"...AND IN THE DARKENED UNDERPASS..."

Oh, Morrissey, you psychic poet worrier...

I went to the Cango Caves once and, in his demonstration, the tour guide told us "all the darkness in the world cannot put out the light of one candle"...

Is the term "blackout" racist? Should Eskom be tried for crimes against humanity? Or should the ANC led government be held accountable for the shortcomings of our power utility? I actually quite enjoy the idea of random power failures. Considering we're still enjoying a glorious Cape Town summer, there is enough light until after 8pm and plenty of time (and excuse) to braai. Ok, the beers probably won't remain icy cold for too long, but we do live in wine country, so we're covered there.

And I survived a three week stint sans electricity sharing a flat with JDP once. Cold showers in January are tolerable. The only real drawback was the lack of refrigeration, which led to daily pizza orders. Pizzas are made in wood fired ovens so we're good on that count too. The problem is the mounting expense, as we soon found ourselves resorting to cooking the last of the potatoes on my little camping gas cooker (which we had for coffee). And the problem with gas is that you don't realise how close you are to empty until it's literally too late. Half cooked potatoes in a bowl each and we shared the last 2MinuteNoodle flavour sachet between us. As we sat and crunched through our obviously awful meal, contemplating the sun setting over Lion's Head, one of us must have mentioned "You know, one day we'll look back and laugh about this moment..."

See? It isn't all doom and gloom. The "people in power" have been fucking up since Umfufu first learned how to document daily developments and history officially began. And somehow the cockroach race that is humankind has not only survived, but flourished. Our government are no angels - the jury swings between woefully inept and wantonly corrupt. It's probably a fairly even cocktail, but it's not the Molotov variety. So what, we don't get to charge our phones as often as we'd like. Think of it as a wonderful opportunity to tear your attention from Kim Kardashian's "tremendous sense of value" arse and get out into the world and rediscover the beauty of nature. Pack a picnic and take your better half out for a romantic pomp in the woods. Take in a sunset. Read an actual book. Get some exercise...

Fuck. When did I turn into a lifestyle guru? Perhaps we should all just stick to dingy clubs and dirty metal... Speaking of, acoustic doom is a thing. Last night we arranged our token acoustic guitar female vocal song and it's delicious. There may have been a little wine involved.

Today, however, let us pray for power. Especially between the hours of 6 and 9pm, when SUBVERS is going to be killing it at rehearsal in anticipation of our first show this year. PREMONITIONS, hosted by the belligerently bullish BULLETSCRIPT, and also including the intimidating hula-metal of THE WARINSANE and the seismic soundscapes of WITH DAWN, is going to be nothing short of earth shattering - and an evening we're looking forward to tremendously. Put it in your diary. In pen. Because pretty soon all electronic devices will be worthless.

Spread The Love. She LIKES Candles.