The evening started like any other, but when night fell... Well, when night fell I went to turn on the light. But the bulb blew. So I went to change the bulb, which didn't make a difference. So, I presumed, the fuse went out. So I took the fuse out and looked in the toolbox. No fuses the same. So I tried looking at some of the other lights in the house. No fuses the same. So I went to the 24 hours supermarket, they had fuses of the right ampage, but not the right physical size. Which means I have no light in my room until tomorrow, when I can go to a DIY store. It's really really weird not having any light in my room. For one, it's making the computer screen glare all the more, which isn't good for my eyes. For another, it means I won't be able to read before bed for the first time in a long while (excluding occasions when I've come home drunk). I'll obviously be able to still clean my teeth and wash and such, because the bathroom light works. But there's other little things, like I have to touch-type and I'm not that good at it. If I eat something, I can't see if crumbs have gone everywhere. It has made me realise how much we take light for granted. We now think of it as a 24 hour resource rather than the previous 12 (average). Even now I'm gleaning light to see by the screen and the landing light. It's like I'm desperate for any light I can get. Still, I guess I should be grateful this happened in the summer, when it gets dark at 9 rather than in the winter, when it's dark at 4.
Don't stumble over anything in the dark. When Germany played against Italy, the energy in the whole block fell out for 10 minutes - an hour before the game. Mind you, all the public viewing spaces were in our block. I've had some fun walking around and telling all the party goers standing around and nervously waiting for the electricity to start flowing again before the game started that "this happens all the time in our quarter, and last time this happened, they needed six hours to get the electricity going again." Well, the second bit is true. That was in March, though, and happened only that one time. A strange experience - we woke up, and even though it was light day, the quarter was quiet. I realized that usually on a week day, we are being woken up by the sounds of the nearby building sites, and the general buzz all those people create that you wouldn't be able to describe and only notice when it's missing: Douzens of radios and some tellys doodling in hearing range, but not loud enough to normally be consciously heard.... The building crane's beeping when it changes direction... the sounds of the shops... your own fridge humming now and then... And I saw the door of the bank nearby stuck in a half closed position, and the same with a pharmacy. All that could be heard were the cars and, in some distance, a generator running on oil, where the city was trying to repair a damaged cable. I actually wanted to take a shower, and lean back with some coffee to enjoy the unusual quietness, but alas - no warm water, no cooking, no shower, no coffee. After thirty minutes, I started wishing I could go online to check on the city's site how long this would take.
When we lived in Jakarta this would happen all the time. Too many people, lots of light bulbs and electric appliances and not nearly enough power to cope with it all. So yes, we often resorted to candle light. The only problem with candles is the light flickers, so when you doing something like homework it's actually quite a strain. I've had to do many homework assignments by torchlight because of this. The problem with no electricity though is no AC. Not even a fan. Which in the tropics is no fun.
[quote:d483ae94a8="Maljonic"]Don't people light candles anymore in these situations?[/quote:d483ae94a8] Not in places where 24 hour supermarkets exist It is funny how we do take things for granted; heating, windows, light, electricity, etc. A few years ago, there was an enormous explosion here, in a chemical plant about half a mile away from our flat, and although it miraculously "only" killed 30 people (while making an enormous crater and doing a lot of damage) it left about half the city windowless and with various degrees of damage. And with that much repair to be done, we spent 6 months (it happened in September, so all the winter months) without windows except the one in the kitchen, the red cross came round with some mdf and translucid plexiglass and closed up the openings, but the winter was cold and not having any natural light was incredibly weird. The whole city had a war-zone feeling about it for months... But I digress... Electric_man has an electricity problem... HO HO HO Good luck Ben
I was also going to ask if you could light a candle. Once, at my old work, we had a power cut the day we came back after Christmas. The power was out all morning, but our bastard of a boss wouldn't let us go home (he's not really a bastard, but we all thought he was that morning). So my friend Kellie and I volunteered to take down the Christmas tree. When we'd finished, there were pine needles all over the floor. We stood and debated whether to use the hoover or the broom to sweep them up, because the hoover would be quicker, but we weren't sure whether it would scratch the wooden floor. In the end, we decided the hoover would be fine, and we got Mark, who was passing, to carry it all the way from the cupboard in the kitchen to reception for us. It was only after plugging it in and trying to turn it on that any of us, three supposedly intelligent adults, twigged that we'd need to be using the broom after all...
This reminds me of an occasion a few years ago when I arrived at my then girlfriend's apartment for dinner just as the power to her block failed - she sent me out to buy candles, at 8 o'clock at night in an area I didn't know very well which appeared to have no night shops of any sort, let alone any likely to sell candles. I finally spotted a restaurant which had candles on the tables, went in and paid an exhorbitant price for a few candles from their stock, and got back to my girlfriend's apartment just as the power came back on!
[quote:4c42f28bb0="Pixel"]This reminds me of an occasion a few years ago when I arrived at my then girlfriend's apartment for dinner just as the power to her block failed - she sent me out to buy candles, at 8 o'clock at night in an area I didn't know very well which appeared to have no night shops of any sort, let alone any likely to sell candles. I finally spotted a restaurant which had candles on the tables, went in and paid an exhorbitant price for a few candles from their stock, and got back to my girlfriend's apartment just as the power came back on![/quote:4c42f28bb0]I think there's quite a nice story in there.
