Power Moves

POWER'S BACK ON

Power went out last evening.   High winds toppled trees, downing power lines; yada-yada..    I heard a "Crack", then  darkness.   It was restored about an hour ago, accompanied by the sounds of beeps all over the house as stuff came alive. I do love that sound. Here's what I paid particular, updated, attention to this time.  "Jimmy, jump on Dobbin and ride for help  Watch out for Injuns." It used to be that power, or no power, we had working telephones.  Then, with digital phones, it became incumbent on me to purchase (not so easy) a land line phone, because digital requires power.  With Verizon's fiber optic service, however, that dependency is back.   Verizon does provide a back-up battery; only good for a few hours though.  I had time to report the outage to BG&E, and that was about it. Communication wise, then, I was living in 1843 (a year before the first telegraph line went up).  With no electronic amusements, I could only think.  Like, if I really needed help, where did I last see a pay phone? I'm not sure where, but it was around 1997.  And, even if there was a pay phone in town, what about the "Help - I've fallen and I can't get up" contingency?  I wouldn't dare drive being that drunk. With more people eschewing landed phones for cell, telephone lines are on death watch .  Even Verizon has quit installing fiber cable, if I'm not mistaken, and will focus instead on wireless transmission.  You know what I say about all this?  I've said it before.  Sink all your money in old hand crank adding machines; you'll become the 21st century's IBM.