Summer Blackouts

I was one of the many people affected by the torrential storm that hit Toronto and area on Monday. Mind you, I slept through the whole thing since I was home with a bad cold. I woke up in gloomy grey darkness and a heat that was difficult to breath. I wandered my house trying to surmise what the hell was going on. My husband was not home and the street seemed eerily vacant. The hot air was due to my ac not working because the power was out – and my cats disappeared somewhere in the walls of the basement. In the midst of flooding roads, overflowing street drains, and the grumbling heavens, I found solitude in the darkness.

Opening the windows to allow a cool misty draft offered some relief from the heat. Candles glowed on table tops and shelves. And a Moroccan style lantern cascaded geometrical patterns onto the bathroom walls and floor. Without the TV or Internet, I had no idea what was going on with the outside world but the feeling of the unknown was new to me and fear slowly bubbled up but quickly turned into a sense of freedom. I was happy to not have electricity for a short time – never long term. I wondered why I did not do this more often, turn off the lights, shut off the TV, simply unplug. My thoughts trailed off to how people once lived without modern luxuries, what did they do with their free time, if they had any? I felt transported and not myself – I welcomed the feeling. Or it was all the cold medication I ingested a couple hours earlier.

My husband soon returned home safely and unaffected by the weather and complained about the TV not working. We lounged on the bed with not much to do since I was sick so luckily for him, and my insanity, the laptop was fully charged and we watched the first two episodes of Game of Thrones Season One. Now I have a new obsession.