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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.
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I've been known to watch a DVD on my laptop when the power goes out. Technology will find a way.
ReplyDeleteI 'spect you'll be getting that backup generator soon, right?
I have a generator, but I didn't feel like digging it out of the garage in the pitch dark. This morning I saw about 60 BGE trucks outside, so why bother?
ReplyDeleteIf you bought her a gas stove and lit it for her you could eat when the power went out.
ReplyDeleteThe plan here at the doublewide is to be able to get by for at least 3 days in the dead of winter with no power. The propane heater, capable of keeping the whole house livable, went into service in January. Kero lamps are available but I'm trying to get a small generator online too.
ReplyDeleteI'm going to get my ham radio license again soon. An ability to communicate around the world from my house with no outside connection or service required is worth some investment of effort.
AWM
With all due respect, Rodge... the bigger problem is that you still live in MD. I remember "fondly" the days and weeks-long outages of critical utilities following any summer storm that happened to roll through Montgomery County. The only satisfaction I took was in the knowledge that the wealthiest areas seemed to suffer the most (my little Rockville enclave included). Bethesda, Potomac, Silver Spring... millions/year in tax revenues and yet a simple water main break left 'em dry for days. The GW Parkway can be, and is, frequently shut down forever if so much as a single tree is blown down onto the road.
ReplyDeleteMillions/year in tax revenue and yet somehow it doesn't seem to matter when it counts.
If she REALLY loved me, she'da cut down a tree, chopped firewood, and built a campfire.
ReplyDeleteOr hopped in the car and ran down to that Burger King over in Stuarton.