Dark Tuesday

I took some photos of the hail damage to my plants ... no, I don't want to post that depressing shite ...

I just had a few slices of cheese for dinner, flip-flopped around in about an inch of water, then watched two episodes of Derrick on my smartphone.

Around eight, I noticed the light on the water tower was on, I checked my meter and the numbers showed - but I still had no power. Nothing had tripped, either. I feared the power may have tripped in the empty house next door - tried calling my neighbour, no answer. Internet was iffy, couldn't WhatsApp ... called another neighbour, who said power is coming on and going off again ... and there the light went off again. Crikey!

Mippies had all settled on the bed, and got up with me all unsettled ... like babies: once you get them to sleep, you shouldn't dare wake them again!

This morning, still no power. I hauled out the gas bottle for coffee - opened a long life milk, cause I'm sure my milk is sour by now. Daren't take a whiff, though.

Our councilor posted a message that the teams worked until 4-5 this morning, to restore as much power as humanly possible! Even though I'm still in the dark, I'm grateful for their hard work! Yes, they get paid overtime, I'm sure - but they do have to volunteer for it. Can't force them - so: I'm grateful!

Half nine, cat food arrived.

I was wondering why I'm getting no updates on the power situation ... checked my connection, everything working fine. Tried switching to my own WiFi, made no difference ... googled ... WhatsApp is down throughout South Africa, even in Europe and India. Last time that happened, I didn't even notice ... this time, though, with the power situation at home still not resolved ... 

Just reading the news, where they report the issue in the past tense - WTF? Apparently it started at nine, and is still not resolved. I see FaceBook friends in Germany are also reporting the same issue.

Ten to eleven, now the issue seems to be resolved. 

I sometimes really wonder what people are thinking ... neighbours are bitching and whining about the power. One even reports on another group 'it's been three days' - with a reference number dating to yesterday! And a high number, indicating it was not reported early in the day! For myself, I sent a thank you note to our councilor! Even though our power hasn't been restored, yet - I'm grateful for the hard work they do. I mean, there are literally hundreds of outages in our ward - and many of them just whine 'boo hoo, my power is off'. No pole number, no details ... so the teams have to spend a lot of time investigating the cause!

Another cat food delivery! Mippies are getting more yums than I am!

Right! Some progress! Electrical team was there, but left, because they didn't have fuses. Should come back around noon. There's light at the end of the tunnel, ha ha!

Now it's three and we're still without power! Neighbour just called, apparently she was told all teams are busy with a problem at Bon Accord, there's nobody available ... I'm trying to find out what's really happening, now. She's the one who claims it's been three days. It's been exactly 2 days now ... We're also likely to run out of water ...

Right. Councilor said he'd spoken to the director about the promise not kept, and escalated us to the top of the priority list! Ha Ha, he also asked me 'who's that neighbour'!

Sigh ... now it's past four and we're scheduled for load shedding. So ... I doubt they'll work on our lines, and if they do, we'll only know after six, whether the issue is solved.

Now I'm re-charging my smartphone - it's at 86%, so that shouldn't take long. Especially, as I set it to 'airplane' mode, when I charge it.

Took just a few minutes. Now I'm charging the USB power bank until I leave ... 

Well, since I don't know whether I'll have power tonight ... I guess I better publish.

Hold thumbs!