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They guys dug up 33 termite nests and found 18 fat queen termites on Thursday. This was when just concentrating on the area around the house for one day. The fundis (workmen) said that they should return after it starts raining, as more termites will probably surface then - some may currently be too deep underground to find, due to the drought conditions.
The electricity bill debate rages on. Had some friends over last night. One friend of ours gave us a copy of his electricity bill that shows his monthly Active DC consumption is 118 units - ours is 1850 (sometimes over 2000)! His bill was around 4,000/- for one month. Another friend in a smaller compound said that his bill once tipped 37,000/ - he has brought it down to 26,000/- per month by using energy saver light bulbs, so what gives?!
In the bill, the water heating consumption is stated seperately and in our case does not seem to be too high, so not the problem. (love the irony of discussing electricity bills over a lavish dinner party!)
Daily, we use one water heater on a timer switch, an iron (often), one fridge, one outside freezer, one kettle, one tv, one computer. All cooking is on gas.
Our frugal friend did point out that we have eight large sodium security lights in the garden that are left on all night, whereas at his house, he just makes do with a few low energy lights attached to the outside of the house and leaves the rest of the plot in darkness.
I said, 'I'm not afraid of the dark, I'm afraid of what's in the dark!' He said, 'let your two alsatians and two nightwatchmen do their job!'
Alternatively, we could have a faulty electricity meter that races around all day with its own agenda?! Whatever happens, I will do my best to get to the bottom of it.