Cables

I left my blip a bit late today. I tried something earlier, but it did not work out how I wanted. The sky was looking interesting, so I checked back every thirty minutes, to see what developed, but it just didn't happen. There was a small section of cloud that was vaguely blipable, but I struggled to tie it into the horizon because of all the pesky overhead cables. Unless the cloud is outstanding, I think some ground perspective is usually necessary.

Then I remembered that this is supposed to be a photo journal of me in Bandung. Overhead cables are an ever present fact of life in this city and as such should be blipped. So I did a few exploratory shots. When I took this shot, I was not really expecting it to be in contention for today's blip, but back in the lab, it was a clear winner. It seems that even an eyesore can be transformed into an interesting blip. It was tempting to stamp out the bit of leafage, top right, but I decided not to cheat as it does locate the scene in a tropical climate. I am sure that I can do better with this subject and will be returning to overhead cables in future blips.

All the cables that you see in the blip are telecommunication lines, but behind my position is another set of poles that carry the mains electric supply. This I find a bit scary, especially with this nations predilection for kite flying. I'm sure the cables are well insulated and I cannot remember any stories of electrocutions, but is surely a disaster waiting to happen. Every time I see the volume of tattered kite skeletons tangled in the cables, the thought always passes through my mind.

The electric supply is usually limited to around 700 Watts for the average household. Just imagine if your house supply was so limited and what you would have to give up. Cooker, microwave, food mixers, heaters, vacuums, kettles etc. All of these items would be exceeding or at the very least pushing the limits of the supply. Fortunately, you can get the limit increased, but it costs a lump sum and a monthly premium.

My supply has been increased to 2KW, as I use a lot of power tools, but even so, if I want to use my table saw, I have to switch off every single electric item including fridge, computer and lights. Even then, the breaker trips 50% of the time on startup. I could upgrade to a higher Wattage, but I don't use the table saw that often and the cost to upgrade further is outrageous, basically doubling my monthly bill whether I use it or not.

Indonesian households just don't use that much electricity. A few low Watt bulbs, a small TV, a water bottle heater/cooler thingy, maybe a small washing machine and that is about it. Very few households own a refrigerator, tumble dryer, microwave, blenders, kettles or any of the electrical items that we might consider as essential. Everyone cooks with bottled calor gas with a two ring burner, no ovens. The house is cleaned with mops, brooms and dusters. Being equatorial also means that the house does not require heating, a big money saver.

I bought Tesa's Mom a refrigerator for Christmas a few years ago. The next time I visited the Kampung, there it was, occupying pride of place in the living room, so that all the visitors could admire it. I opened it, expecting to see all kinds of goodies within, only to find a couple of bottles of coke and a beer, because she knows that I like cold drinks when I visit. Turns out my generous gift was not necessary and only costs the poor dear more money.

It took me a while to get my head right and accept the way things are here. No one is deprived, they are just simply doing without the things that they don't actually need. Indonesians keep things simple, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Dave