It’s happening next door

Botswana has implemented loadshedding. That might not seem very surprising to people “overseas”, but generally, Botswana is regarded as the stable, unfluttered, well-managed, “sensible cousin” bit of the Southern Africa. Well, the bit on the continent, anyway: Mauritius is the gold standard for excellence if you’re willing to cross a bit of ocean. More beaches than Botswana too.
But look:

It reads almost word for word like an Eskom announcement. And indeed, why not copy the text from the experts? A couple of points regarding the above: the footer unironically stating that they are “Powering Botswana To Prosperity” (except for the next few weeks, it seems). And the images top right, which are actually the same image, but with one very slightly rotated. Sadly, this only serves to suggest that the transmission line in question is falling over. Prescient.

Of course, we’re also in for blackouts this evening, including one at dinner time. Spotting this ahead of time, I’ve fired up the braai and we’re going to make the most of it with some decent meat and some decent red wine. There’s nothing we can do about it, and constant unfettered rage (like this lady – wow) will surely only lead to an early grave (which will mean less incidences of loadshedding in your lifetime, but still…).
So we’re going to cook oor die kole this evening, saving electricity we haven’t got and making the most of the situation. The glass is always half full, unless it’s that shiraz from Tulbagh (which it is), in which case it gets drained pretty quickly.

Pre-drinks?

A rather nice Bloody Nora (with this and this). Soooo good.

See you on the other side.

Drink water fam

It has been a thoroughly depressing start to the year in South Africa: the economy and the currency are tanking, the exam results weren’t great (allegedly), the heatwave and drought are biting, farmers are suffering, prices are rising (and seem likely to rise further) and all in all there seems to be a very limited amount to look forward to right now.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, given the “speak first, think later” nature of social media, Facebook and Twitter have reacted poorly, with arguments over everything – some reasonable, many not – as the under- and over-sensitive members of society continue to find myriad reasons to offend and be offended. And if that wasn’t enough, the whole situation is generating thinkpieces and open letters like there’s no tomorrow.

Won’t somebody please think of the children?
Actually, won’t someone please just. think.

But there are still occasional gems if you’re willing to wade through the BS. The heatwave is hitting our neighbours in Botswana too, and the government there is warning their citizens on twitter:

Fullscreen capture 2016-01-08 084850 AM.bmp

I’m not sure that the science is absolutely right (in fact, I’m pretty sure that the science is absolutely wrong), but it does get the message across, which is the important thing.
And, because the sun actually is technically a bit closer to the guys in the picture, if you have such beasts in your back garden, make sure you look after them too.