It's the
time of the
Eskom selfie
I WAS chuckling at an image that's doing the rounds electronically. It's labelled "Eskom selfie" and it's a square of pitch black. When – zappo! – the electricity went off.
This was yesterday morning, the third power cut in less than two days. Something is seriously amiss, that goes without saying. They say that six Eskom power units have gone on the blink simultaneously, something that just doesn't happen.
President Cyril says there's no question of sabotage but, all the same, is there not a strange whiff on the air of over-ripe mackerel?
Cyril is about to appoint a new directorate of prosecutors to investigate government corruption and state capture. What organisation lies at the centre of allegations of state capture? Why, Eskom.
The new prosecution directorate will no doubt discover that this is just so much flim-flam supposition; that six power units did go down simultaneously and coincidentally; that there was nothing sinister about it at all. Then they will get on with the task for which they were appointed.
But until that happens – this reek of over-ripe mackerel. Interesting times we live in.
I WAS with a colleague in The Pub With No Name, in Florida Road, when the lights went out for the second time. Disaster? Not at all. Some battery-operated lighting gave the place an old-world charm.
But the tills weren't working. The barman had to work out our modest bill with pencil and paper. Luckily we had cash to pay. But what of the many patrons who would have been using bank cards?
An IOU would probably be the only answer. "IOU the sum of R…….. until such time as Eskom switches on the power again."
That bar/restaurant could have an agonising wait.
IT'S encouraging the way people adjust. Traffic intersections seem to be really no problem. Motorists are courteous, giving way on a first come, first through basis. Do we really need traffic lights?
But the taxi drivers are apparently experiencing withdrawal symptoms. No red lights to jump.
TOMORROW is Valentine's night. Will Eskom enliven matters by switching off again, enabling all kinds of hanky-panky in the most unlikely places?
Will they be spoilsports by suddenly switching on again, catching couples in flagrante delictu on traffic islands, car bonnets and restaurant tables?
Interesting times we live in.
DURBAN poet Sarita Mathur sends in some lines on life and the poet's calling
Life
An inverted 'V'
Up and down
Twisting
Shifting
We poets must always Be
On solid ground.
Telling tales
Stories,
Of lives
Lived and lost
Of nature,
Dreams
Manifesting
Into riches untold.
A voice in the heart ❤️
Of treasures yet
Undiscovered.
We have a job
At hand
Always to take a stand,
Of rightful thinking.
This we must do
Even without blinking.
Tailpiece
THE new vicar drops in on an elderly couple in their cottage. He notices that the old fellow – they've been married more than 50 years - calls his wife by all kinds of pet names: Sweetheart, Honeypie, Sugar, Delicious … He compliments him on this display of affection.
The old fellow leans forward and whispers hoarsely: "To tell you the truth, Vicar …I've forgotten her name."
Last word
Knowledge is power, if you know it about the right person.
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