Brown brownout

I had a funny conversation with a co-worker. He started working at my school in September, when the weather was gorgeous. Yesterday he came in around lunchtime looking a bit sweaty and disheveled. As he was mopping his brow he asked, "How long will it stay this hot?" I said, "It hasn't started to get hot yet..."

I was being a bit facetious, but not by much. After a few months of the most pleasant weather, the hot season is creeping back. Every day the temperature gets noticeably warmer. The mornings and evenings are still comfortable, but by the end of the month it will be suffocatingly hot 24/7.

I thought it only fair to warn my friend that the worst is yet to come. About three months' worth.

More and more Cambodians are using air conditioners. Unfortunately, the power grid isn't being updated to accomodate the increased demand. Brownouts are common on days when the temperature soars. Like today.

I teach six days a week so I don't go out a lot. Saturday is my big night. Sunday is Recuperation Day. I usually spend the afternoon at my favorite coffee shop, Brown, catching up on email and surfing the internet. And recuperating.

I have been here for 90 minutes. The electricity has shut down about every 10 minutes. Back home they would call BGE. Here they take a more direct approach.


Every time the power crashes one of the waiters climbs up the pole just outside my window. I can't see what he's doing but it looks like he's flipping a breaker. I could go out and look. Or I could sit inside and watch in air-conditioned comfort. Wasn't it Abraham Lincoln who said "'Tis better to sit in cool comfort and remain ignorant than step into the heat and remove all doubt?"