Before commencing on another blog detailing the adventures of my journey here in South Africa, I would first like to comment on the lack of consistent, weekly blogs. Although I would love to write a blog each and everyweek, there are many constraints on my life that prevent such an occurrence. While I could blame a hectic work schedule, irreparable computer failure, or even severe arthritis in my fingers, I will just let the true cause reveal itself: Laziness. Without an actual job or any obligations whatsoever (besides of course eating, drinking & sleeping), laziness has overtaken my body, and thus overtaken my ability to compose weekly blogs. Thus, although it distresses me greatly, blogs will now only be released every few weeks, unless momentous happenings occur in my life (or a miraculous cure for laziness reveals itself). Anyhow, onto the blog:
With my adventure in Namibia behind me, it was time to get back into the swing of things, and figure out a way of replenishing my severely dented savings account. And with no potential of making any significant amount of money, I was left to a secondary option: Spend less. As a result, the past few weeks have been an adventure in thriftiness. Eating in. Drinking cheaper beer. Poaching mussels on the beaches of Cape Town in order to provide me with a more-than-affordable meal. Accepting free tickets to cricket matches. Hiking up mountains. And of course throwing away all my efforts in one day, thanks to one of the most “posh” events in all of Cape Town: The J&B Met.
More or less the Kentucky Derby equivalent of South Africa, this annual horse race is considered the “place to be” in Cape Town, providing a three-fold experience for all Cape Tonians. Not only does it present the opportunity for countless gambling addicts to fuel their desire in throwing away thousands of dollars, it also provides the “young and restless” of Cape Town an opportunity to drink the day away while watching horses stampede around the track as small anorexic men have their way with them. And finally (and of course most importantly), the J&B Met gives Cape Town’s elite the opportunity to prove how rich they truly are, offering up the occasion to spend thousands upon thousands of dollars on dresses, costumes and other over-priced and never-to-be-worn-again outfits. Thus, for most of the day this past Saturday, I enjoyed an afternoon filled with people watching.
From Cape Town's rich and famous, strutting around in their "Sunday's Best," to Cape Town's wanna-be rich and famous, spending a year's life savings on a single day's event. From drunken students parading the grounds in search of a booze or even a plastic cup (as those eventually ran out somehow at all the bars) to drunken gamblers, desperately hoping for their 1 in a million trifecta to come in. But most entertaining of all, the models. Countless models, male and female, catwalking around the grounds with seemingly no idea that there was an actual horse race the same day as their “outdoor shoot.”
Nvertheless, aside from endless amounts of people watching, and of course a few horses here and there, I also managed to successfully pick the winner of the “main race.” And now that I am 20 rand /$3 richer, and pretty much have obtained “baller-status," please feel free to contact me if a loan is needed from my plentiful earnings.
And now, onto a more-than-delayed lesson:
“Learn me something something about South Africa.”
This Week's Topic: Load Sharing
Supporting a population of almost 50 million, South Africa has made a name for itself as being one of the most economically successful 3rd world countries on this planet. With the 18th largest GDP in the world (thank you again Wikipedia for fueling my blogs with fun-filled facts), you would think that the infrastructure of this great African nation would be quite well developed. Nope. Not here.
Despite its growing population, South Africa’s ability to provide all citizens with working electricity has seemed to hit a snag. And when efforts could’ve been made to invest in additional power plants, government officials were seemingly too busy fighting off their own personal conspiracy cases (as well as attempting to shut down the one governmentally-run organization that is solely dedicated to fighting internal conspiracy – if the irony doesn’t hit here, I don’t know what does). Thus, bring on the load sharing.
Basically, around the country everyday, electricity is denied to various “patches” of South Africa, in order to help “relieve” the load of electricity demand on the power stations. What does this mean for the everyday person? Well, don’t expect your power to make it through the day. To many, the sound of everything in their home turning off at once has become commonplace, just as any traffic light is now accepted as a 4-way stop (as these do not function consistently either). The one electrical item that does actually seem to maintain consistent power are the solar-powered speeding cameras on the highways (cause why miss out on the opportunity to catch speeding motorists!).
So why doesn’t the electricity company warn consumers of where & when they plan on “switching off power” in any given week. Well that would just make sense. Thus, each and everyday, citizens around South Africa await the inevitable. It may not be today. It may not be tomorrow. But someday soon, your power is gonna go, and the only thing you can do to prevent this is to pray a power station falls from the sky. And if this doesn’t happen, well… lets just wait and see what happens in 2010 when the World Cup comes to town. : )
Onto the pics...
 | Kenilworth Race Course: Home to the J&B Met |
 | Holding the winning $3 ticket! What am I gonna do with all this money?! |
 | A running horse -- quite a common sight during the day |
 | Best Dressed guys at The Met -- Don't worry Mom, they're Jewish :) |
 | Showing off my evil/crazy side during some mussel picking / poaching |
 | Newlands Cricket Grounds at night |
 | At the top of Lions Head after a Sunday afternoon hike |
 | View of Table Mountain and the "table cloth" of clouds covering it |
 | Cape Town night shot |
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