Yet again, and now at the worst time ever, internet cables linking South Africa to the rest of the world, have broken. Under sea fiber optic is a great way to connect the world, but this is the second time this year that they have broken. And now as the nation is in 21 day lockdown, it could not be at a worse moment. In fact this is almost as bad as the 2-4 hour power cuts daily. Fortunately those have subsided for now.
As masses struggle to survive, literally living hand to mouth, from pay check to pay check, we cannot afford to go without work. So some are taking to working online from home. It makes sense and is the best idea in the world. But now that too has been swept away or at best put on a go slow, along with the entire economy.
I can see the symptoms of it today, as normal internet is severely lagging. So much so that video hangs and I am struggling to even upload my blog post. Pictures just don’t load if they are over 1mb. It all comes as we go through the worst crisis in our lifetimes...the arrival of the Great Depression....oh yes and that virus.
All this and the virus on top of it to consider. 21 day lockdown and the extra burden on internet signal, due to so many more people at home by order, with nothing else to do, and now we are hammered. The cable somewhere between UK and Portugal has simply broken. So here we sit, hanging and lagging with glitchy or patchy signal and stream. What more could go wrong?
Oh yes, we could die from the virus. Nice to have a blend of disasters to make a nice salad of it, otherwise we would get bored with just one disaster to deal with. Now let’s see if I can get to a shop to buy essentials, like water in the next day or two. The water here is undrinkable and I’m dependent on outsourced water. I cannot imagine the situation for the poorest in the land now.
So our ability to earn income is stopped as we all sit at home under lockdown. And now we can’t even earn online, or post our blogs and earn. It’s down to my rice, lentils and oats now. Luckily I’m trained in living with no money and the simple life. If you’ve never had it you don’t miss it hey? Well I may have enough money for a month or two rent and then it’s over for me as the bank balance runs dry. The income stream which had been fine for 12 years at this current career, has run out this year, so the money is gone and the bank is empty. A month or two of this and I’m living in a tent in the bush, with my solar panel and battery to charge my laptop, while uploading or accessing internet from a free wifi hotspot nearby. Oh wait, that hotspot is currently crumbling under broken cables.
Anyway, such is life in 2020 in South Africa. No-one could have expected this, but here we are, the entire planet is collapsing. Let posterity note that in the year of the Greatest Depression in 100 years, we laughed and joked as the whole place went up in flames. We saw it coming but could not do much as the economy had ground to a halt. Many died and those that survived were the worse off and wished they had died too, for the dead were the lucky ones.
And as this occurs, Moody’s, the international rating agency, has now officially labelled South African currency with the honorary title of “junk status”, which means it is below investment grade for international investors, so there goes any foreign investment. And so plunges our emerging economy fiat currency. Well, we’re not the only ones on the planet falling into the Great Depression, we are all in this together, so we will have some one to chat with in the soup kitchen and the bread queues. Hello Australia.
And with winter coming in the next month, living in a tent in the bush may be interesting. My tent is a two man dome issue, probably not water proof, but I will find a tree to add shelter, so that’s fine. As long as the baboons keep out. No food will survive in my bush tent with them around. And then there’s the looters, those poorer in spirit than me. Since I’m in the crime capital of the world, it’s just a matter of time so I had better camo my tent like a god “recce”.
Ah the joys of life on planet earth in 2020. I could complain about it being the third world, or the virus or whatever, but when we are all falling into the Great Depression, what’s the use? Always look on the bright side of life tralala. Monty Python comes to mind, especially John Cleese. I feel his mild hysteria coming on. In fact the situation is so grave, that there is no use even bothering to get depressed or angry. It is only death after all, or a life in rags in the bush fighting off baboons and hungry thugs...what a nice change as I approach my sixties.
I will make sure my bush tent is near the wifi hotspot, and will keep broadcasting from my solar powered laptop, so that I can publish my journals like this and tell the world via the blockchain, what it was like in 2020 at the dawn of the Great Depression and the global pandemic that triggered it. They can learn from us. And that is if the blockchain will even stay up and running. It does, I presume, depend on the servers or nodes staying up and active, and as we saw with the old Steem blockchain there, it could promise uncensorable, permanent significance one year, and collapse the next. So nothing is certain any more. The planet will not look the same this time next year, what to speak of 5 years from now.
At least I will still have my sense of humor. That is the best medicine by the way. It is a great pain reliever and relaxant as the virus or whatever ushers us to the grave, or in my case the pyre, no silly land wasting for my rotten corpse. Burn the thing and be finished with it. I certainly will be. And my legacy, if any, will be written on the blockchain, or else blowing in the wind. And it’s only day 2 of the 21 day lockdown, with military on the streets. I wonder what day 21 will feel like? If you want to know, then stay tuned and I will post my diary updates from life inside the lockdown for all to see.