I have been lucky so far to escape the current round of power outages, but they've certainly resharpened my focus on how to reduce my consumption of just about everything as much as possible. I've ticked all the easy boxes so far: I recycle everything I can, the kitchen scraps get fed to the lovely worms, most of our fruit and veg comes delivered every Thursday by the nice organic people from Robertson and I'm growing my own tomatoes in my teeny garden this year. We're also fortunate to live in a climate that requires neither heating nor air conditioning (although we'd probably be more comfortable with better insulation).

Now, though, I'm down to the more intractable stuff:

1. The swimming pool uses lots of both water and power -- it's a very small one, more a splash pond than anything, but still. It consumes. Can't see us giving it up, though, especially having seen how many happy hours the kids can spend in it while I get on with stuff. So, rainwater collection tanks are on the shopping list. Apparently there is now a rectangular variety available which we'll actually be able to fit neatly into our available space.
   
2. A grey water system for the garden is the next logical step. I'm afraid of how much it will cost but I haven't actually done the research yet, so a call to Water Rhapsody goes next on my list.
3. Then we should get a solar water heater -- but again, they cost a lot of money. With any luck Eskom will do another round of subsidies this year, and we'll get in before they all run out this time.
4. But I really can't see us doing without two cars, and there is my major source of late-night guilt. The kids are now both at schools within walking distance so that helps, but for everything else I can't see an alternative to the Toyota. I work from home so there's no daily commute, but the errands! If I was very brave and very fit I'd do a lot of them by bicycle, but Cape Town traffic is NOT sympathetic to cyclists. As in, people die. Which I'd obviously rather not. However, there is at least one proper cycle path under construction, so here is a promise myself to at least try that.
   
5. I hardly ever buy red meat, but we still eat a fair amount of (free range) chicken and ostrich. And eggs. I need more practice in cooking without animal proteins.
   

All of this is kinda sorta leading up to a good set of Groundhog Day resolutions -- I like the idea of skipping New Year and spending the first post-holiday time just thinking carefully about stuff. Things are starting to crystallise.