What have I done?
Work, work and work - I am a professional assistant and legal secretary to a director in a global law firm. Our offices officially re-opened on 4 July 2022 but I am still working from home, providing the odd guest appearance at the office like this last Tuesday, as we had a physical team meeting. I managed, in between bouts of loadshedding, to bake a batch of chocolate muffins for the meeting. It was the boss's idea to lure people to a physical meeting with baked goods, we are to take it in turns to provide the baked goods starting with yours truly! It was fun to see my colleagues and work friends but I always get far more work done at home.
So who I have seen this last week?
My husband, our housekeeper, my boss, some of my colleagues and work friends; tellers at the supermarket and on Friday, I saw my youngest son, Tristan; together with a friend from Australia, said friend's aunt and gran and this morning my friend, Maure whom I went to breakfast with. I did not get to see Giancarlo online as Skype was having issues and then it was loadshedding which was frustrating.
What is Loadshedding?
If you are not South African, you will not have encountered this phenomenon called 'loadshedding' which we have been experiencing in South Africa since 2008 - I could create an entire blog post to this issue which plagues our lives and is a real disruptor but I won't; suffice it to say that ineffective and weak leadership, corruption and state capture by greedy thieves (internally and externally) mean that the state owned enterprise, electricity supplier, Eskom is in dire straits with infrastructure which has not been maintained because unscrupulous individuals decided designer clothes, bags, mansions and luxury cars were more important than upgrading substations, power plants and the like so due to pressure on the grid and load, loads have to be shed at various stages, ie loadshedding. We are currently living in a perpetual state of loadshedding with power outages of 2.5 hours and more occurring up to 3 times a day - very frustrating, annoying, disruptive and more but before I start crying over loadshedding I must always remind myself that certain underprivileged communities have had no electricity for 3 months and more; and so I am grateful for the days when there is more lightness than darkness and that we have a battery pack to keep our wifi going, emergency lights and when we have fair warning are able to ensure we have a flask of hot water in order that my endless supply of cuppas of tea is not interrupted.
What I am currently watching, reading and listening to?
I am watching "My Lover, My Killer" on Netflix as well as my weekly "bubblegum tv" episodes of various reality tv shows (which currently are Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, Below Deck Mediterranean, Bake Off Professionals, Catfish and Come Dine with Me the Professionals); just finished reading "Still Alice" by Lisa Genova which is the heartbreaking story of a 50 year old Harvard professor diagnosed with early onset alzheimer's (I am not sure I am strong enough to watch the movie of the book); and indulging in a variety of podcasts ranging from "The Daily", to "No Lie with Brian Tyler Cohen", "Crime Stories with Nancy Grace", "The Ed Mylett Show", "Heart of the Matter" and others (I am a podcast fiend so there will be a post devoted to this genre). I also watched the hearings of the January 6th Insurrection on Tuesday night and am waiting with bated breath for the next hearing which I think is scheduled for Tuesday, 12 July 2022. It is compelling and horrifying viewing of a truly terrible and dark day in the USA (and yes I graduated from school in the USA and my parents lived there for 15 years and one of my brothers has lived in the USA for many, many years so I have a vested interest in the USA and sad that since 2016 all sorts of evil has been unleased in a land which is supposedly for the 'brave and the free'.)
What else have I been doing?
Walking around my garden, picking up dog poop (we have 3 canine children); daily feeding the birds by filling up the bird feeder; I have been chatting to various friends and family members; and started my blog.
What haven't I managed to do this last week?
I have not managed to darken the threshold of my local gym, let alone eat as healthily as I should; and while managing to shake off a bout of sinus, I have not managed to remedy my toothache so guess who I need to phone on Monday morning - yip, my masked friend with a needle and drill, our family friend and dentist, Dr Jawaad who I actually do look forward to visiting; he is the dentist who cured me of my paralysing fear of dentists and all things dental.
That's all for now and my commentary on this funny old week that was!