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If you google “how to survive load shedding”, you’ll be rewarded with a plethora of advice. Unfortunately, almost all the survival tips state the obvious – especially for South Africans who have long graduated from the stage 4 load shedding kindergarten.
Tips such as “keep your devices charged”, “buy solar lights” and “transfer freezer packs to the fridge when load shedding starts” are more suited to first-world countries that are only now facing the prospect of blackouts and power shortages.
International news feeds have done stories on how South Africans cope without power for 12 hours a day.
Admired as a resilient nation, coping with yet another systemic breakdown is a dubious honour. As I’ve written before, calling South Africans “resilient” has become an insult; we’re tired of being resilient.
Food writers have adapted. The recipes they now dispense are designed around power supply rather than the availability of seasonal ingredients.
“Plan, plan, plan ahead” is the new culinary mantra, so cooking something on a whim is, sadly, no longer an option.
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Central to this planning mindset is the EskomSePush app, which I suspect most South Africans rely on. I feel the developers should be given the country’s highest honour – The Order of Mapungubwe, the award given to “South African citizens who have accomplished excellence and exceptional achievements to the benefit of South Africa”.
Deciding what to eat for dinner used to be governed by a simple question: “What do I feel like eating?” Now there’s a checklist that has nothing to do with what you actually feel like eating. We now ask: “When is load shedding?”
What you cook is also determined by what you have in your fridge or freezer, and since stage 6 has become the new normal, there’s now also a limit on what you can or can’t take a chance on refrigerating, so your choices are narrowed even further.
If cooking dinner has been reduced to a checklist, then doing a load of laundry has become both a precision sport as well as a game of chance that provides an unique adrenaline rush.
With laundry roulette, checking the EskomSePush app multiple times a day is just a warm-up. There are different curveballs to consider before even loading the machine.
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Since it’s been raining non-stop, the weather forecast has to align with Eskom’s load shedding schedule.
Even if the skies are clear, don’t get too excited because this is the trifecta of laundry, so there’s another consideration: Do you have water, or at least decent water pressure? There’s inevitably some ongoing infrastructure maintenance nearby that will determine whether or not you can run a washing machine.
How lucky do you feel when you eventually hit the start button?
Like a four-hour, slow-roast leg of lamb, a dedicated laundry day is a thing of the past.
If the stars align, you throw in a load of laundry and hope for the best. I say “hope for the best” because there is one final adrenal challenge – and this is when it gets really thrilling.
I’ve heard so many stories of laundry roulette: skipping a spin or rinse cycle, or having to do laundry in the middle of the night to accommodate load shedding.
And then there’s ironing…
Who knew doing laundry would become an extreme sport?
Chang is the founder of Flux Trends. For more trends, visit fluxtrends.com
