[imagesource: Getty Images]

Load shedding is like that scene from The Godfather Part 3.

Just when you’ve forgotten it’s a part of our lives, it pulls you back in.

We’re a long way from being able to delete EskomSePush, and the worst may still be to come, but you knew that already.

Over in the US, the state of Texas was recently plunged into darkness in the midst of a massive winter storm, which brought with it some of the coldest weather the state has experienced since 1989.

Texas Senator Ted Cruz was so concerned about the people of the state he governs that he… hopped on a plane to Cancun, before being shamed into booking a return flight almost immediately.

Rolling blackouts left millions without power, with temperatures plunging and at least 80 people losing their lives, so it’s not hard to see why so many Americans were up in arms about Cruz’s trip.

Seriously, things were bad in Texas:

If you want to understand how Texas’ power supply buckled under the strain, The Guardian has a decent explainer, but let’s enlist the help of someone who has suffered through load shedding to look at America’s power supply problem as a whole.

On a recent episode of The Daily Show, Trevor Noah looked at America’s failing power grid, and how they’ve arrived at this point.

At least it usually takes a massive winter storm to strike. All it takes here in South Africa is some rainfall on some coal and bang, stage three in the house:

[source:dailyshow]