It was just one of those days today. Work ran late, spanning through three loadshedding sessions. I crawled into bed at about 11.15pm after showering in the dark.
My baby woke up for the third time, his snotty nose making the feeding difficult for him. I could see his grazed eye and face by the moonlight, where he had launched himself onto the concrete earlier. Learning to walk is hazardous.
Down the passage, one brother was snoring like an elephant and the other was coughing again. It was so loud it just about drowned out the Scops owls and nightjars that have been calling so loudly since spring came around. The annoying roof rats are even louder at the moment.
I slept on and off, but the baby was restless and the brothers were too. Then, at 1am, the baby’s cough got a bit worse and he vomited all over himself and my feather duvet. I was so tired at this point that I just stripped him, threw the duvet on the floor, and found a blanket to crawl under with him. I would have chucked everything into the washing machine, but what good would that have done without power for the next two hours.
Only, it wasn’t two hours, or the regular four hours we’ve been having; it never came on. We woke up still in the dark three hours later with the whole area without power. No morning rooibos. No explanation.
A few residents managed to log a call before 7am, which was when the next four hours of load shedding was due to start. That puke duvet was still on the floor with the clothes and normal pile of washing. The fridges were off. The cellphones were almost flat. And the work day had started with laptops and wifi routers that couldn’t charge.
The baby and his brothers are still snotty. And the baking we did for school (between load shedding stints) was left behind in the confusion of the morning, which meant a turnaround and a little person very late for school.
But we did get him to school.
The dogs and kids are fed.
The sun is out.
And a certain van for electricity repairs has been spotted in the area.
There’s also a few baked goods left to reward us for enduring all our challenges this week.
We’ll make it to the weekend.
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