If it goes to Stage 8, we may be looking at a total blackout. Right now, load shedding at Stage 6 results in 12 hours a day without power which we’re facing today. We can live with all this as long as we can keep our food fresh. Again, we just went shopping yesterday, purchasing lots of perishable food.
I suppose we need to stop shopping and buy what we need, one day at a time. This may be our only alternative if we can save what we have and go through it.
We’d planned to have Dawn and Leon for an Asian dinner on Thursday, but now I am wondering how I can do all the prep required by opening and closing the refrigerator over and over as needed in preparing such a meal. We purchased all the ingredients for the three entrees we’ll prepare but wonder if it will be possible to do without power. Our stove top is gas, but the oven is electric.
I’d planned to prep all the meats and vegetables ahead of time, but I am concerned about keeping the meats fresh in the process. We’ll have to see if anything changes between today and tomorrow. At this point, the power will be out on Thursday from:
- 1:00 – 3:30 am
- 9:00 – 11:30 am
- 1700 (5:00 pm) – 2130 (9:30 pm)
As inventive as I may attempt to be in the kitchen, I am not sure I can safely prepare three entrees and ultimately serve them in the dark. We’d planned a similar get-together with them a few weeks ago and canceled due to load shedding. Maybe we can figure out something different this time.
In any case, this is the way it is, and there is nothing we can do about it. If it weren’t for the issues with storing food, we wouldn’t be concerned at all. As mentioned in other posts, we do pretty well without electricity. That’s not to say we’d be comfortable living “off the grid” with no power. That’s not our style of world travel.
Tom will drive me to the little spa where Dawn will meet me in a little while, and we’re both having pedicures. I hadn’t had one since before we left in March, and it’s about time. As I’ve mentioned, I don’t drive here since we don’t pay extra to have me on the car rental contract, I don’t drive a stick shift with my left hand, and I am not used to driving on the opposite side of the road.
Never a good drive anyway; adding these three factors put me at high risk of causing an accident. Since I had open-heart surgery in 2019, my coordination is not ideal. Unless there is an emergency, I will no longer be driving although I will continue to renew my driver’s license in our resident state of Nevada. Many times in our travels, we’re asked to produce a driver’s license for identification, particularly on cruises and in the US.
Last evening the two of us celebrated the 31st anniversary of the day we met. We had a few drinks on the veranda with our JBL speaker playing oldies from our ‘heydays” via YouTube, and we had a lovely time. Since it was cold and rainy, we ate dinner indoors at the dining room table. The power didn’t go out until 1900 hrs., 7:00 pm, so it all worked out well.
We both had a good night’s sleep which has been the case this past week now that we are fully recovered. I can’t express enough how grateful we have made it through all of that after a very challenging couple of months.
Thank you to many of our readers who wrote to us, wishing us a happy anniversary and offering thoughtful comments about our recent challenges. Every single word means so much to us, and we try to reply to each one.
Be well.
Photo from one year ago today, June 29, 2021:
