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Winter Memories: Power Outage in January

It happened a few years ago, but I still recall that evening as if it were now

 

It’s Friday afternoon and I’m in a good mood as  the weekend has just begun. I know that I will probably stay at home most of the time since it’s still harsh winter outside, but as long as I have my good old PC at my disposal and I feel inspired to create something new I will be fine.

Then, all of a sudden, the power goes off. I feel a little discomfort, but I’m also relieved that it didn’t happen while I was working on a new post, so this minor incident doesn’t make me feel anxious. Surely the power will be restored within half an hour, maybe an hour. There’s nothing to worry about yet.

And indeed the power is back after about 40 minutes or so, but it goes off again in less than a minute! I’m beginning to get a little impatient, but still, I don’t worry too much. I start listening to my favorite radio station on my smartphone and calmly wait for the power to be back for good. However, almost an hour passes and still no electricity in my house! Furthermore, the battery on my smartphone is low and it’s beginning to get dark outside. Things are starting to get a little unpleasant!

Forced by the circumstances, I get dressed and get out of my cozy home. My first trip is to the building administration to find out what they know about the blackout and the news I get isn’t good at all: it appears that the blackout has affected almost the entire town! The guys from the electrical company are trying to fix the problems by 7 p.m., but there are no guarantees they will succeed.

By this time it’s close to 5 pm and, even if the light of the day is still present outside,  I know that it will be dark in about an hour. I’m confused: what should I  do next? Finally, I decide to go out for a walk and visit some of my relatives. Once I get to their flat I realize that they’re in the same situation. What’s more distressing is the fact that someone heard rumors that the power might be restored only the next morning! That is the piece of news which really seems to make my start of the weekend as miserable as possible.

I do my best not to utter loudly several expressions containing a four-letter word which starts with F and ends in K, but I am truly concerned, just like anybody else I see while I’m out in the streets doing my unscheduled walk. Luckily it’s a mild winter evening, with temperatures still above 0 degrees Celsius,  but I can’t keep walking downtown for hours, I must go back home and hope those negative predictions and rumors will not become true.

Flashbacks from the previous winter come back in my mind. I rewind a day in which a blackout also occurred in January when it was much colder outside, and only a part of the town was affected, including the block of flats where I live. I remember that I finally lost my patience after about three hours of waiting in the dark and I went to spend the night to my relatives’ house, but this time there’s no escape: they’re in the same situation as me and the whole town, doomed to spend a long, cold winter night at the light of candles!

I have no other choice but to go back home and spend some time, who knows how long, in the dark. I feel like I’m back in time in the Middle Ages:  powerless and paralyzed without electricity on a  winter evening which is threatening to turn into a painfully dark, freezing night!

However, I can’t allow all those dark thoughts to invade my mind, so I decided to get out again and try to find some people I know, exchange a few words with them and keep my morale as high as possible. I barely make a few steps out of the building; by now it’s quite dark outside and I have all the reasons to say that this is the Friday of my nightmares! And then, surprise, the miracle happens: the lights are back, the problem has been identified and the nasty blackout has been defeated by the workers from the electrical company!

I rush in back home, turn on my old computer and start blogging as I get more energy and inspiration from the music of AC/DC, Iron Maiden and other rock and metal masters thanks to whom my Friday evening is electric as I like it! I feel a huge relief and gratitude that I didn’t have to spend a long night in darkness and cold!

All is well that ends well, and the morale of this true story, which describes the thoughts and fears I went through on that nerve-wracking Friday evening, is that there are things in life a lot more precious than gold, such as electrical energy, and we should do our best not to waste them because in an instance modern life can turn into a real hell in their absence!

The image is taken from Pixabay: https://pixabay.com/ro/de-energie-electric%C4%83-puterea-polonezi-3442835/

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2 Comments

  1. Losing something that has always been with us like electricity is indeed very disturbance and certainly uncomfortable, especially in an age where almost everything requires electricity. You have your points! We are lucky to have AC/DC or Iron Maiden who always faithfully entertain us!

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