If the massive cold front hitting Cape Town this morning was the starter, and the ongoing virus pandemic was the main course, might I be able to offer you a side salad of loadshedding with your meal, sir?
Side salad because it doesn’t require a microwave or oven, because yes, Eskom spokesperson Sikonathi Mantshantsha was on the radio this morning telling us that:
The generation system is constrained due to the cold front… some of the generation units have broken down. There is a high probability of load shedding during the evenings between five and nine, starting today.
These machines – as we keep reminding the people of South Africa – are quite unreliable and prone to break down when they’re run hard.
We’re seeing high demand due to the cold front. We’ve had to use all our resources – including burning diesel… Even that may not be enough…
Unbelievabeagle.
As the old saying goes: It never rains… (although it clearly does and it clearly is).
So dig out your candles and your blankets and please switch off anything electrical that you don’t need (because maybe we could still avoid this if demand drops enough).
Here’s the PDF of the Cape Town schedule that you’ve buried at the bottom of the kitchen drawer, and it looks like Stage 2 would knock off Areas 3, 4 and 5, 11, 12 and 13 at some point this evening.
Bugger. Thank goodness the good football was on last night…
Aside: And it was so, soooo good.
Anyway, if we are actually running through some sick, twisted menu as described above, I’m going to pass on dessert this time around, thank you very much.
Just the bill, please. And don’t expect a tip.