10:04 a.m. - 2003-08-19
Where were you when...?
It�s exciting times, folks. But, as usual, I wasn�t around for any of it.
It seems I keep missing disasters. I�m not complaining too much, it�s just an interesting phenomenon. For example, despite a more than province wide blackout this past weekend, I went without electricity for all of 15 minutes. Dear God, Save Me.
I had just returned home from that most cherished of shops, LCBO, when I opened my folks� fridge and wondered why the light was off. I assumed that I had somehow blown a fuse, until it dawned on me that none of the appliances or other electrical units were working. The place had no power�.how odd. I was merely waiting for Bro Dave and Nan to show up so that we could head down to our parents� rented cottage for the weekend, so I sat in stony silence for 10 minutes, wondering how I would ever amuse myself without energy. No computer, no TV and no radio�why don�t those two hurry up? The only reason I�m waiting for them in the first place is that Dave has some ill-conceived notion that my car is going to fail me on the 3 hour drive up so he wants us to �follow each other� (large sigh of annoyance here).
When the two lovebirds finally arrive, their first words are �The whole province is out of power.�
�I beg your pardon?�
�No power�anywhere. The liquor store is closed, we should get going.�
All right then, off we go. During the traffic jam that lasted the first quarter of the way up, I listened to the radio to find out what was going on. People from all over the province were phoning up radio shows just to tell the DJs �Yup, we don�t got no power up here either, �. Well duh, Billy-Bob Nobrain, it�s a province-wide blackout � no power is the general idea. It was a great source of amusement on the slow drive towards Haliburton.
The jam eventually thins, and I�m happily heading up the 35 when I get a call from Bro Dave. Apparently, they have a quarter of a tank of gas for the 350 km drive and, lo and behold, all the gas stations are closed. We decide it would be best if they drive as far as they can and cross the bridge of an empty tank when we get to it.
And then we got to the bridge.
After phone calls and coordination efforts, we take 6 km side trip to Fenelon Falls where my car is filled with all of their crap and the two of them to boot. Ironic, isn�t it, that my car lasted the drive? I felt a big �Nah nah� and �I told you so� was in order, but I left it for a more appropriate and satisfying moment.
Fortunately, we did find one small Ma-and-Pa gas station being powered by a generator along the way, so we stopped for a 20 buck fill and made our way to the cottage. Other than some harrowing moments along the back roads once Bro Dave took over the wheel, it was a fairly uneventful rest of the way to the cottage.
Which, by the way, had a power outage that lasted a whole 5 minutes. We were fine for the whole weekend.
So, there you go, the biggest blackout since who knows when, and I missed it. While we listened for updates and news about the crisis, I actually felt a little disappointed that I wasn�t in Toronto. For one thing, it would probably have been the only time in my life where I might have actually seen a starry sky from my backyard. It would have been an experience to walk along the downtown streets with no lights. I could have just lit up a few candles, found a battery powered radio, hung out on the balcony and took it all in.
But the cottage was nice, too. Lots of swimming, card and trivial pursuit playing (and, by the way, I actually found someone who is more competitive than me), eating and, of course, drinking. My big-ass bottle of Bailey�s from duty free Ireland lasted about 2 hours before it was gone. We must have gone through 4 or 5 double sized bottles of wine and, of course, the rye and cokes, beers and coolers.
This is my family, people. Now do you know where I get it from?
