Power to the People!
I am writing this by candle light…well actually it is by rechargeable light that I stole (procured) from my work but that doesn’t sound nearly as poetic. The power to my apartment compound, has been off since 7am this morning and it is now 11pm and the sense of frustration is making me feel a little nostalgic as it reminds me of Load shedding back home. YAY Eskom! I have to admit, it was fun the first 12 hours until I realised that although my geezer uses gas, I need electricity to ignite it and so does my phone which is dead…and my kindle which I forgot to charge. My iPod has been a real trouper and has lasted with me sporadically through the day but I feel it is on its last breath.
There is an ongoing fight between the government and our apartment regarding the lot in front of us that they want to build an electricity substation. I am with them as it will totally ruin my view so yay proteresters. Anyway, this power shortage turns out to be retaliation from the government after the owners took to their fences and bashed them all down. So where does that leave me, in the dark!
But never fear, when your apartment clearly has some underground movement (in Chinese) as they have taken to the street and armed with loud speakers and pots, they are beginning to make quite the riot. They have marched loudly down the block to a major intersection where they now stand in the middle of the road voicing their displeasure. The traffic is not moving and all the chaos, although very peaceful and hardly a municipal strike, is reminding me of home.
Being that I am still only here on vacation, so to speak, I had to fight the urge to run downstairs and photograph this exciting community get together and save myself some Chinese jail time which is not on my travel bucket list, even after Bridget Zones made is look totally awesome with Madonna and wonder Bra. SO hide here and watch from my 17th floor apartment. Having worked – briefly – for the municipality in knysna 12 years ago (god am I really that old?) I once was there as a striking mob descended and I had to escape through the window which luckily was ground floor, so I have had enough danger for one life.
But what a sense of community. Upper end middle class, standing up for their rights in a dignified, unified way. Imagine if we had done that in Knysna with Eskom…I can see us Sunday night, middle of Main Street unified….but we would have to have a beer. And a braai. Cannot be unified in South Africa with some chop. Maybe some Brandy. Someone’s ford laser playing some epic mid 90’s tunes remixed to a sakkie sakie beat….Ok perhaps they would have joined in the party and ignored the power until the next morning when everyone woke up on the pavement smelling like stale beer and pee…. Not so “dignified”…But far more fun than loud banging chopsticks and angry spitting talk, even if they get the job done!
