The power off now

Sundays are easygoing, at least in our household. But this Sunday was even more easygoing than usual. Not by choice but because of a power outage.

I suspected there had been some power issue early in the morning because the dishwasher hadn't completed its program and our internet connection was broken. I tried rebooting the modem a few times but to no avail. I went back to bed and started reading a book.

And then suddenly, the lights went off, and the alarm clock was blank. My wife and I looked at each other in surprise and wondered what was happening.

The neighborhood Whatsapp group didn't take long to overflow with messages reporting a local power outage. Luckily for most of them, the damage was limited to the first 15 houses on our street. Unfortunately for us, our house was #15.

How should we make our regular cup of coffee part of our waking-up routine? We realized that many facilities in our home were no longer available due to the power outage: no lighting, heating, hot water, cooking, washing, internet, radio, or television. It was interesting to be thrown back to basics and scratch our heads about how to tackle this unexpected situation.

If the outage would last long, the food in the fridge and freezer could go to waste. And eventually our mobile phones and laptops would need recharging. Those were the kind of first-world problems we were contemplating.

At moments like this, you experience how many automatic mini-behaviors you have developed. For example, you automatically hit a light switch when entering a room—but the light stays off. Although you register this anomaly, you repeat this behavior for other rooms as you wander through the house. When you want to know the time in the kitchen, you look up at the oven's digital clock—nothing.

After a while, we learned from our online neighbors that the power company had arrived at the scene and was busy digging up a cable that was apparently the culprit. The power company expected it could take the entire day to fix this. As a result, some neighbors vented their impatience on WhatsApp (one of the reasons I've muted this group). Guess what? Everything was back to normal in the early afternoon already.

All this made me realize our dependence on a working power supply for our essential services and comfort. It is so easy to get used to these standard services that we use daily without disruptions. Consequently, it feels awkward and vulnerable when we lose these services.

How well would you and I be doing if we had power outages that lasted a few days? We take it all for granted so quickly that we don't realize how fortunate we are. And that realization is not limited to power supply and home facilities.

What are you grateful for that you take for granted?

Take care and till next time!

Kind regards,

Herman / Scrumpy Dad

I help people stay loyal to their goals and values to create more happiness in their lives and others.

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