THE SAD REALITY IS THAT WIFI SIGNAL IS DOWN MOST OF THE TIME

THE rule in this wonderful country of ours seems to be: “One step forward, two steps back.” (Cha-cha-cha).

It’s been a while since I spent time in the Karoo and there have been great strides in technological advancement since I was last here.

Communications, for example, have come a long way. Great towers point skywards from the tops of mountain ranges, beaming wi-fi signals to even the remotest farms.

You can sit on the stoep of a farm in the Noupoort district and watch athletic young Russians swatting tennis balls at each other in Dubai.

You can tap the screen of your cellphone and send a photograph of a sheep to your daughter in Canada.

We’re living in a connected world. Sometimes.

The reality is that the wi-fi signal is “down” for much of the time, so farmers spend a lot of time phoning the nearest town on old-fashioned landline phones to complain about the fact that their wi-fi isn’t working, so their cellphones are dead.

The technician in Hanover says the problem falls under the Richmond area’s tower but the Richmond technician is off sick so we have to call the man in Middelburg and arrange for somebody to come from Cradock next Thursday.

High in the mountains near Noupoort there’s a state-of-the-art wind farm where giant wind turbines swing majestically, day and night, feeding power into the Eskom national grid.

There has been at least one power outage every day since I arrived here a week ago.

One if the important uses of the landline phone system is for neighbours to call each other to find out when the next Eskom power cut is due. Of course, when Eskom switches off the electricity the TV doesn’t work, so you can’t see which Russian is winning the match in Dubai.

Things were much simpler when I was growing up on the farm. We made our own electricity and never had load shedding.

We listened to the news on a cabinet radio powered by a 12-volt car battery. Telephones connected us via twin wires strung between poles. They were wi-fi free, but seldom broke down.

On Tuesdays and Fridays the railway lorry delivered our mail and collected outgoing post. There’s no longer a railway post lorry because not many people send paper letters any more.

It’s all done via wi-fi, which doesn’t work right now, but not to worry, the technician from Cradock is coming next Thursday. Isn’t technology wonderful!

Last Laugh

“Hey, Madam,” said an indignant shopper, “your puppy just bit me on the ankle!”

“Well,” said the haughty lady, “you could hardly expect a tiny little dog like that to bite you on the neck, could you?”