when the lights went out...

Today's headlines.


Last night, Jodi and Allison and I had planned to get together at Allison's place for an Urban Tapestry practice. As some of you already know, the practice never happened, and I ended up crashing at Allison's place in Richmond Hill. We had what is now being referred to as the biggest blackout in North American history, affecting more than 60 million people; affected areas are still recovering, and apparently 50% have power back. Ontario Premier Ernie Eves has declared a state of emergency for the province and has asked nonessential or non-emergency workers to stay home today.

If I had left for Allison's place 20 minutes later, I would have been stuck on the subway near the northern end of the line when the blackout hit. Though passengers were all escorted to the surface by TTC employees, I would have had no way to get home again except to walk and that would have been a VERY LONG walk to the other end of the subway line, especially in the heat.




Flashlight and batteries I bought last night.


Last time I went Allison's by subway/bus, it took me about 2.5 hours because of subway problems and unusually heavy traffic, so this time I left earlier. I only started noticing things were weird when we began passing intersections with no working lights. When I arrived, Allison was waiting in the lobby. Because her building had no power and the phones weren't working, she said, there was no way I would be able to let her know that I had arrived. We were worried about Jodi, who never did arrive and seemed to be unreachable by phone. Three hours later, we found out that she had (quite wisely) decided to stay home, but was unable to let us know because her phone was out.

The couple of hours were a tad tense because no one really knew what was going on except that the power outage seemed to cover a huge area. There was even a rumor about the event being terrorist-related, and the constant sirens weren't very comforting.





When we picked up more information from Allison's radio Walkman and were able to contact family and close friends ok, however, we started to relax and appreciate other aspects of the situation. as Allison pointed out in her journal, for example, the night sky was much more beautiful; normally the city lights flood the sky. People started talking to each other instead of watching TV.

(hey, the power just went off again. my laptop still has enough power to let me finish writing this Blathering; I will upload it when the power comes back on)

After strolling around the neighborhood to see what was going on, Allison, John and I lit candles around the apartment, munched snacks, and talked. Didn't get much Urban Tapestry practice done but hey, there's always next week. :-) I ended up crashing on Allison's and John's pull-out. Since it looks like there will be no subway service until Monday, Jeff picked me up today (after waiting 45 minutes in line for gas).




Sign on the front of the Princess of Wales Theatre.


(Update 8:51 pm) After Jeff left to go gaming in Scarborough earlier this afternoon, I went out for Greek food for dinner, went to Tomb Raider II at the Paramount (air conditioning, yay!), came back to the apartment to find the power was back on. A news conference I just saw on tv warned Toronto residents that we'd likely be experiencing rolling and rotating blackouts over the weekend, and that everyone would have a chance to have power, taking turns until full power is restored.

There is one elevator in our building functioning, with a sign advising residents that we should walk rather than use the elevator since there are likely going to be more power blackouts this weekend, some as long as three hours. Ack. Walk 24 floors in a sweltering stairwell? Or take a small risk of being trapped in an elevator for 3 hours? I opted for the elevator tonight but am not sure about the weekend.

What choice would YOU make? I'm curious.

August/2003 comments: Read | Post | LJ