The weekend of 13th to 15th March saw the beginning of the Formula 1 Grand Prix season – the sport most likely to both drag me to the TV several times in a weekend and also to relieve me of some cash (we have grandstand seats at Silverstone this summer). But of course watching motor racing demands electricity – in Addis, that’s a potential problem.

The BBC, accessible here through iPlayer, only broadcasts roughly half of the races live and not this first one. So at 9am on Saturday with fingers crossed I headed for the teachers’ lounge next door but one to our apartment (where there’s an old big fat TV attached to a satellite dish) to watch qualifying from Australia. Brett was there as well – he’s an Australian who has recently discovered the joys of Formula 1 racing, even to the point of getting himself a steering wheel and game for his laptop. Of course he was rooting for Daniel Ricciardo. Five minutes into the second of three qualifying sessions - the power goes off. We sat staring disconsolately at the dead TV screen for a while and when it was obvious that the session was over and we were not getting any more electricity any time soon we planned how to watch qualifying later, as it’s transmitted several times on DSTV - the African satellite TV service. Our fall-back position was the BBC highlights at around 4pm local time. With no power for the next screening, we waited for the BBC. The power came on around 2pm, so I set up my projector, speakers and laptop in eager anticipation. A 3:30pm – the power went off. Undeterred, I plugged my 3G stick into the (happily fully charged) laptop, and we managed to huddle around the screen and see the BBC highlights of qualifying before my battery ran out. Shortly after the programme finished – the power came on.

Both Brett and I had plotted how we could watch the race live on Sunday morning from 8am before going to church. My anticipation on waking with the alarm at 7am rapidly faded to despair when I realised – we had no power. Unable to grind coffee I boiled the kettle on the gas and made tea. 8am came and went. So did the South African-imported muesli and powdered milk breakfast - No power. Never mind – going to church early is a Good Thing, and of course the race was being re-shown on DSTV at 2pm. Off to church; off to the gym after; return to Bingham and hooray we have power! Anticipation rises; lunch is prepared and eaten; 2pm is approaching - the power goes off. Now there’s a battle not to look at the news over the Internet on 3G because I really don’t want to know the result. The BBC highlights will be on at 4:15pm so there’s another possibility. I’m aware however that the 3G Internet speed is sometimes slower than a 1940s double trailer petrol tanker crawling up the ring road a 1 mph. But hope springs eternal. One teeny problem though – my laptop battery isn’t fully charged and it won’t last the length of the BBC programme. Undaunted, I connect it all up and manage to watch the BBC highlights – until my laptop dies three laps before the end of the race. I’m now getting paranoid. Someone somewhere really doesn’t want me to see this race. My patience is rewarded when a short while later the power comes back and I can connect to the BBC just before the end of the programme and I can wind it back and watch the last three laps. Way to go Lewis!

Poor Brett couldn’t get to see it with me on Sunday afternoon, so he waited until the next showing on DSTV – 9pm on Tuesday – which , armed with a full tube of “Mr Potato Head” cream cheese and chive pseudo-Pringles he managed to watch without ever knowing the result in advance. And the power stayed on continuously for an entire 1 1/2 hours. I sat with him and watched the entire race a second time – because I could.

By the way…

…this morning at our Adult Bible Fellowship several people were talking about marriage. The Ethiopian husband of a white American wife was commenting on the cultural stresses that can occur in mixed marriages. “You work hard Monday to Friday” he remarked,  “and then on Friday evening she says to me ‘right what are we going to do this weekend?’ That’s awful! Saturday is for resting – I want to rest – I’ll decide what to do when it arrives, not plan ahead”. Then he added a something about Europeans: “Europeans are just as bad” he warned, “they even want to plan ahead for their vacations!”