The power went out about twenty minutes ago and I’m still optimistically thinking that it will come back on any moment now. I still have 50% charge in my laptop and 73% in my phone, so I am not totally cast adrift from the world. Even so, it is an odd feeling.
I tried to contact the power company on my phone, but apparently, the wifi has gone dead along with everything else in my apartment and the entire condo complex. Except, and it is a significant exception, the hallway and pathway lights are still on. Presumably, they are on some sort of standby power source in case of emergency. I wonder how long that source is good for.
When I went on to my patio to see what other people were doing, I found only one person walking about. He and I agreed that the power had gone out. As we were doing this, a woman called out from an upper storey window to find out if our power had gone out, too. We agreed that it had. That mutual affirmation of a shared dilemma was strangely reassuring. Oh, yours is out too, so I guess that’s ok then.
The fire doors in the hallway have slammed shut, and I don’t hear people wandering about, so I suppose we are all sitting in the dark expecting the lights and the TV to come back on any time now. What is the alternative? We could go and stand out in the street, but then we’d be cold and uncomfortable and probably no wiser.
I have found the flashlight in the kitchen drawer and used it to pour a glass of wine. It seems like a reasonable thing to do under the circumstances and, anyway, the wine bottle was handy.
Just before the lights went out I had put some potato fries in the oven, and I have since taken them out and eaten them. They seemed cooked enough. At least, that’s what I decided. When the power comes back on, I wonder if the oven will be on or off. Hmm. That will be interesting. It seems to me that it should automatically turn itself off in the event of a power outage, but I don’t know that is what will happen. Now I’m wondering if I go to bed and the power comes back on during the night, will the oven be on for hours before I realize it?
Also, the Nest thermostat was on for a little while, but now it is showing a screwdriver and wrench icon, indicating that ….
Oh, the power just came back on. Yay!
Life as we know it has returned.
Snowbird of Paradise 
Outages are a fact of life out here. An irregular regular episode of day to day living, if you catch my meaning?
I bet it still feels strange to be sitting at home in the dark, though.
It’s a pain in the backside … especially,although rarely, if we have baking on the go.
Many people have generators these days but we haven’t got that desperate yet.
And the situation is improving … we are told!