The new load-shedding schedule was published at the start of this week. Load-shedding is scheduled electricity cutting, so that it's conserved for industry rather than used up domestically.
Here it is. We're in Group 4:-
So, on the plus side, we know (well pretty much) when we'll be without power. And we're not entirely withour power as we have an invertor - something that uses a car battery to store up electricity when it's available, so that we can have a few lights and one working plug socket during load-shedding (which, obviously, for anyone who knows Harvey!, runs the TV, DVD player, and charges laptops).
But, cheating aside, during load-shedding, we have very little light in the house; just a few energy-saving bulbs, and no bathroom with light, so the littles often have a candle-lit bath, which is really rather lovely.
It also means no oven, no washing machine, no fridge (there's not much point running a freezer here), and if we're unlucky / disorganised, it might mean no water until the power's back on, as Nepali houses all have a storage tank on the roof for water, which needs to be filled using an electric pump. We still have hot water as we have solar panels on the roof, so we can have a shower or bath - but to be honest, I've hardly ever run enough through the kitchen taps for it to become barely luke warm - we wash up with cold water, or boil the kettle.
Some of the lovely people I know online have recently been using only candles or other forms of low key lighting after dark - a really lovely approach to winter - I just wonder how my own little family's going to cope as the winter progresses and the load-shedding hours expand. Apparently it'll be up to 18 hours or so a day without electricity by March - eeeep!! Any of you electricity-frugal mamas have any tips for us? My main issues are 1) No - the kids are not going to watch DVDs the whole time we have load-shedding - what else can we do with very limited light because 2) Thom + candles = dangerous mayhem. And finally, 3) When there is a LOT of load-shedding our invertor might not keep up - so we might not have any light or a working plug socket.
We enjoyed listening to Roald Dahl's Witches this evening, then they had a candle lit bath, and a story before bed.
And onto sunnier thoughts........
I love these swing pictures of my happy, sunny boys.
Evidence that Evie-Chops is getting good and autonomous with her spelling. I only spotted this long after she'd made it :-
Don't even let me start talking about the rubbish / waste / pollution issues here. But - here's not-even-the-tiniest-tip-of-of-the-rubbish-iceberg made into art:
And - look! Noah-Boots running home from school with Eve, NOT sitting in the pushchair - whoop!! (He still moaned a bit about getting sand in his crocs but we can live with that....)
Hearing about your electricity is fascinating, we take it for granted so much and yet I know the minute we get a power cut, I realise how MUCH electricity we use.
ReplyDeleteI LOVE the trousers in the second photo, they are gorgeous and the rubbish art is quite amazing. There is a landfill site that we often drive past on the way to Peterborough, it seems horribly ironic to have it cited so close to a brand new retail park.
I grew up in an Eastern European country and I having to live with electricity schedule when I was a child. 2 hours on, 2 hours off. I kept on forgetting about it and getting stuck in the lift. Found your blog through Google.
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