I HAVE THE POWER!
Aug. 15th, 2003 09:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ivyblossomWell, we finally got power back over 24 hours after we first lost it. It was coming back all over the place in Ontario, but Guelph came on in patches that did NOT include me for the longest time. Today was a total write off for most of the city.
I spent yesterday afternoon with my parents, who have food. We sat outside reading until it started to got dark, at which point my father said, "You're staying here tonight, right?"
me: "Uh...well, I could, but I have no clean underpants here." (This is always an important consideration for me, you'll be happy to know.)
dad: "When it gets dark you won't be able to see to make it back! No streetlights!"
me: "Hmm, I guess I should go now, then."
dad: "Maybe you should just stay here. You won't be able to find your apartment! No lights! Dark! Dark!"
me: "...it's not that late yet."
dad: "You'll die on the street, you won't be able to find your building at all!"
me: "I guess I should hurry!"
I think dad wanted me to stay.
I would like to point out that while most people have been very respectful on the streets, given that we have had no traffic lights for the better part of two days, I did nearly get hit twice on the way back home last night. First, I was crossing the street at a light and someone honked at me and then drove through right in front of me, in spite of the fact that I was crossing well before they were even in eyesight of said intersection, and second, I got pinned at a crosswalk where two cars on my left stopped to let me cross, but the cars coming on my right did not seem to think that was a high priority. I walked across with my hands firmly balled up, highly conscious that at any moment I could get injured rather seriously, and also be a possible recipient for a large sum of insurance money. But I crossed safely. (Darn.)
So I got back, thinking, look at how independent I am! I made it home just fine. It was slightly tricky to put my key into a doorknob I couldn't see, but I'm profoundly blind as it is, you should try on my glasses sometime! Look at me, walking of the dark steps and unlocking my apartment! I can manage! So I got inside, and it was kind of bluish in here. I have northeast facing windows, but it was still early enough, there wass a bluish kind of glow coming from the windows. My stomach (as is often the case) was a mess, so I head straight for the loo.
My bathroom has no window, and is nestled away from any light at all. Without electricity, it's a black hole. Being the overly-imaginative person I can be in such moments, I believed that as long as my bathroom was that dark, all the scariest things in the world lived in there right at that moment. Rapists, murders, bears, little knee-cap-biting gnomes, women gone mad and hanging from their throats in my bathtub. I could not walk into the blackhole that was my bathroom, but I had no matches.
This was probably the first time in my life that I was sorry I'm a non-smoker.
I decided to head back out and look for a place that's selling matches. I already felt certain that I will not find a place that's open, but I went out anyway. My fear of my bathroom is that great. I thought if all else failed I could go see my sister. But there was a crowd of mouth-breathers outside my building, all gathered around drinking beer and huddling around a candle. I begged for matches and got someone's spare lighter. Thank God, I thought, my stomach turning ouchie flip flops.
I put a bunch of tealights on a plate and lit them. I put the plate in my living room to make me feel as if I was there and nothing evil was with me. I pulled out a salad plate (known to me as a toast plate, I think they should call them that from here on in) and put some more tealights on that. I lit those and stalked slowly toward my bathroom, which looked positively cheery with a little non-evil light. Oh my poor stomach.
I even took a shower by tealight.
I was positive the power would come on at any moment, but it did not. My laptop battery was almost entirely dead, so the option of waahhing at random people online about being stuck in a blackout was out as an entertainment option. So I took my plate o' tealights into my bedroom and read The Golden Compass.
I thought if I slept in long enough the power would come on. Good thing I didn't vow to stay in bed until it came back; I didn't really get power back until about 7pm. I am keenly aware that the power will go out again, and I will suddenly find myself plunged into darkness again. Maybe I should put the tealights out in advance, before the evil dark bathroom people come back. Hmm.
Well, as![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
digikym pointed out, at least I'm not wrestling a 6-foot tall Nigerian woman in Jello for the fate of mankind. There's always a bright side.
No pun intended.
I spent yesterday afternoon with my parents, who have food. We sat outside reading until it started to got dark, at which point my father said, "You're staying here tonight, right?"
me: "Uh...well, I could, but I have no clean underpants here." (This is always an important consideration for me, you'll be happy to know.)
dad: "When it gets dark you won't be able to see to make it back! No streetlights!"
me: "Hmm, I guess I should go now, then."
dad: "Maybe you should just stay here. You won't be able to find your apartment! No lights! Dark! Dark!"
me: "...it's not that late yet."
dad: "You'll die on the street, you won't be able to find your building at all!"
me: "I guess I should hurry!"
I think dad wanted me to stay.
I would like to point out that while most people have been very respectful on the streets, given that we have had no traffic lights for the better part of two days, I did nearly get hit twice on the way back home last night. First, I was crossing the street at a light and someone honked at me and then drove through right in front of me, in spite of the fact that I was crossing well before they were even in eyesight of said intersection, and second, I got pinned at a crosswalk where two cars on my left stopped to let me cross, but the cars coming on my right did not seem to think that was a high priority. I walked across with my hands firmly balled up, highly conscious that at any moment I could get injured rather seriously, and also be a possible recipient for a large sum of insurance money. But I crossed safely. (Darn.)
So I got back, thinking, look at how independent I am! I made it home just fine. It was slightly tricky to put my key into a doorknob I couldn't see, but I'm profoundly blind as it is, you should try on my glasses sometime! Look at me, walking of the dark steps and unlocking my apartment! I can manage! So I got inside, and it was kind of bluish in here. I have northeast facing windows, but it was still early enough, there wass a bluish kind of glow coming from the windows. My stomach (as is often the case) was a mess, so I head straight for the loo.
My bathroom has no window, and is nestled away from any light at all. Without electricity, it's a black hole. Being the overly-imaginative person I can be in such moments, I believed that as long as my bathroom was that dark, all the scariest things in the world lived in there right at that moment. Rapists, murders, bears, little knee-cap-biting gnomes, women gone mad and hanging from their throats in my bathtub. I could not walk into the blackhole that was my bathroom, but I had no matches.
This was probably the first time in my life that I was sorry I'm a non-smoker.
I decided to head back out and look for a place that's selling matches. I already felt certain that I will not find a place that's open, but I went out anyway. My fear of my bathroom is that great. I thought if all else failed I could go see my sister. But there was a crowd of mouth-breathers outside my building, all gathered around drinking beer and huddling around a candle. I begged for matches and got someone's spare lighter. Thank God, I thought, my stomach turning ouchie flip flops.
I put a bunch of tealights on a plate and lit them. I put the plate in my living room to make me feel as if I was there and nothing evil was with me. I pulled out a salad plate (known to me as a toast plate, I think they should call them that from here on in) and put some more tealights on that. I lit those and stalked slowly toward my bathroom, which looked positively cheery with a little non-evil light. Oh my poor stomach.
I even took a shower by tealight.
I was positive the power would come on at any moment, but it did not. My laptop battery was almost entirely dead, so the option of waahhing at random people online about being stuck in a blackout was out as an entertainment option. So I took my plate o' tealights into my bedroom and read The Golden Compass.
I thought if I slept in long enough the power would come on. Good thing I didn't vow to stay in bed until it came back; I didn't really get power back until about 7pm. I am keenly aware that the power will go out again, and I will suddenly find myself plunged into darkness again. Maybe I should put the tealights out in advance, before the evil dark bathroom people come back. Hmm.
Well, as
digikym pointed out, at least I'm not wrestling a 6-foot tall Nigerian woman in Jello for the fate of mankind. There's always a bright side.No pun intended.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2003-08-15 06:46 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-08-15 06:53 pm (UTC)I don't think I've ever been so happy to be able to turn on the A/C!
no subject
Date: 2003-08-15 06:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-08-15 07:15 pm (UTC)Randomness
Date: 2003-08-15 08:18 pm (UTC)On the power note, we got ours back at 11am. I actually did manage to stay in bed until it came back on *grin*.
no subject
Date: 2003-08-15 08:42 pm (UTC)Oh thank god. I thought I was the only person I knew as
wussy and neuroticforesighted and aware of her surroundings to be terrified of such things popping out of very dark places.I clung to my mother and whimpered for much of the blackout. *g*
no subject
Date: 2003-08-16 03:36 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-08-15 09:04 pm (UTC)...Is it true that some kids broke into a house in Guelph and killed a cat?
no subject
Date: 2003-08-15 10:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2003-08-15 11:15 pm (UTC)That's totally going into my quote book. *notes this*
And she is right. I mean, you could be being chased by scary, red-eyed zombie people who walk funny and yell a lot. .....RAGE!
....Ok, no more viewings of 28 Days Later for me. >.<
no subject
Date: 2003-08-16 02:28 pm (UTC)I went no further into the house but ran next door to get a nice solid friendly neighbour to come see if there was anybody there. There wasn't. Turned out that only one in three houses in our road had been affected by the power cut and mine was one of them. I was loaned matches and dug out my candles and arranged about thirty of them all through the house, on plates. I was quite enjoying the effect when the power suddenly flicked back on.
I had just blown out the last candle, preparatory to going to bed, when the bloody power switched off again AND I DIDN'T KNOW WHERE I'D LEFT THE MATCHES!
Anyway, that's why I can feel for you. *hugs*
Kate