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What caught my attention was that he was wearing on of these headlamps that people use to keep their hands free while doing repairs.
Whilst the light was switched off, it still struck my as very odd as it was 8 o’clock in the morning. I wondered whether he was a little forgetful and even smiled a bit once I had passed him.
Our meeting started shortly afterwards and just as we got down to business, the load-shedding started. The large business premises were immediately pitch black inside with only limited light coming in through the entrance.
Inside the office where we were in the far corner of the store, we could see nothing and had to use the lights from our cellphones to assist us. The manager went off to start the back up generator and in the interim we could only sit in the light of our cellphones and wait for him to return.
However, whilst waiting I could clearly see the elderly gentlemen carrying on nonchalantly doing his shopping in the light of his headlamp.
It had never occurred to me to check the load-shedding schedules of the other towns before going there, but I have started to do that since this incident.
- Ulrich
We almost burnt down our home due to loadshedding. I have two small children and keeping them entertained during loadshedding is a mission on its own. The lights went out and we decided to play chess to pass the time. We very concentrating so hard on the game we didn’t realise the candle was low.
It melted the plastic container it was in and the next minute the whole shelf was in flames. I was able to put out the fire and shelf is badly stained. We survived. I have resorted to paraffin lamps now, but the smell and smoke does drive me insane.
- Lesley
This article was written by a reader in response to the Spindel laundry dryer competition.
Want to read more on load shedding stories? Check these out:
Being in the shower when the power goes out feels like a horror movie
Lessons load shedding taught me
