Thursday: I went to the gym this morning. Yes, the hard work goes on.
And it was harder work than usual this morning because there was no electricity at the gym. Not directly because of loadshedding, but because of a substation fault, caused by the overnight loadshedding (according to the frustrated electrician I spoke to). Gym was emptier than usual, because a lot of the machines weren’t working, preventing people from working out. In addition, the aircon wasn’t working and it was HOT and humid.
I did what I could on the weights and the freerunning treadmill, but the temperature and yesterday’s blood doning left me a little short of energy.
And then when I left, I couldn’t validate my parking ticket to get my free parking. Understanding this, the car parking people had left the booms open – free parking all round this morning then. And that got me thinking: just how much is this loadshedding costing the economy?
A few thousand for the parking company this morning, maybe? And even if they get the fault fixed by lunchtime, there’s another 2½ hours of genuine loadshedding this afternoon.
The Kauai outlet in the gym wasn’t able to operate: no fridges, no tillpoints, no smoothie makers, no hot water for coffees. Another few thousand there, maybe?
Pick and Pay was still operating downstairs, their generator churning out noise and fumes, but the other shops weren’t able to open.
And this is just one building, just one morning.
So yes, without electricity, daily life goes on in some limited form or other, but it’s irritating, costly and difficult. And we’re set for at least another 18 months of this nonsense.