And Then The Power Went Out

Posted on 02/09/2020 by Andrew Reynolds

I think this would be a great title for a post apocalyptic novel story.  It’s also been the kind of afternoon we’ve had here at the house.  Luckily for you, the power came back on just in time for me to write this inspiring post.  Maybe I shouldn’t over promise …

It’s been a cold and windy day here and while on our way back from church I suggested to Heather that it seemed like a stay-indoors-kind-of-afternoon.  I had visions of getting some tea, and doing some writing.

My heart sank as I opened the front door and noticed the clock on the stove was dark.  I like to think that we’re well prepared for any emergency, but I having that cup of tea wasn’t going to be that easy.

Oh, I could have gone to the camping shed and pulled out a stove to boil some water out on the patio, but the 25 mile per hour winds were a bit demotivating.  Then I thought, “well I’ll just get the laptop out and check with the power company on how long we might be out of power.”

At this point I should note that I have four UPS (uninterruptible power supply) in the office that keep things alive – including the internet/router/wifi/telephone thing.  There were only two things still beeping at this point and yes the battery unit for the internet/router/wifi/telephone thing had died.  We were now cut off from the world. Fortunately my cellphone was still 70% charged and I use it to check PG&E’s website.

I’m so glad I was able to get to PG&E to find out how many power outages there were in the area and to discover that the repair crew was en route to ours.  In fact the crew was still listed as en route for an hour after they restored power.  Amazing – they fixed it without arriving …

At this point in the blog post it would be natural to slip into a lecture/sermon/morality lesson about how easy our lives are with all this technology and how fragile it all is.  Then there would be the whole how you should be prepared for all that – flashlights, coats, emergency food supplies, a wind proof stove, etc …

But, being a writer, while I was waiting for the power to return I started thinking how this would be a great start to a post apocalyptic story.  A couple returns home from church to find the power is out. It never comes back as they struggle to survive the aftermath of …

And that’s when the power came back on and I got my cup of tea then started writing this post.

You’re going to have to wait for the next power outage for me to finish that story – sorry.

About Andrew Reynolds

Born in California Did the school thing studying electronics, computers, release engineering and literary criticism. I worked in the high tech world doing software release engineering and am now retired. Then I got prostate cancer. Now I am a blogger and work in my wood shop doing scroll saw work and marquetry.
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25 Responses to And Then The Power Went Out

  1. ParentingIsFunny says:
    02/15/2020 at 11:49 am

    Well, I’m glad you got your tea. This was shaping up to be a real horror story.

    Liked by 1 person

  2. G. J. Jolly says:
    02/15/2020 at 5:55 am

    Losing power in the home is usually received with such desperation anymore. So much of our lives seem to require electricity and/or natural gas these days. We aren’t sure what to do with ourselves when, all of a sudden, we can’t use the phone, the TV, the stove, or the computer. I wonder how many people would survive if the power never gave on again.

    Liked by 1 person

  3. Diane Henders says:
    02/13/2020 at 10:09 pm

    It was a fine bit of inspiration, and I applaud your priorities. Tea first! 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

  4. Mama's Empty Nest says:
    02/11/2020 at 7:03 am

    Well, I’m sitting here after reading your post, drinking my hot cup of tea, feeling grateful for no power outages recently, and waiting for the rest of the story. 😉

    Liked by 1 person

  5. dfolstad58 says:
    02/11/2020 at 6:23 am

    Would the beginning of your book be ” On a dark and stormy night?”

    Liked by 1 person

  6. Debra says:
    02/10/2020 at 8:13 pm

    We’ve had some fierce wind lately and haven’t lost our power, but you remind me that we really must be prepared with some form of emergency backup. I don’t even know where a flashlight is at the moment. 🙂 I think you may be onto something with your apocalyptic story, Andrew. Netflix seems to go in for just this kind of film, lately, so perhaps you could provide a screenplay! 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    • Andrew Reynolds says:
      02/11/2020 at 1:29 pm

      I found flashlights that you can plug into the wall that act like emergency lights – if the power goes out they turn on. They have a battery and last a few hours. I love ’em.

      Like

  7. Itching for Hitching says:
    02/10/2020 at 2:12 pm

    I think we’d just move out to the caravan…solar powered including the wifi. 😉

    Liked by 1 person

  8. Christi says:
    02/10/2020 at 1:24 pm

    Not being able to make tea when you are fully expecting being able to make tea – that’s pretty dire! Glad you made it through relatively unscathed. 😉

    Liked by 1 person

    • Andrew Reynolds says:
      02/10/2020 at 2:22 pm

      We got very close to evacuating to a Starbucks for shelter and hot drinks – lucky for me I still had enough cellphone battery to find one that still had power, but just as we were discussing the plan, the lights came back on.

      Liked by 1 person

  9. Jacqui Murray says:
    02/10/2020 at 7:45 am

    I have a big backup battery (not like yours, though) for my laptop and cellphone. Am considering a generator for my computer and frig. California needs to get its act together!

    Liked by 1 person

    • Andrew Reynolds says:
      02/10/2020 at 7:51 am

      I’ve thought about a generator, but we’re on the same local grid as the county hospital and we rarely get outages here. If I lived further out of town, I’d be buying a generator.

      Like

  10. robertawrites235681907 says:
    02/09/2020 at 8:31 pm

    We are currently having on-going power outages. My mother in law visited yesterday and they had no power from 4am on Saturday morning until 11am Sunday morning. That is pretty horrible. We have a generator to deal with this problem now. There is nothing worse than sitting in the dark, cut off from the world and, especially, without tea.

    Liked by 1 person

  11. dorannrule says:
    02/09/2020 at 7:39 pm

    I admire your imagination and your idea for a doomsday book. There is drama and mystery in power outages. We just got a whole house generator and now the power never goes out and I miss the survival challenges and feeling insulated from the world.

    Liked by 1 person

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