The Generator Bill Is More Than Rent

The state grid offers two hours a day, on a good day. So the neighbourhood pays 'the generator man' — part utility, part warlord — a fortune to keep the lights on. He does not take complaints. He takes cash, in dollars, updated hourly.

The rate this morning was already a disaster. By lunch it had outdone itself. We have all become reluctant currency traders, refreshing an app that only ever delivers worse news, and laughing because there is nothing else left to do.