So we are sitting around, enjoying the balmy weather, sipping our drinks, when all of a sudden there is a complete black out! The twinkling city lights we were watching suddenly disappeared.Tara , luckily was sitting next to me, and jumped on me knocking my drink over. A million thoughts ran through my head. Was it an air raid? Or an emergency? We were certainly not in a war torn area, Far from it. The only violence I had seen here was monkeys fighting for fruit.
Within seconds someone appeared with a few candles and placed them around with some smoky circles which let off grey smoke. These as I discovered later were to ward off sneaky mosquitoes who might want a piece of us in the dark.
"Its just a power cut" said my host calmly. "I will get the generator started in a minute".
As if on cue, Tara piped in, "It's a what?"
Back where we live electricity supply is something we take for granted. The fridge always runs, we can read books at night, and basically have power on when we want to, even if it is wasteful.
"A power cut means no light my dear," explained our host. Before Tara could retort with a million 'whys' I interjected and asked to know more. Electricity in this country has more demand than supply. So occasionally, electricity supply is shut down for a few hours to prevent an over load on resources. Some luck few , like our hosts have their own personal 'generators' which are speedily turned on to ensure uninterrupted power.
Tara looked up at the night sky, and with a gasp pointed to the startling display of stars...millions and millions of stars shining on a clear night. It was an amazing sight.
Within seconds a little lad had the generator started. It made a loud sound like a motor but the lights came back on. A few streets down people without generators gathered in the front of the house, along with neighbours, catching up with each other and having a hearty laugh or two amid candles.
In a few hours the power was restored and life carried on... My mind did wander to home, wondering what would happen to the contents of my freezer if we had a power cut..I also made a resolve to save energy whenever I could. It is a precious resource, and many people make do without it.
We are returning home in ten days time. I will miss this place, power cuts and monkeys all included.
Within seconds someone appeared with a few candles and placed them around with some smoky circles which let off grey smoke. These as I discovered later were to ward off sneaky mosquitoes who might want a piece of us in the dark.
"Its just a power cut" said my host calmly. "I will get the generator started in a minute".
As if on cue, Tara piped in, "It's a what?"
Back where we live electricity supply is something we take for granted. The fridge always runs, we can read books at night, and basically have power on when we want to, even if it is wasteful.
"A power cut means no light my dear," explained our host. Before Tara could retort with a million 'whys' I interjected and asked to know more. Electricity in this country has more demand than supply. So occasionally, electricity supply is shut down for a few hours to prevent an over load on resources. Some luck few , like our hosts have their own personal 'generators' which are speedily turned on to ensure uninterrupted power.
Tara looked up at the night sky, and with a gasp pointed to the startling display of stars...millions and millions of stars shining on a clear night. It was an amazing sight.
Within seconds a little lad had the generator started. It made a loud sound like a motor but the lights came back on. A few streets down people without generators gathered in the front of the house, along with neighbours, catching up with each other and having a hearty laugh or two amid candles.
In a few hours the power was restored and life carried on... My mind did wander to home, wondering what would happen to the contents of my freezer if we had a power cut..I also made a resolve to save energy whenever I could. It is a precious resource, and many people make do without it.
We are returning home in ten days time. I will miss this place, power cuts and monkeys all included.
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