highveld hell

a cold front had hit the highveld. it was freezing cold, the icy wind relentlessly sawed through my layers. my hands were numb and aching, and slow to move.

tom and i were due to cut and assemble our shutterboards for our tagging kwathema project in the architecture workshop. we arrived to find a power failure across the campus.

to pass time we ran some errands. we delivered our dxf drawings for laser cutting to laserfab in troyeville. rupesh was unbelievably accommodating – he was so passionate about his job and showed us around the factory. the automated laser cutting machine was fascinating. it was precise, moved sharply, jerking backwards and forwards, laser beams pulsing through the sheet metal with the ease of a needle and thread through a piece of cotton cloth.

we returned to wits to find the power still out. we needed to make another plan for cutting the timber. i was concerned that i would not get back to kwathema today if we were to cut it by hand – i would be letting my group down if i didn’t. but we signed out a circular saw and two clamps and headed to tom’s house.

we needed to work outside, in the blistering cold. we worked fast and warmed ourselves with intervals of rooibos and homemade shortbread. our hands ached and stiffened at their exposure to the cold front chill. our feet became numb and toes swollen. i thought often of how cold it must have been on site in kwathema – the wind was so eminent for its relentless gusts. i hoped that my group would survive it all. i called often – probably more to relieve my guilty conscience than for my concerns of their warmth!

i left tom’s house just before the night settled. my heater on full-blast, blowing dry air into my face and onto my feet.