Return of truant
Well that was a hellish night/morning. I was just about to publish a post late last night when bang the electricity went out. It happens a lot in this nabe, I guess because it’s old so the infrastructure is prone to failure. Starvation because of not opening the fridge. Hot and smoggy outside. Hours and hours pass then finally pop on it comes – just a little under the 12 hours or so it took last time, which was only a year ago (or perhaps two).
Dodged one bullet anyway – before the outage laptop ordered me to update so I proceeded to update, heeding the stern order NOT to shut down during the update because that would ruin EVERYTHING. The electrics going pop waited until the update completed. Thanks, electrics.
Sorry to hear that.
I’m glad that you are back online.
Ugh, power failures are the worst. There are so many little tortures, things you realize you can’t do without power. A light in the bathroom. A Seinfeld rerun to kill the quiet boredom of it all. Any kind of music at all to listen to. Hot food! Cold drinks! Heating. A/C. Etc, etc.
The big hassle where I live is water shutoffs. There’s something wrong with the pipes in this apartment tower. (And it’s not even that old! Just poorly built. Government housing. But the rent is cheap and I live in the heart of the city, so, you know… can’t complain too much.) At least once a week they shut the whole building’s water off from 9 to 5. If you miss the little legally-obligatory 24-hour notice taped up in the lobby next to the elevator buttons, and if you don’t get up early enough to get yer shower and a toothbrushing in, you’re going to be mighty uncomfortable for the next eight hours. But hey, I can still watch some Seinfeld while I stew in my sticky sweat and gross breath. I’d rather go many afternoons without a shower than endure even the occasional prolonged power failure No question!
At least this time I wasn’t shivering in the dark. But not having access to the fridge was dismal! Waaah I want milk I want yogurt I want cold water I want something for lunch besides BREAD.
This is one reason I don’t want to give up our gas stove. Even if the power’s out, we can heat up something. Might even risk opening the fridge for a couple of seconds if I know what I want.
I won’t open the fridge for even a second because I don’t know how long the failure is going to be and I can’t STAND throwing out food.
I haven’t had an extended outage for years. Usually Georgia Power has things back up in a matter of hours. When I lived in N.C. though, years ago, a big snowstorm had the power out for a week due to 4 feet of snow. When I had a farm in California my house was all electric, and the power went out fairly frequently, and that meant no water because I had a well. I got a small generator to keep the fridge cold and the electronics powered up, but having no water meant a tough time. I did keep gallons of water just in case (and still do for drinking) but it’s so nice living in the city now. When the power goes out the water and gas still run, but I only have a gas range, so the electric water heater only keeps the water warm for 12 hours or so. Still, like WaM, I keep a gas account so I can heat water if I have to on the range. Being snowed in for a week was really not too bad though, we had a fireplace and everyone slept near it. Candles and the little generator did the rest. Although we didn’t watch Seinfeld, omg Arty, that guy is the worst! :D More like Star Trek TNG reruns.
Artymorty @ #2:
As presently a resident of Canberra, with its endless supply of clear water that is runoff from the mountains nearby, I sympathise greatly. Our electricity in the daytime is largely a product of the array of solar panels I have had installed on the roof, plus batteries for when the sun is down; though I have never had reason to try to move completely off-grid.
But for you, it sounds like it’s back to the US pioneering days, at least in part. You could do what the pioneers did: live at night by the light of portable lamps (very good and cheap ones available using LED technology) and make your own entertainment as in music from an instrument you play yourself, even if only a harmonica. And for water I suggest you get a brand-new plastic garbage bin, keep it filled when the water is on, and dipper the water out as required using a saucepan.
As for me, I can’t stand bloody Seinfeld. It’s obviously an acquired taste.
I’ve had good luck in Nebraska; in Hastings, our head of the power plant was one of the highest paid public officials, and he made sure he earned it. I haven’t had a lot of experience with Lincoln yet, but this winter, there were no outages long enough to notice. I hope that holds.