Day 40/365: Well, I think you can probably guess what prompted Friday's Unscientific Poll

[nanila]

Poll #19447 Power Outage

Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 58

View Respondents

When the power goes out, I typically think the following

View Answers

Wait, when did I have my last cup of tea? Because OH LOR NO KETTLE
10 (17.2%)

Internet gone, guess I'll go make myself a cup of -- OH LOR NO KETTLE
20 (34.5%)

INTERNET GONE. CANNOT COPE.
28 (48.3%)

Otoh, I now have an excuse not to do any work until it comes back on.
16 (27.6%)

Wait, when did I last have something hot to eat? I really fancy some toast. DAMMIT
14 (24.1%)

There are six flashlights/torches in this house and right now I know where none of them are.
22 (37.9%)

Tea lights, ahoy! But where are the matches? DAMMIT
13 (22.4%)

I know, I'll watch/listen to/read something I downloaded onto my phone.
22 (37.9%)

Wait, how much charge does my phone have left?
25 (43.1%)

Sod it, time for a nap. Duvet ahoy!
31 (53.4%)

(NB: The power is restored now so I was at least able to feed the children a hot supper and bathe them, and we won't freeze because it's flippin' cold tonight.)

Comments

[recessional]

We are starting to get a literal regular sequence of wind storms every winter and they ALWAYS knock the power out . . . .for the most populated area in the province, which also has the most number of Large Heavy Trees Just Waiting To Be Knocked Over.

At this point I quite literally have on my list to buy one (1) very small gas burner and mini-stovetop kettle, JUST BECAUSE at this fucking point the biggest problem I have with being in my home when the power is out is that I cannot make myself anything warm to drink. Given our heat and hot water are both natural-gas based, one big battery powered emergency light and one gas burner would make my home totally habitable for 24 hours.

(I generally have my phone for intermittent internet, and when I'm home most of my devices are charged up plus there's several external batteries around, so that's fine.)

[kaberett]

Yes, mostly this, plus REALLY LIKING living in houses with gas stoves & a ready supply of matches. (Laptop is usually charged, which means "candlelit dinner + a movie" is eminently doable, as indeed I did do last time there was a powercut affecting half my borough...)

[redsixwing]

On the list locally, where it gets Exceptionally Cold during about two thirds of the year:

- Check firewood, build fire.
- Call power company for ETA on a fix.
- If necessary, barricade self, cat, and fresh bedding into the room with the fireplace.

[nanila]

This sounds like an excellent coping strategy, and I salute it.

[pbristow]

You missed the following option:
"FUCKIT! That 4TB hard drive cloning-and-verifying operation had almost reached 95% complete. Now it's gonna take another day to get it done. =:o\ ... AND I CAN'T EVEN CONSOLE MYSELF WITH A CUP OF TEA!!! =8oO "

That was me, on Wednesday.

[hilarita]

That's definitely an annoying option.

[pbristow]

I survived. And topped-up the 'leccy meter. And started again. =:o}

[recessional]

Oh ye gods and little fishes that's awful. I am so sorry.

[pbristow]

The trauma is receding now. I only gibber a *little* bit whenever the light flickers... =:o?

[nanila]

OH NOOOOOOES

[redbird]

I miss having a gas stove. Electric is fine for a lot of purposes, but with a gas stove I can still make tea in a power outage (as I discovered in 2003, when most of the northeast US lost power).

I miss cooking with gas for other reasons, but I suspect a chunk of that comes down to familiarity: the house I grew up in had a gas stove, as did the apartment I lived in from 1987 to 2013.

[omnipotent]

I grew up in a house with a gas stove, and I still miss it.

[nanila]

I only ever had gas stoves in the houses I've lived in in the UK. With the exception of this one, which has an electric cooker and hob.

[conuly]

Gas stoves FTW

[ursajoanna]

I weirdly miss power cuts, we don't get them as often here as we did when I was growing up in a small village - they were always a bit exciting and an excuse to just snuggle down and read books by torchlight. (We have six torches around the house and I know where all of them are!)

[davidgillon]

Weirdly we get them more often now I live in a big town in Kent, andd across the road from a substation, than I remember getting growing up in the wilds of Durham (well, not exactly wilds, reasonably sized market town). I suspect proximity to the (electrically powered by third rail) Kent Coast rail line.

Has wind-up torch and knows how to use it.

[nanila]

See, if all the torches in our house actually ever stayed in the places they were supposed to be, I'd know where they were. The trouble is, the children are constantly snaffling them and going to hide in the wardrobe or under the bed, and then forgetting to replace them. Result: Never knowing where the torches are.

[ayebydan]

I am that neighbour that is on to the provider in -10 seconds like WHAT IS HAPPENING?!?!?!??!

I really love that my kindle fire has a backlight and a badass battery life though. When in Australia we experienced a blackout because 3 inches of rain fell in the desert in an hour and they could. not. cope. But Steph had her fire and we watched the minions movie she had downloaded just in case she needed it at some point. Bc ofc.

We have been very lucky with powercuts in my area though. I can't remember the last one at home during the day. Mostly they are overnight when they go out to do something to the grid and fuck up make a mistake. We only know when all the cooker lights are flashing in the morning. ( We have two ovens nao ).

moar thoughts

[ayebydan]

We are lucky cause,

- We have a non-working fireplace that most of the time is actually a draft trap but on winter nights we have very tall candles we light in the hearth. Light and heat.

- Dogs make good extra blankets.

- Dogs are more prone to cuddles if they are being blankets.

- We have numerous charger packs that can be used on well, usb having things.

- Due to being candle lovers there is a way to create fire in nearly every room so that helps when the lights go out...even if that sounds very odd indeed.

[gwendraith]

Because I'm like a big kid I feel a bit of excitement when the power goes off and the candles comes out (gas lighter). I have a dual fuel cooker so I bought a stove kettle just so I can boil a kettle to make tea on the gas hob during a power cut, and I have a toast cage so I can make toast there as well :) I sucks a bit not having the Internet if it's off too long ;)

[wild_irises]

More or less this. I should buy a toast cage.

[ironed_orchid]

When I had a functional and fully charged laptop, I would tether my phone to that and treat it as a really big battery pack.

Mostly I hang out with the cats.

[nanila]

Cats are excellent hot water bottles when they're willing.

[silveradept]

There are also books in my space just in case a thing should happen where the electronics are a no go.

[azurelunatic]

I am the person with a zillion flashlights, plus a candle stash. There's a supplementary candle stash I found left by a previous resident. I have a number of power banks for phones, and ... possibly need to get the modem on an uninterruptible power supply.

[marahmarie]

Yeah, me too (but it seems subconsciously I save books for just such events, therefore I never finish reading any of them, anymore).

[wohali]

I happen to have a small camping stove I haul out on just these occasions so I AM NEVER WITHOUT MY TEA. :D

[nanila]

Very wise. We have a gas camping stove with two rings that has been deployed on such occasions.

[fred_mouse]

I am of the 'multiple back up plans for tea' variety of people. We have a plumbed gas stove, a plumbed gas BBQ, and a bottled gas camping stove. But I actually can't remember the last time the power went out for long enough for me to actually make tea. I'm guessing we must be on the same bit 'o grid as the two hospitals across the way.

[angrboda]

My actual real reply ("HALP! HUSBAND, FIX WORLD!") was not represented, so I chose the closest thing. :)

[st_aurafina]

We have a gas stove now, omg! Such luxury: we can boil water in a saucepan for tea and hot water bottles. And cook tinned spaghetti and, at a pinch, make toasted sandwiches on the skillet. (But not the heating, which is gas but has an electric remote control and no apparent physical switch. We are screwed if I ever lose that remote.)

IT IS LUXURY I TELL YOU. Totally worth having to go to the spidery corner of the house to change the gas bottles over when they run out.

[davidgillon]

My recent adventure in OMG-the-boiler's-buggered-soooo-cold turned out to be a failure of the receiver for the remote thermostat, and no physical switch.

Thermostat: Hey, getting really cold in here. You should turn on!

Boiler: I'm not listening!

My mother has had the exact same thing.

[nanila]

Ooh, very nice! We have a gas camping stove so tea can be made in emergencies. And couscous. Couscous is good because you don't actually need to boil the water.

[siliconshaman]

I have a solar powered backup system, and a coal fire. I'm good for internet and hot water/heating. At least for a couple of hours. [note to self, buy bigger/more batteries]

[cmcmck]

I can still make tea because Hybrid cooker:o)

Toast for the same reason! :o)

The phone is something I really do't give a damn about.

[rmc28]

I do actually have a powerbank for my phone now, so it is not quite such a terrible thing losing the ability to recharge it.

We have had two powercuts in a few weeks at work, that has been fun.

[marahmarie]

Frequent power outages are why we finally caved in last fall and got a generator (lately we have hurricanes every fall). I won't jinx anything by indicating whether we have or have not had to use it, but yeah, at least now it's there.

[mysterysquid]

Oh nooo.

Glad it was restored!