The First Storm

Not that I wasn’t enjoying watching “Survivorman” build a shelter out of fuselage from a plane wreck but I wasn’t too terribly sad when the TV suddenly darkened and the lights went out.  When we first moved in, a neighbour warned us that power outages are not uncommon in the area in late fall/early winter but this is August!  To be fair, we’d been listening to the rain, the clanging of sailboat rigging and the howling of the wind for at least an hour but it was easy to dismiss those little hints when we were feeling snug and cozy indoors.

Allan began searching the garage for flashlight and lantern (no easy task in the dark) while I gathered some candles.  The wind continued to shake the windows and play crazed rhythms on my chime by the front door but, despite it’s rage, it was warm.  I tried to convince the dog that, regardless of the downpour, it was fine for him to go out and do his thing before we went up to bed but he was having none of it.  He ventured as far as the front garden then turned to look at me skeptically before quickly coming back inside.  After securing all of the patio furniture cushions (they could easily have becoming frisbees), we headed off to bed…to read.

Although it sounds romantic, reading by candlelight really isn’t that fun.  Shadows drift and flicker on the page and you find yourself contorting your book, your hand and then your head, to catch the light.  Allan gave up first and was softly snoring when worries began to rise and distract me from the tale I was reading.  When will the power come back on?  How long will the food in the fridge and freezer last?  Maybe I should transfer the freezer food into our 12 volt cooler and plug it into the car…  Will the bilge pump kick in on the boat, if needed?  Of course, it’s on battery power…  Enough of this nonsense–no doubt the repairmen are working away and the power will come back on soon.  I blew out the candles and drifted off to sleep.

Sometime during the night, the power came back on.  As I went about resetting all of the time displays on our appliances this morning, I imagined some poor BC Hydro man precariously hanging off a pole in the dark, being pelted with rain but, in unselfish service, desperately trying to repair downed wires so that we might enjoy our toasted english muffins and coffee this morning.  Uh huh.  Obviously, I know nothing about what it takes to restore a power outage…but I do like to think that, when the night is dark and only the wavering flame of a candle provides hope, we’ll all do our part.