power outage

we had a power outage last night. i came home and the whole house was dark. after finding candles and a lighter, it got better, though slightly cold. i had been looking forward to cooking dinner and tea, but now i didn't have any of that.

it's interesting how many things we've gotten used to that require electricity. computers, internet, tv, light, microwave, water boiler,... and how few things remain when there is no power.

so what would you do during a several hour long power outage, all alone?

I live in a block of flats and there are often loud arguments going on- with door slamming, yelling, that kind of thing... Once when the power went off here I found my way to my bed in the dark and lay there enjoying the darkness and silence. It was amazing.

Read by candle or flash-light or sleep lol.

Read by candle and firelight and snuggle my kitty and husband. They happen so rarely in my area that it's almost a treat to have a few hours of what it was like "in the olden days".

my candles weren't bright enough for reading and i have no fireplace... i envy you, eli!

I don't think I've had a multi-hour power outage since about 1985, heh.

If it was me on my own I'd just act like I was camping - light a flashlight, eat food that needed to be eaten, and read by torch or listen to the radio until it was time to sleep. (At night, of course. In the day time I'd just do whatever I normally do at home sans electricity - so reading instead of watching TV, etc.)

At home, though, things are a little tricky because I have a lot of cats - so candles would be totally out. We'd be relying on torches to light anywhere that needed to be lit, but other than that, things would be normal. At night we'd just eat cold food (sandwiches etc) rather than hot food, though people with gas cookers wouldn't have a problem, and read or play cards instead of TV.

A while ago though, when I was ill with my fabled brain fever, it woulda been different. I had literally no sense of balance, which meant unless I could see the the ground and a horizon line, I was falling all over the place. (If I closed my eyes in the shower to rise shampoo out of my hair, I had to brace myself against the wall or I would fall - it was that bad). So if there had been a long power cut then, I'd have been curled up on the settee, yelling for help, demanding snacks and drinks and books all night long, and occassionally crawling slowly along the floor <!-- s:lol: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_lol.gif" alt=":lol:" title="Laughing" /><!-- s:lol: -->

I prefer the word powercut. Excuse my awkward vocabulary.

I've never had one on my own, but if there was a powercut that lasted several hours I'd usually go somewhere for the day, and the power will usually back when we get home.

If not, I usually read or listen to music, as long as my iPod's battery isn't empty.

no power....im trying to remember the time i had that happen, and i think it was when i was that poor i had no food nor money for electric

what i did was sometimes have 'friends' over and drink with the street light giving us some light...or just stay out

i dont know, maybe sleeping on the streets in the past has given me the opportunity to not give a shit

Now that we've got a laptop again, we would at least have a couple of hours on that...especially if we only use it as a source of minor lighting. I think we'd quickly get annoyed at the lack of connectivity, though, and be more tempted to burn through the charge on our cell phone. Which would create more conflict because it's our only phone, and...you know...can be used as a phone too. If it has a charge. TT;

Candlelight is too variable in our experience; it's hard to read or knit that way. Also a bit hard to position a flashlight or five so we can do that sort of thing comfortably. If we can get the cats' attention, though, that's enough to keep us busy for a little while. (Reminds me...we lost the laser pointer again. That would be a useful thing to have when bored in general.)

Once the natural light dies, we're probably on a fast track to sleeping. Especially given that there aren't many times of year around here that are comfortable with no A/C and no heating: If it's hot we're going to want to minimize clothing and sleep anyway, and if it's cold we're going to want to huddle up in blankets and do nothing anyway.

-Shaynin