I love historical romance. It’s probably my favorite genre. Jane Austen had a wonderful way of evoking an atmosphere that every historical romance reader loves the ‘feel’ of. And what’s not to love about the clothes, the long flowing hair, dances, the games of whist, playin
g the piano forte and clever conversation.
Well, earlier in the month I was allowed a true taste of what it was REALLY like living in those glorious olden days. The simple life…it’s not so simple. A tornado blew through my neighborhood knocking out internet, cable television and electricity. That’s not surprising and don’t get me wrong, I was VERY lucky that’s all we lost as neighbors had trees come down on their homes, vehicles destroyed, storage buildings and their belongings lost. All we got was a yard full of roofing shingles and the worry over the food in our freezer. At first…
The electric company was flooded with calls for power and we were pretty much the last on their list. We were told it could take up to four days. And guess what? It did.
The first night without electricity was sort of an adventure. The kids were excited about the flashlights, lanterns and candles. We still had some batteries in our radio and portable CD player. Surely, the power would be on tomorrow…
Nope. Day two we had to fill up the coolers with ice and hoped the food didn’t spoil. No electri
c stove to cook on. Sandwiches or eating out…The kid’s loathing the night and the dark, missing their television…oh the complaints I had to endure. “This is boring. I hate this. I miss the computer.” On and on they went, as if I had any choice in the matter. Telling them to read books or play games had more complaints and had me wondering just when did my children become such spoiled brats? Inconvenienced by their lack of conveniences!
Day three. The grumbles continued. The laundry piling up. The chill when you set your feet on the floor in the morning. The food…lost some, some still hanging in there.
It all had me appreciating my modern, cushy life.
But I do have a writer’s mind and I envisioned pounding my dirty clothes on rocks, using lye soap to get them clean. Wondered if people with ice houses worried over their food. Wondered how much they lost annually when every morsel was so dear to them. Feeling out of sorts in the darkness of night, with no light to turn on if I needed to see and unable to see very well even with the aid of candles.
Early to bed became a part of our lives. Sitting and talking to each other rather than parking in front of the t.v. became our pastime. Enjoying our meals and talking over the days events was the new normal. I started to see the good side of the simpler times, as well as the worries.
Day four. The electric company and cable company arrived! Yeah! Lights, refrigeration, washe
r and dryer, computer, television, internet! We were back online. We were back doing our regular thing…but is our regular thing all that good?
The answer is no.
So even though, the glory days of Jane Austen are past and the screaming fast days of the Internet era are here…I think I’d like to rewind a little. Maybe not to 1817 but definitely to the days when families bonded over meals and computers and television were a luxury, not a necessity.
I would love to hear what you would miss if you lost power for a few days. One lucky commenter will receive a free download of my most current release, THE DEMON IS IN THE DETAILS. Thanks Lori, for inviting me. Have a great day.
To find out more about Harris, visit her here!
Harris, welcome to MM! I once had 4 days without running water. I lived in a small town far from anywhere and the main water pipe burst, and for whatever reason, they couldn’t fix it for Four. Days. And did I mention I had two kids under the age of three, at that time? Argh. I truly appreciated the joy of running tap water after that one.
I’ve also lived through no electricity once or twice. You’re right, your whole life does change, and sometimes for the better.
Glad you got off with little damage, and thanks again for blogging at MM.
Harris, I enjoyed this post. I live in Florida, the land of the huricane, and all storms in all categories up to the BIG FIVE.
Stuff the freezer and frig with newspaper and only open a few times a day. Grill all your food, buy a portable stove like for camping and portable electric (battery operated) lights.
I am a NYC gal transplanted and what I missed the first two times was my music, althougth once you make your huricane box ( big storage box for garage or closet stuffed with cooking and light supplies) … what I love the most are the nights with soft lighting, the quiet of the inside and outside. I am not up for being a pioneer, but there is something special about disconnecting from all the “noise” of TV, computer, running washers and the rest of the electric-connection in our life.
When I was about five months pregnant with my son, Hurricane Katrina swept through the area. We were very fortunate. Our house didn’t sustain any damage, but like others, we did lose power–for two weeks. So, I was a high risk pregnancy, with no air conditioning in the VERY hot area of Mobile. No power meant no refrigerator. No stove. Stumbling around the house in darkness at night, and, unfortunately, a few falls.
What did I miss most? Hands down–the air conditioning! Gah!
But I adapted, or, um, I found out that the local theater was operational (don’t ask me how they survived the power outage), so I just took my pregnant self there during the hottest hours and watched flick after flick. Maybe that’s why my son loves movies so much now.
Great post! I’m off to check out The Demon Is In The Details!
Ice storm. We were without power for a week. We had a generator, so we could run the pump for water (we were on well), could keep the refrigerator cold, and since our heat was gas, we could run the blower and move the heat around the house. We also had a gas fireplace, gas oven and gas stove, so really, it wasn’t THAT bad. We got lots of sleep that week!
Then a couple of years ago, a bad storm took down trees and power lines in my area. No power for 3 or 4 days. But this time, we moved across the street into our motorhome, fired up the generator, and had lights, tv, A/C, etc.
When we lived in Memphis, we were on the same electrical lines as the electric company and a hospital so even when we lost power, it was rarely over a couple of hours!
Yeah, we’ve been lucky.
Living in Texas with our crazy weather…I would absolutley miss the AC and/or heating the most. I hate being uncomfortable…I could care less about having a TV or computer, as long as I have a good book and some water (hopefully sometype of food I can eat) and I am good!
Wow! Some of you have had it tough! So far (knock on wood), I haven’t had any experiences as an adult in which we had to go without power for more than a few hours. But when my internet goes out… watch out! I’m not happy.
My goodness! You all know how it feels. A few years back I weathered almost two weeks without power as a terrible ice storm tore throught Middle Tennessee. It was awful, but I was young, still at home with Mom and Dad and it was well before my introduction to the internet. So, I just read books and snuggled my dog to keep warm. Mom and Dad took care of the rest…ahhh the good old days!
Thanks for stopping by everyone and thanks for sharing your stories.
So far I’ve been lucky enough to only go through an outage of 12 hours. Being a typical NZ family we always have a full gas bottle handy for our BBQ so would always have something to cook on. The biggest thing I would miss would be light in the evenings to read by. My partner goes nuts without a tv very quickly but I\’m a reader so just settle down to a good story lol
Wow … that was pretty tough, Harris. Glad you survived it. I’ve never had to endure a return to a primitive time, so I really can’t relate. Don’t know what I would miss the most. Depending on the time of year … heat during the winter would be my biggest worry since our house doesn’t have a fireplace or any other means of heating beyond the furnace.
Right now I’m feeling for all the people in the path of the latest tornadoes. All the damage done. I’m sure there must be a lot of outages, too.
We are pretty lucky, and the most we’ve lost power was about 7 hours a few months ago. Knock on wood. My husband and I played cards, even though we couldn’t remember the rules. It’s been so long. So we made up our own rules.
Yes Edie, you’re right. My husband was in Alabama today and said lots of roads and even some towns are closed to traffic. It’s so scary and so very sad. We were under a tornado watch and thunderstorm warning during the storms and spent a very long night in the basement.
Thanks to everyone who stopped by. I really appreciate your taking the time!!
I would miss the running water and lights. I don’t like being in the dark and not having running water. Please enter me in contest. I would love to read your books. Tore923@aol.com
I don’t think I’ve ever had a power outage last longer than a day, and boy do I consider myself lucky. I would probably hurt someone really badly if I were ever cut off from the Internet. My favorite part of power outages, however, is the excuse to break out my candles.