It’s been a month of memorable
My photos are posted at
The power outages reached a new peak this month as our spirits sagged to new lows with each black out. Fortunately our neighbours in this compound are kindred souls and we help lift each other up
during such moments. Poetry from the Powerless has become our evening sport as we send rhymes back and forth by text. Laughter is good, even if our poems are not.
Will the power ever come back?
In the dark our bags we will pack.
Tomorrow we are off to Liwonde,
leaving all our cares behind ‘til Sunday.
Once again in the dark.
Listening to the dogs bark.
Go out to eat, go to bed,
or make silly poems instead.
No light, no food, no energy,
How crazy can this be?
Technology has also hit an all time low at school since the school’s computer network was wiped out by multiple viruses during the Christmas holidays. Yes, that was during Christmas break and despite the valiant efforts of several techies there is no end in sight to those problems. However, report cards can be written by hand and notes can be posted on the bulletin board for all to see, when we get around to it. Whiteboards still work without electricity even if the new generator does not, and we do have books. So education continues. The real question is, can you run a school without caffeine? Is it not cruel and unusual punishment for children to have to endure teachers who have not had their morning coffee?
The other thing we have learned here is that just when we start to get depressed and or cynical about the state of affairs something or someone will come along to give us a whole new perspective on things. This morning as we arrived at the cash in Shoprite with all of our groceries, optimistically waiting to check out, the cash register broke down. We looked on as the young woman in front of us valiantly tried to get an answer to her question about how long it might take to restore the system and if she should change lines. Eventually she was shuffled off to another line and the cashier asked us to wait just a little longer. This really was worth it as we had the opportunity to see her supervisor try a number of innovative maneuvers with the recalcitrant machine that ranged from slapping all of the keys with the back of her hand to unplugging and re-plugging: also known as the “when in doubt, reboot tactic”. Eventually, we too were shuffled off to join the line behind the young woman who had originally been in front of us. Ordinarily the story would end here but not this time. The shopping gods were with us today, at least briefly. While we waited patiently behind the young woman with the very large basket of groceries the original cash register was resuscitated and the supervisor came and brought us right back to the front of that line, a gesture of kindness and good service that will not soon be forgotten.
However, as I said, the shopping gods were with us only briefly today, or sporadically might be more accurate. One of the items we were unable to find at the grocery store was an international calling card. Seems they usually have them but “not today”. That turned out to be the same response in the next 5 stores we visited on our way home. The good news: cheddar cheese and no fat yogurt are available this week. The bad news: no international calling cards. More good news: persistency does pay off. One more trip to a store near where we live resulted in the purchase of the coveted calling card. Bad news: when we tried to use it my phone suddenly had no network coverage. Good news: ingenuity pays off: J-M removed the SIM card, blew the dust off of it, and replaced it. Voilà network coverage restored. I pass this on as a helpful high tech tip to all cell phone users out there.
More good news, our neighbour Jen is the new
Then to top off a perfectly lovely day I happened to look at the calendar on the computer and we discovered it is our 23rd wedding anniversary today. So we are putting our power woes behind us, and my charming spouse is treating me to dinner at the Sanctuary Lodge. They, at least, will have a generator if the power goes.
Happy Anniversary, mon amour. Je t’aime toujours, comme disait le proverbe arabe, plus aujourd’hui qu’hier mais pas autant que demain.
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