I see it but I don't believe it. Seriously.

A little summary which I decided to put down in "black & white" because it's actually so absurd, it won't sink into my befuddled mind as fact, as actuality, as a "this is your life for real" thwack over the ear.

A couple of years ago we gave away our almost new 7kg top loader. We delivered it to a very grateful (and wonderful) organisation who homes children affected and infected by HIV.  Barely 2 months later our little 5kg front loader konked out. A gecko short circuited it by being positioned in exactly the right wrong position when I turned it on one day. I'm still using it. It only has the 'quick rinse' cycle left in its tiny little electronic brain. I put soap powder in for the first "wash" and then press START again once the cycle's over and it "rinses".

Last year we gave a hi.how.are.you church friend our lounge TV (we use a small one in our bedroom & hardly ever watched our one in the lounge, his family has 3 teenage sons & their TV stopped working). In June this year our bedroom TV sizzled and puffed out a little cloud of smoke at 3 o'clock one morning before never working again. Yup, we've been TVless since June. And we didn't die!

Moral of those stories?? - I have no freakin' idea.

---------------->  Fast forward to last month when dear eThekwini municipality decided, in their great wisdom, that the way to accommodate our psychotic neighbours pumped up complaints was to increase of R500-ish monthly rates to R3000 PLUS. (A reminder - the complaints were when DH was working at home - not by choice but our of necessity - and he moved out BEFORE we got this bill!)  When we got the first bill, DH phoned and they treated it like it was in error so told him to just pay the usual rates amount and all would be well. La, la, la, laaah.

Well, last Wednesay (7th Sept 2011) we got home to find our electricity had been cut. The little box on the verge outside our front gate had been moved about and re-padlocked. This was when DH phoned to say WTF and was told that the increased rates bill was continued for a second month. This means that our current bill (which is combined to include electricity, water & rates) now stands at over R7000.

All I can say is thank God we're from Zimbabwe. Truly. If we hadn't had to deal with the power cuts and nonsense that we did during our last years there, I don't think we would have the balls to be still coping (in the fairly non-insane manner) like we are. We are now using a little Temba butane stove. Wonderful little camping/hikingstove -- can't say enough good things about it! On it we cook & boil water (or just warm a BIG pot of water for a good 'bucket bath' like you would if you were camping and there was no river to dive in). When our first canister of butane spluttered to an end before we'd bought more, DH simply made a good old wood fire in the braai & we used a cut-in-half aluminium baking dish/plate to place beneath the pot handles to save them from melting/buring. Innovation, I tell you.

Please! Please, for goodness sake, don't let them cut our water as well.

DH is so busy running around working during working ours (when the munici-bloody-pality offices are open) that he hasn't got the time... or the want, actually -- to go and see what he can do. Besides, I would be afraid for the little teller who is on duty on the day he actually does go in.... horrors.

Life is not so joyful right now. Please, joy, come back. Just a little to start with would be great. Then a huge great big chunk!