Member-only story
Our Wired Up Age
Are you ready for a major disruption in your life? We weren't!
At 3:00 AM on Sunday, our power went out. We didn't discover this until we got up on Sunday morning. No coffee, no internet, no hot water, no elevator, no Netflix! Apart from one flashlight and some candles, we were not prepared, even though our local government makes public service announcements on a regular basis advising citizens to have an emergency pack ready. We always made a note of it in our list of things to do. It never got done.
Luckily, we had running water and a barbeque. But, the propane tank was empty which necessitated a drive across town for a fill-up. As we live in a top-floor apartment, lugging a full tank of propane up eleven flights of stairs was no fun. However, we were able to cook up breakfast. Without the internet and our smartphones not charged up enough for web browsing, we could not check online with our power supply company. A phone call elicited the information that a cable had blown up (whatever that means) in a local sub-station. The recorded voice message advised the company was aware of the situation and there would be regular updates. Phoning around to some friends, we discovered the blackout was quite widespread and no one had any idea when power would be restored.
