Electrical storms; electrical surges; electrical cuts
We had a mighty electrical storm last night but I must have slept through it. Unless it hit Karonga harder than it did Lilongwe. My friend Iris who rang this morning said it was impressively scary or is that scarily impressive? I did hear the rain.
I like storms actually. Well I like being inside listening to them. There is such powerful beauty or such beautiful power or both in an electrical storm. The snap/shudder of thunder; brittle flick of lightning and the drench of rain. It is as if the world is re-energised and refreshed.
This morning, as I sat on the verandah for breakfast, it was cool and damp and the birds were in full throat. A desperate, juvenile tweeting on one side; long trilling sighs on the other; deep throaty 'coughs' in front and a general cacophony of birdsong.
Some fresh papaya and a boiled egg on toast. Tea of course. What would breakfast be without properly brewed leaf tea? The only thing missing was company. Greg is away and once again I return to that strange and solitary place of aloness. I know it is a place where many people live all of the time but for me and for him it is odd. There is something missing; a sense of echoed completeness and while the days are full they are not as fulfilling. When Greg walks through the door, even after more than forty years, it is still the best part of the day for me as he says it is for him.
I feel fortunate. We both feel fortunate. To remain friends and lovers for so long is a precious gift. And I do think it is a gift. There is as much luck as there is good management in relationships and marriages which endure. I know other people have worked just as hard as I or we have done on their marriage or relationship only to see it slip through their fingers. It isn't just about work although work is an important part of it. I do believe there is such a thing as fate, destiny or plain old fashioned luck or good fortune.
It is anyway, written into both of our astrological charts such good fortune and for that we both remain eternally grateful. Not that we take any of it for granted. For many years now, after challenging times, we both took the view that just because it was good now did not mean it would be in 12 months time! Assume nothing. No-one knows what the future holds. Enjoy the moment, continue the work and hope for the best. It is all one can do.
Hmm, I need to apply that approach to my laptop. I have had issues with it pretty much since I got it and finally, after six months of negotiation, Hewlett Packard have agreed to replace it under the three year warranty. It has been seriously overheating for the past year and then, as part of the process trying to fix it, a hard drive problem was discovered. HP then wanted to replace the hard drive which would not have fixed the overheating problem so I said no, just replace it. But they would not replace it anywhere but Oz and by the time they made the decision to do so I had left for the US and then on to Malawi. Fingers and toes crossed that it would keep working for me until I could get back to Australia to replace it.
And it has been working okay until I got back here. One blue screen last week and two this morning. Sigh. I am praying and saying nice things to my laptop to keep it functioning until the end of February when I will be back in Perth and can do the change over. How dependent we become on these things. For me even more so because I work editing manuscripts and on my own writing. It has occurred to me that in my situation I need a backup... one computer is not enough because one never knows.
Did I have two typewriters? I think I did. Anyway, always easier to repair and the reality is they did not break down as easily or as badly as computers can. I am also wondering how much 'energy' I am sending out to interfere with my electrical equipment. This is not the first time I have had computer issues. Although to be fair, I had three Toshibas which never caused any problems despite being hauled around the world and my first issues began when I inherited Greg's Quasio three years ago. Major meltdowns which is why I bought the HP. Maybe I should have stuck with Tosh.
Damon, my son recommends Apple and I am thinking a Macbook might be a good 'extra' to give me permanent backup. All this equipment. What did we do with our time when we did not spend so much time on the net? Good question. Maybe time to go and make some more biscuits.
On the plus side of the African experience the generator/inverter seems to be working more effectively. Although when the air conditioner in the bedroom switches off when the generator switches on, it doesn't return to sleep mode... as in no lights. I am a bit of a bat when it comes to sleep but couldn't be bothered getting up to change it because the generator was off and on all night.
We seem to be averaging two to three power cuts a day. Sigh. I have heard on the grapevine that some country or another is pouring money into Malawi's power system and I certainly hope so. But I can no longer complain. The power goes and the inverter kicks in seamlessly to run everything but the oven and cooktop and the air conditioners. The generator does that. We have also had it set up so the generator can re-charge the inverter batteries. So, all in all, finally the system seems to be working.
I made Finnish Sour Cream Cake yesterday and some Vanilla Biscuits and was unaffected by power cuts. Today I have a beef and potato pie ready for the oven and plan to make some cinnamon biscuits. It is nice to be able to cook once more without doing the 'power dance.'
It is, like many things in life, a learning curve. The other learning curve is that I have decided there is a place for chilled red wine. The Brazilians used to serve this in Angola years ago and I thought it was awful. Ah, how times and tastes change as needs must be.
Our Danish neighbours, Birgitte and Henning, asked us over for a meal last Sunday night. Pawan also came; Pawadee is in Thailand. They served chilled red wine and actually it was not too bad. When it warmed up I realised it was extremely mediocre red wine but chilled it was more than okay. Given that we often get mediocre wine around here I am thinking the solution might be to chill it. Who says I am not adaptable? I was however somewhat ruined having spent a few weeks back in Adelaide in November-December. We really do produce good, quaffable wine in Oz. I think we have somewhere sacrificed Soul for market but it is still much, much better wine that you get elsewhere for similar prices.
Henning had made a wonderful Osso Buco and Birgitte made a delicious tart. It was a lovely meal and nice to go out to eat even though it is no more than a walk across the driveway. We plan to make it more of a regular event which will be nice. I just have to fit it in between when Greg gets back and we leave again. And that date is coming up fast.
I like storms actually. Well I like being inside listening to them. There is such powerful beauty or such beautiful power or both in an electrical storm. The snap/shudder of thunder; brittle flick of lightning and the drench of rain. It is as if the world is re-energised and refreshed.
This morning, as I sat on the verandah for breakfast, it was cool and damp and the birds were in full throat. A desperate, juvenile tweeting on one side; long trilling sighs on the other; deep throaty 'coughs' in front and a general cacophony of birdsong.
Some fresh papaya and a boiled egg on toast. Tea of course. What would breakfast be without properly brewed leaf tea? The only thing missing was company. Greg is away and once again I return to that strange and solitary place of aloness. I know it is a place where many people live all of the time but for me and for him it is odd. There is something missing; a sense of echoed completeness and while the days are full they are not as fulfilling. When Greg walks through the door, even after more than forty years, it is still the best part of the day for me as he says it is for him.
I feel fortunate. We both feel fortunate. To remain friends and lovers for so long is a precious gift. And I do think it is a gift. There is as much luck as there is good management in relationships and marriages which endure. I know other people have worked just as hard as I or we have done on their marriage or relationship only to see it slip through their fingers. It isn't just about work although work is an important part of it. I do believe there is such a thing as fate, destiny or plain old fashioned luck or good fortune.
It is anyway, written into both of our astrological charts such good fortune and for that we both remain eternally grateful. Not that we take any of it for granted. For many years now, after challenging times, we both took the view that just because it was good now did not mean it would be in 12 months time! Assume nothing. No-one knows what the future holds. Enjoy the moment, continue the work and hope for the best. It is all one can do.
Hmm, I need to apply that approach to my laptop. I have had issues with it pretty much since I got it and finally, after six months of negotiation, Hewlett Packard have agreed to replace it under the three year warranty. It has been seriously overheating for the past year and then, as part of the process trying to fix it, a hard drive problem was discovered. HP then wanted to replace the hard drive which would not have fixed the overheating problem so I said no, just replace it. But they would not replace it anywhere but Oz and by the time they made the decision to do so I had left for the US and then on to Malawi. Fingers and toes crossed that it would keep working for me until I could get back to Australia to replace it.
And it has been working okay until I got back here. One blue screen last week and two this morning. Sigh. I am praying and saying nice things to my laptop to keep it functioning until the end of February when I will be back in Perth and can do the change over. How dependent we become on these things. For me even more so because I work editing manuscripts and on my own writing. It has occurred to me that in my situation I need a backup... one computer is not enough because one never knows.
Did I have two typewriters? I think I did. Anyway, always easier to repair and the reality is they did not break down as easily or as badly as computers can. I am also wondering how much 'energy' I am sending out to interfere with my electrical equipment. This is not the first time I have had computer issues. Although to be fair, I had three Toshibas which never caused any problems despite being hauled around the world and my first issues began when I inherited Greg's Quasio three years ago. Major meltdowns which is why I bought the HP. Maybe I should have stuck with Tosh.
Damon, my son recommends Apple and I am thinking a Macbook might be a good 'extra' to give me permanent backup. All this equipment. What did we do with our time when we did not spend so much time on the net? Good question. Maybe time to go and make some more biscuits.
On the plus side of the African experience the generator/inverter seems to be working more effectively. Although when the air conditioner in the bedroom switches off when the generator switches on, it doesn't return to sleep mode... as in no lights. I am a bit of a bat when it comes to sleep but couldn't be bothered getting up to change it because the generator was off and on all night.
We seem to be averaging two to three power cuts a day. Sigh. I have heard on the grapevine that some country or another is pouring money into Malawi's power system and I certainly hope so. But I can no longer complain. The power goes and the inverter kicks in seamlessly to run everything but the oven and cooktop and the air conditioners. The generator does that. We have also had it set up so the generator can re-charge the inverter batteries. So, all in all, finally the system seems to be working.
I made Finnish Sour Cream Cake yesterday and some Vanilla Biscuits and was unaffected by power cuts. Today I have a beef and potato pie ready for the oven and plan to make some cinnamon biscuits. It is nice to be able to cook once more without doing the 'power dance.'
It is, like many things in life, a learning curve. The other learning curve is that I have decided there is a place for chilled red wine. The Brazilians used to serve this in Angola years ago and I thought it was awful. Ah, how times and tastes change as needs must be.
Our Danish neighbours, Birgitte and Henning, asked us over for a meal last Sunday night. Pawan also came; Pawadee is in Thailand. They served chilled red wine and actually it was not too bad. When it warmed up I realised it was extremely mediocre red wine but chilled it was more than okay. Given that we often get mediocre wine around here I am thinking the solution might be to chill it. Who says I am not adaptable? I was however somewhat ruined having spent a few weeks back in Adelaide in November-December. We really do produce good, quaffable wine in Oz. I think we have somewhere sacrificed Soul for market but it is still much, much better wine that you get elsewhere for similar prices.
Henning had made a wonderful Osso Buco and Birgitte made a delicious tart. It was a lovely meal and nice to go out to eat even though it is no more than a walk across the driveway. We plan to make it more of a regular event which will be nice. I just have to fit it in between when Greg gets back and we leave again. And that date is coming up fast.
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