Blogging by candlelight
We’ve been having an ice storm all day. Very cool-looking in that cinematic way that ice storms are (I thought of Tobey Maguire wandering raptly through the icy landscape in The Ice Storm* as I cautiously navigated the driveway to my building, admiring the icicles surrounding each individual conifer needle), but murder on the power lines. To wit: no sooner had I gotten home this evening than the lights went out, sputtered back on for a second, and went out again. I’m now wondering whether the power will come back on tonight, and if not, whether the food in the refrigerator will spoil if I reach in really fast and grab what I can out of it. And this won’t be a long post, because my laptop battery ain’t what it used to be. Ah well. It’s a good kind of night for reading by the light of a portable electric lantern and half a dozen assorted candles, even if I do end up dining on bread, cheese, energy bars, and a banana.
Unfortunately, the heat in this apartment is electric. As is the stove. Damn. Well, at least it’s not supposed to get down below freezing tonight…
* And then I got paranoid about being electrocuted by a downed power line, and hastened inside.
[Update, later: The power came back on several hours later. There for a while, though, the combination of December, frozen precipitation, cold rooms, and a spartan dinner followed by attempts to read by candlelight was enough to make me think "Wow, I’m just one consumptive neighbor away from a home reenactment of Act 1 of La Bohème!" Too bad there was no way to turn on the CD player and put on some appropriate music.]
Eep! I haven’t actually had to deal with a power outage for any length of time in years. I used to, and while I appreciated many things about it, I didn’t like being forced into it — so I’m glad your power is back on.