Living in the dark for an hour.

[Spongebob]

To those that live in Sydney. What did you do when the lights went out for an hour?

[Aguiluz]

Re: Living in the dark for an hour.

I dont live in Sydney, But when Typhoon Milenyo struck at our country, we got blackouts for 4 days!

The first thing we did was to bring in the pet dogs. We wont like sick dogs.

The power went PLANK! The power is out.

To make it worse, the water is also out. The Phone line is down, and the mobile phones wont get a signal. Gas isn't a problem since we store our own LPG tanks.

To eat at the table without lights, we have to get 4 candles and span them on the table.

My mom ordered me to secure the freezer to prevent the meat from defrosting. I used 4 belts (the belt you wear) and connected them end to end and kept the freezer door shut.

Sleeping during the night was hot. I used a computer fan (80mm) and rigged it to a 6V battery to make a makeshift fan. It was still hot.

Then, Day 2, we should be going to school, But school's also out. My brother's school had a billboard shoved at the side of a classroom. My school is also closed for flooding.

In our subdivision, the reason why the power was out because one of the big grown pine trees snapped in the storm and smashed a power line. Live Wires were buzzing at the area. Guards cordoned off the section.

We stopped at an Ice Shop to buy Ice and Water. Ice will prevent the meat from defrosting. I purchased a nice, peppermint treat.

The day continued... at least the water is back.

I was not bored... I read magazines and other materials.

A soft, cool breeze blows constantly across our house and sleeping was cool.

Day 3, and the mobile phone's signal is back. I have done a free roam around the village. Sandbags on the roads prevent rocks from rolling to roads. There were lots of downed phone lines. Many, many things and debris are on the road.

Day 4, and the power-out was continued.

And then, at nightfall, I sat on the rooftop, like a dragon watching over his territory.

I saw 3 trucks retro-fitted with man-lifts and halogen spotlights enter the village gate. They soon started combing the village, checking every line. One of the trucks followed a single guard's trike. The trike was headed for the downed post.

A few minutes after, the trucks kept going. One of the trucks stopped at the downed post. There are some voices i hear. Welding sparks flew from the truck's man-lift. After maybe 6 minutes, they fed the power. The power turned on... But after a few seconds, the power tripped. They start moving around, and fixing every downed line. They started the power...

It Works!

Then, I dashed down, and fixed up everything, and said: "Electricity, a very valuable commodity. Dont Waste it."

[Spongebob]

Re: Living in the dark for an hour.

I dont live in Sydney, But when Typhoon Milenyo struck at our country, we got blackouts for 4 days!

The first thing we did was to bring in the pet dogs. We wont like sick dogs.

The power went PLANK! The power is out.

To make it worse, the water is also out. The Phone line is down, and the mobile phones wont get a signal. Gas isn't a problem since we store our own LPG tanks.

To eat at the table without lights, we have to get 4 candles and span them on the table.

My mom ordered me to secure the freezer to prevent the meat from defrosting. I used 4 belts (the belt you wear) and connected them end to end and kept the freezer door shut.

Sleeping during the night was hot. I used a computer fan (80mm) and rigged it to a 6V battery to make a makeshift fan. It was still hot.

Then, Day 2, we should be going to school, But school's also out. My brother's school had a billboard shoved at the side of a classroom. My school is also closed for flooding.

In our subdivision, the reason why the power was out because one of the big grown pine trees snapped in the storm and smashed a power line. Live Wires were buzzing at the area. Guards cordoned off the section.

We stopped at an Ice Shop to buy Ice and Water. Ice will prevent the meat from defrosting. I purchased a nice, peppermint treat.

The day continued... at least the water is back.

I was not bored... I read magazines and other materials.

A soft, cool breeze blows constantly across our house and sleeping was cool.

Day 3, and the mobile phone's signal is back. I have done a free roam around the village. Sandbags on the roads prevent rocks from rolling to roads. There were lots of downed phone lines. Many, many things and debris are on the road.

Day 4, and the power-out was continued.

And then, at nightfall, I sat on the rooftop, like a dragon watching over his territory.

I saw 3 trucks retro-fitted with man-lifts and halogen spotlights enter the village gate. They soon started combing the village, checking every line. One of the trucks followed a single guard's trike. The trike was headed for the downed post.

A few minutes after, the trucks kept going. One of the trucks stopped at the downed post. There are some voices i hear. Welding sparks flew from the truck's man-lift. After maybe 6 minutes, they fed the power. The power turned on... But after a few seconds, the power tripped. They start moving around, and fixing every downed line. They started the power...

It Works!

Then, I dashed down, and fixed up everything, and said: "Electricity, a very valuable commodity. Dont Waste it."

Ouch, a disaster! I hope it never happens to you again. I think I'd invest into a generator to keep the freezer and possibly even the air conditioning working incase something like that happens again. I've never been close to a typhoon and I hope it stays that way.
I like to picture that in better days when mother nature doesn't show her wrath makes up for it when living in the tropics.

Sydney's blackout was intentional for a greenhouse demonstration but later I read that it was only certain businesses that participated so I'm thinking it probably wasn't as big of a deal as the original news article I read made it out to be. Maybe alot of the general population didn't even know it happened.

I can't imagine the electricity going out for 4 days like it did for you. In Winter where I live we'd all freeze to death if that happened or worse yet no internet!!! It reminds me of a time when I had to have the neighbor come shovel the snow away from my door one morning so i could get out of my house. Thank god the phones still worked.