Station falls over and takes 2000MW with it, because of [checks notes] “heavy mist”:

Reminiscent of this or this.

And there: after the local joy that was felt at loadshedding almost happening in Australia last month, it turns out that the UK only just avoided the same fate last week.

Struggling with an aging and long underfunded national grid that was crying out for investment and updating (sound familiar), there was almost not enough electricity to go around last week, and loadshedding was only avoided by paying a frankly ridiculous price to secure some electricity from Belgium:

On July 20, surging electricity demand collided with a bottleneck in the grid, leaving the eastern part of the British capital briefly short of power. Only by paying a record high £9,724.54 (about $11,685) per megawatt hour — more than 5,000% higher than the typical price — did the UK avoid homes and businesses going dark. That was the nosebleed cost to persuade Belgium to crank up aging electricity plants to send energy across the English Channel.

Sounds like a lot anyway, but then especially when you compare it to what they usually pay:

The absurdity of that level is apparent when comparing it with the year-to-date average for UK spot electricity: £178 per megawatt hour.

We don’t have the luxury[?] of a Belgium right next door, so we couldn’t have lobbed out the R196,611.50 /MWh that would have been required to keep the lights on. So our lights would have gone off (like they probably will this evening), and like the UK’s very nearly did:

If Belgium had not helped, the grid would had been forced to “undertake demand control and disconnect homes from electricity,” says a grid spokesperson.

Of course:

“Demand control” = “Rolling blackouts” = “Loadshedding” = “Misery”

Thus, it can be deduced that when it comes to shaky electricity systems, the UK, Australia and SA are all basically the same, but our local (occasional) electricity provider is the only one that follows through on actually flicking the off switch.

Feel it, it is here

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I’ve been waiting for this email. And now it has arrived:

I love a good package (who doesn’t?), and with just 4 days until the first Championship match of the new season (although 7 days until our first Championship match of the season), I was wondering if a good package was going to come my way. Well, finally, it has.

And there’s an early bird offer. Kaboom!

On the other end of the spectrum, there are the pay as you go deals: £25 per month or [gasp] £10 per game. Ten pounds!
That’s right up there with R500 per baboon. You could actually almost get an actual match ticket for that. Although the air fare might bump things up a bit.

Anyway, now that my email has arrived, I am going to sort my subscription so as not to miss out on anything exciting. And by that – incredibly – I mean Millwall at home next weekend.

UPDATE:
Aww yiss!

For the kids

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And so, after 24 hours which have very, very nearly given us 100mm of rain in Cape Town, I find myself sitting in a car park near an oil refinery, in the dark and the continuing downpour, as the Boy Wonder trains for his next Big Thing (more about that at a later date).

The car park in question is about 30 sodden, spray-laden, trafficky kilometres from our house, and so with the session being two hours and the petrol price being what it is, I will sit here with my coffee, my portable hotspot for the internets and write a blog post as I overlook the lake.

Which… wasn’t there yesterday.

Not worth the effort and money of going home. And probably much safer to be here than on the road right now. In a country where every day is like driving in a video game, driving in the dark and the rain are like giving Pro Mode a try. You can get a hi-score just by arriving safely at your destination.

Of course, running your kids to various parties, events, classes and such is all part of being a modern day parent, And I’m very happy to support my children in all their chosen endeavours.

But there’s a lovely fire and a warm TV full of UEFA Nations League at home, and if I’m honest, I can’t help but feel that I’d rather be there than here right now.