HEAVY DUTY ROAD OBSTACLES

Our load shedding being suspended for now, a clear run to work was expected. However, some of the casualties of the electricity constantly being switched on and off are traffic lights, some of which stop working. There was a queue of traffic getting out of Roodepoort as two traffic lights were out on a main exit from the area. After changing route, I managed to get past that obstacle and the way was clear...until I hit the highway. 

After a few kilometres, traffic starting backing up. There was an obstacle in the middle of the highway causing a traffic jam, with the highway clear beyond it. I couldn't see what it was but as I got closer, I noticed a bakkie (pickup) with a trailer which had broken throwing the weird contraption on it onto and across 3 lanes of the highway. There were scrape marks from the contraption in the tar as the driver had come to a stop. There didn't seem to be any injuries fortunately and after driving slowly for a few minutes, I was past the obstacle. 

When I was much younger, in my teens, heavy duty trucks were not allowed on the roads in peak traffic hours. They were forced to park off on the side of the road to allow for free flowing traffic. Now however, its a free for all on the roads. Even on arterial roads, trucks and delivery vehicles of every size are intermingled with regular road users, making for a stressful driving experience.

A month or so back, I did something foolish. I was on the offramp to Malibongwe Drive and ducked in front of a heavy duty truck as a gap opened. Even though he wasn't driving very fast, he battled to stop behind me and had to veer to the side to avoid hitting me. I got blasted by his hooter in the driver's frustration at having a sudden emergency situation. I only realised my foolhardiness afterwards and vowed not to do something so foolish again. 

I do notice cars often zipping around heavy and heavily loaded trucks without any care or regard and I believe that the below infographic is very helpful in informing other drivers of how to navigate heavy vehicles.

Be safe out on the roads today and avoid the heavy road obstacles...

 WHAT IS LOAD SHEDDING!?

Load shedding happens when there is not enough electricity available to meet the demand of all customers, and an electricity (public) utility will interrupt the energy supply to certain areas. It is a last resort to balance electricity supply and demand.

For the past several weeks and a lot of times previously, we have had to suffer through load shedding. When there is not enough electricity for everyone at the same time, suburbs take turns to be off to relieve the pressure on the grid.

This past week we started off on Stage 2 which means 2 outages of 2.5 hours each a day and then it was upped to Stage 4 which means 3 outages of 2.5 hours per day. Today was downgraded to Stage 3 with a return to Stage 2 expected from 5am tomorrow.

For me this has meant trying to get through traffic jams when the power is off from 8am until 10.30am and get to work as close as possible to starting time. And then repeat going home through the 4pm until 6.30pm outage. 

During this latest loadshedding started, the fuel price was increased by ZAR1.21 for petrol and ZAR 1.48 for diesel and sitting in traffic for hours on end is hell on the fuel consumption of all vehicles.

Years ago, I drove an older model vehicle which was pretty reliable but overheated at the drop of a hat. Yesterday, as I stopped at the local convenience store, an older model car pulled in beside me and as the driver turned off the motor, there was a bang followed by a loud hiss and a cloud of steam emanating from under his vehicle's bonnet (hood). His poor old car could not stand the strain of sitting in stop/start traffic and there are many casualties of the traffic jams coupled with the hot weather as we move from spring into summer. Many cars are parked on the side of the roads unable to continue any longer. 

Patience is not only a virtue, it is a necessity under these circumstances. We continue and accept our fate while hoping the electricity supply will stabilise and life return to normal.

People are tired at this time of year, tempers fray and patience is in short supply. Everybody is just longing for the end of the year and a break from traffic and work.

 

Dassies and elephants...

A most fascinating fact is that these relatively small animals are closely related to elephants.

"As early as 1798, hyraxes were grouped with elephants based on similarities in their skulls and feet, although they now have their own order, Hyracoidea. As well as having common gene sequesnces, hyraxes and elephants share eye-lens proteins and amino acid sequences in their blood haemoglobin.

Hyrax social structure is remarkably like that of elephants. their close-knit colonies comprise several related females and their young. When young males reach maturity, the dominant male forces them out to seek their own territory. Male conflict is surprisingly aggressive, especially in the mating season when the size of the males internal testes (a feature shared with elephants) increases twenty-fold, presumably matched by increased testosterone levels.

So these animals are plentiful where I live on the edge of a green belt nature reserve. They love rocky outcrops and since our green belt plummets to a river, there are plenty of rocks. Needless to say, these little guys do venture into the gardens of the residents on the edge of the green belt. My opposite neighbour has just posted a message on our neighbourhood watch group asking for help to get one of these furries out of his roof where it has taken up residence.

We have a permanent resident also living in the storm water drain as the end of our cul de sac and is sometimes to be found sunning itself on our driveway.

A few weeks ago, our German/Belgian Shepherd, River and her Toy Pom boyfriend, Cheeky were kicking up a heck of a racket at our palisade fence bordering the green belt. I thought they had a cat cornered but when I approached saw a rather aggressive Rock Hyrax (Dassie) on the other side of the fence atop the short wall challenging this big barking dog to a fight. Even as I approached, it didnt move and I had some fears that it might have been suffering from rabies. My son, Dael came to help and ended up throwing a tennis ball which he picked up in the garden at the fence. Obviously seeing this missile coming its way broke the Dassie's aggressive trance and it went bouncing away into the bush. 

My research on the increased testosterone levels of these small creatures during mating season which is now being Spring leading into Summer has thrown some light on the weird behaviour where a small mammal was not afraid of a large dog snapping at it through the palisade fencing but was standing its ground fearlessly.