There are probably fewer things that remind us more of how reliant on modern technology we are than a power cut.
We get more than our fare share of them in our quiet wee corner of the country, especially in the winter when you are in the grip of those short days and long cold nights and losing power also means we lose our modern central heating and gas fire. It's a pain - and we're only about 4 miles from a major power station, which really rubs it in as no matter how often we get cut off they are always gleaming brightly in the dark like a beacon of pure unadulterated smugness.
We've had a power cut tonight when there are no storms like those that happened over the past week when thousands of homes were cut off for days - although thankfully not including us. We did have a couple of outages yesterday or the day before, enough to have us lighting up the candles around the place and leaving spares in handy places and matches close to hand. You've got to be prepared, right?
We like candles in this house and often use them of an evening by preference, but that's a whole different ball game to having no choice in the matter. It always seems to happen when your engrossed in something of course; TV or a book or a DVD. Tonight I'm here on my own ,just Jess and I cosy on the couch watching something on the TV recorder, I'm thinking I need a cuppa and am getting up to go and make one when - WHAM - total blackout. I let out a groan {and probably an expletive}. That'll be that for the cup of tea for a while then......
Luckily I have my mobile phone nearby and grope around to get it and use the built in flashlight which lets me maneuvre round to the fireplace, get the box of matches and light a couple of the bigger candles on the coffee table before getting upstairs to the bedroom where we'd left a battery powered light designed for camping - one of those ones which can hang and give a light round 360 degrees. I bring it down but decide to leave it off and stick with the candles. I go and get the laptop and bring it back to the lounge too, thinking I might watch something on BBC iPlayer but when I come back and sit down with it I decide to write a short blog instead. The battery will last a few hours........
WHAM!
The lights come back on.
I leave the laptop, make a cuppa and fill the big flask in the kitchen with hot water to last the night. Experience tells me these things usually happen in multiples.
A few minutes later I come back through to the lounge, coffee cup in hand and take a couple of steps towards the sofa....
WHAM!
Thank goodness I left the candles on..........
See you later.
Probably in daylight.........
5 comments:
I thought we were going to have a power cut on Christmas Day. There I was with the 10 kilo turkey in the oven and the lights flickering and the wind outside picking up. We never did lose power that day, thankfully, but we will sometime this winter. We will, and it's never when we expect it. Glad you had time to make a cuppa!
That sounds familiar, though thankfully we have nothing like the power cuts we used to have a few years back. We live in an area with lots of trees and they had totally overgrown the lines so every time there was a wee bitty of a blow, wallop, no power. Finally the power company must have gotten sick of coming out to put things right and they cut back the trees right along the power line. What a difference!
Having said that, we are normally just starting to enjoy having no tv and sitting reading a book by candlelight and firelight and damn, the power returns!
A power cut at Christmas would be terrible Rebecca. At least I had the chance to fiull a flask and get organised before the next one - which seem to have lasted well into the night - certainly the power is back on today ok.
BB - It is a bit of an adventure - when you're in the mood anyway. I've no idea why we seem to get cuts on a regular basis. Thankfully the power isn't normally off for long.....
Oh, I feel for you Alistair! I'm glad you left the candles on! You're right though - we really are growing increasingly reliant on technology these days. I remember the days of a power cut when I was a kid, and I'd be at my grandparents' place - the power would go out and we'd all sit around with candles on, chatting. There was no pouting because the computer wouldn't work, or we couldn't watch TV or play video games…...Some nice memories there….Ah, the good ol' days!
Might be the good ol' days to you - but to me........
It's just 'the days'!
ha!
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