Load shedding

I am at work, waiting for the effects of the latest load shed to wear off. We have load shedding twice a week between 10am and 2pm. Not the most convenient time for the biggest business centre in the country, but who said there was any reasoning behind the timing by Eskom?

So due to this phenomenon, we have a huge generator in the basement. A generator that overheated and burnt out! I was in the middle of a video conference that still had another hour and a half to go, so luckily that ended!
It did give us a taste of what other businesses in the area go through, when we don't even notice the switch over from Eskom to generator.

But now the other side of this is that they load shed in my area from 6pm to 10pm. Yes... prime TV time and a time where you need electricity to do most things!

I experienced this load shedding at home for the first time last Thursday. I was bored out of my mind after 5 minutes, after which I proceeded to try and irritate the hell out of my cat. Another 5 minutes down... 3 hours 50 minutes to go.... luckily, I had book club to go to!

It happened again on Tuesday evening. I then had an excuse to get pizza (wood-burning ovens are awesome!). The DVD shop next door was also open... how does that work?? But after eating and talking crap with my housemate and a quick shower, I still had 2 hours left... so i did some work on my laptop! So sad! Bored enough at home at night to do work. Sigh....

The next load shed is going to be on Saturday evening. Guess I'll be forced to go out, to ensure I keep my mental faculties in tact.

Suppose I should find something to do that doesn't require electricity to keep boredom at bay... but what??