... on our hill at the east end of Hollywood. It's the second in six months. Last time around, it lasted for about ten hours, as I recall. Today, the power went out around 7AM and is predicted to last until 2PM. Meantime: our landlines do not work; we can't read in the bedroom, where there's not enough natural light; we can't watch television, can't listen to the radio because our is not battery-operated; can't light our gas stove without a match because the ignitor is electrical; can't open our garage door without disconnecting the electrical system. I am typing this post on my laptop, which is rapidly running out of power and I have no means to recharge it. Same with our mobile telephones. If need arises, we'll have to use the car phone charger.
And so on. As I say, it's the second time in six months. We are these days much dependent on our power supply, and the long-time neglect of our infrastructure--both local and national--assures that this kind of thing will be happening with more frequency, and will affect far greater numbers of people than the 1708 (according to the DWP report) who are currently (excuse the pun!) affected on our hill. What kind of personal inconvenience, I wonder, will it take before we all wake up to the need to bring our infrastructure into the 21st century?
Meantime, let's be Buddhist about this. Let's enjoy the respite from television, telephones and radio. Let's be happy to be incommunicado, out of touch, out of the loop, disconnected. It's not such a terrible burden after all. We are richly spoiled by the comforts of our daily lives, and take them perhaps too much for granted. It will do us no harm to sit quiet and pay attention to the present, powerless moment!
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