So Close

Saving water

South Africa is in the midst of a water crisis.  After a very dry winter, our water reserves are at an all time low and so every responsible, concerned citizen is hopefully doing their best to save water.  We have severe water restrictions in place in Cape Town, but of course there are some people who just don't give a f*ck.  I give a f*ck so I am trying to save water wherever I can.

It's strange.  You don't think about water and the availability thereof, until that availability is threatened. I've never been one to waste water, but I didn't think about it too much. I put on the tap and did what I needed to do without another thought.  These water restrictions and the dire situation we find ourselves in have made me relook at how our family consumes water.  Water is a precious resource, one we can't go without.

We are fortunate enough to stay in a big house with a swimming pool which means that we are already on the higher side of water consumption. Which is no excuse so when water restrictions first came around, the first thing we did was switch off our garden irrigation.  That one was easy, it didn't affect me too much because we don't have much of a garden.  Our house is built right up against the edge of our plot and what little garden we have is filled with a few hardy trees and some fake grass.  Very low water requirement.

We bought a pool cover to cover the pool to prevent evaporation of the water.

The next thing we did is be mindful of how much water we use when we shower.  We turned the flow of the water down so that less water came out the shower head.  We showered for less time.  When I shower, I put the shower on to rinse my body with water, then I switch the shower off, wash my hair, wash my body and then switch the shower on again to rinse the soap off.  

We put buckets in the shower to collect the water that runs off us.  Each day we (and by 'we' I mean ME) carry the buckets of water down the stairs and we water the little plants we have with that.  (Unfortunately for us, our toilets aren't the ones you can lift fill with the grey water so we can't use the grey water from the shower in our loos)

Then we bought a grey water tank to use the water from the washing machine etc in the garden.

I even have a jug in the kitchen sink where I collect the bits of water left over in water bottles and that I reuse to water the plants. We do all the big and little things that collectively make a difference in saving water. 

But by far the most difficult thing for me was the decision to do fewer loads of laundry.  

I love doing the laundry. I am a teensy bit anal about cleaning and cleanliness and so the process of putting dirty clothes in the washing machine and getting clean clothes out is very therapeutic for me. But I know it is a big water user (even with my eco machine) and so I made the decision to wait until I have a big pile of washing before I do a load of washing in the machine.  This means that I don't do a load of washing every day.  Which is REALLY HARD.  Because what if the article of clothing I want is in the wash!  And what about that big pile of washing, all dirty and waiting to be washed! So hard!  But we all need to help where we can.

The good thing is not only am I saving water, but I get SO excited when it is washing day!!  Today I washed all the dark washing, it was awesome!  Tomorrow is a light wash with all the towels!!!  TWO DAYS IN A ROW!  IT'S LIKE MY BIRTHDAY!

The funny thing is that I don't think I will go back to how I was before in terms of water usage.  It's unnecessary to use as much water as we were using before.  It really isn't necessary to do a load of washing every day if you plan properly.  And you don't need to shower with the water going full blast.  And you certainly don't need to hose down things you can clean with a broom or a bucket.  

One thing I do miss is being able to wash myself under a stream of water.  It's not so great standing in the shower with shampoo in your eye and soap all over the floor, so if we get good rains I might be tempted to leave the shower going while I wash.  But for the the rest of it - I am happy to continue conserving water wherever I can. We all should.

It is not illegal to have two Valentines

Max very seldom knows people's names because he doesn't think to ask them. He will spend an entire year with children in his class and still not know their name at the end of the year. That's Max. He is not good with social stuff. It's not his forte. We are working on it.

Today as we were driving, we were speaking about Valentine's Day because one of my children (whose name I am not allowed to mention) has a Valentine for the first time and so we need to plan the buying of the Valentines gifts. The other twin is not at all interested in Valentine’s Day and she is still going to live with me forever and never getting married.

Anyway.

Max was saying he doesn't have a Valentine. I thought of suggesting that I could be his Valentine but he was angry with me for not buying him a toy at the shop so I knew I wasn't in his good books. I asked if there was anyone in his class who could possibly be his Valentine. He said there was "The Chinese Girl Who Likes Me" (I've seen her near Max, frankly she looked terrified rather than in love, but ok..) and "The Girl Who Loves Biltong". Max gets biltong in his lunchbox every day, and every day without much conversation, he shares it with The Girl Who Loves Biltong. 

I was only too pleased to hear that Max had two people he sort-of befriended, so I suggested that they both be his Valentine to which he replied "I can't do that, that's illegal!".

I reassured him that it is not illegal to have two Valentines.  (In fact, our very own president has many Valentines, some of whom he is now married to. Plural.)

At least there are two people (whose real names we aren't sure of) who could possibly be his friend.  There is hope!  

PS Last Friday night was the first time in a while that it was cold enough to wear a jacket.  I think he has grown a bit since last winter.  We need a new jacket.

My worst thing about cooking is….

I wanted to start off by saying “my worst thing about cooking is….” but then I realized that everything about cooking is my worst: the mess, the smells, the reluctant and ungrateful diners, the drudgery of it all, the complexity of it, the incomprehensibility on the unquantifiable ‘a pinch of this and a bit of that’, the inevitable failures….

However, one of my worst things about cooking is how you need a degree in science, an excel spreadsheet and a strong dose of Ritalin to get all the darn parts of the meal to be ready at the same time. I never manage to time the parts of the meal so that they are ready at the same time. And there are only two parts to 90% of my meals. Tonight I decided I was going to calculate EXACTLY when the one had to go in the oven and the other in the air-fryer. As the oven reached the correct temperature, I would put the chicken in and then immediately after that I would put the air-fryer on which takes 3 minutes to heat up and so when that was ready I would put the potato chips (fries) in the air-fryer and set the timer for 15 minutes which means that the chicken would be in the oven for 3 + 15 = 18 minutes, and the chips would be in the air-fryer for 18 – 3 = 15 minutes which means that the chicken and chips would be ready at the same time. All I had to do was shake the basket in the air-fryer every 5 mins or so. Feeling a little smug at my brilliance, I poured myself a glass of wine and switched Hulu on to watch the Melissa McCarthy skit on SNL for the third time (brilliant!). It was all going exceptionally well until after the first shake of the chip basket at 5 mins, I noticed the chicken breasts still lying on the counter. In my exact calculations of the timing, I had forgotten to put the forking chicken IN the oven. Which means the chips were ready 8 minutes before the chicken. So the chips were overcooked and the chicken was skating very close to dodgy.

Shit like this happens every time I cook.

I really, really hate cooking.

Seriously.

Stupid idea.