The power went off again this morning, as it does almost daily here, if only for a few minutes. During the day, not having electricity isn’t a disaster. I can still cook or read, and there’s always something to do in the garden, as long as it isn’t raining.
One day last week, we came back from a trip to San Jose at around 4 o’clock, to discover we had no power. That meant no computer, no TV, no music, no lights: nothing to do! Jack can always sleep, so he went to bed at 5, after a small snack.
I sat outside and read until around 6, when the light failed, and then tried reading by candlelight, but my old eyes weren’t having it. I can use the laptop, I thought. But no. It turns out that appliances that are left on chargers soon discharge when the power goes off. The iPod had a little charge left, so I plugged it in and danced to show tunes for an hour. I can’t help it; I’m a show tune junkie.
By 8 o’clock, the iPod was kaput. One more hour, and I’ll be tired, I told myself. I’m thinking we need a generator.
