When you don’t have power for 36 hours, you have lots of time to think.
There’s no Wi-Fi; your device died hours ago. There is nothing on TV… literally.
And it’s hard enough reading in low light. Try no light.
You can’t go anywhere because everything’s closed and you can’t get there anyway, as your car is trapped in the garage as the power door doesn’t work.
And why would you try to go anywhere anyway? Unless you enjoy driving an obstacle course featuring downed power lines, fallen trees, lake-like puddles and free-for-all intersections.
So; time to think. About a mighty wind.
About why the Edgemont neighbourhood is always among the first to lose power and the last to get it back. Is it something I said, Mother Nature?
About the other 533,000 homes that lost power during the storm across Metro Vancouver. Each one has a story to tell, and I’m sure they’re telling it over and over to anyone who will listen.
About the elderly and disabled who are trapped in their apartments because the elevators don’t work. For those who can’t take care of themselves, is there someone in their lives who can?
About how there’s more than one guardian angel in my own building who made sure the old folks weren’t alone in the dark. You know who you are.
About the impulse to start hoarding after the power goes out. A little late?
About the BC Hydro power outage website that never works when you need it and only works when you don’t. Now that all the power has been restored, the power outage map works beautifully, thanks.
About why BC Hydro hasn’t learned to under-promise and over-deliver. Why make promises you can’t keep? Don’t you have enough to do? Like restoring the power to Edgemont Village?
About all those politicians who insist on demanding an investigation into the failure of the BC Hydro website after an extensive — and expensive — redesign. We already know the answer. See above.
About why I keep trying the light switch 30 hours after it stopped working.
About Elon Musk and his much ballyhooed improved battery technology. Where do I sign up?
About trees. You realize that if we didn’t have trees, these windstorms would come and go and we’d still be able to charge our devices and play video games. And then, with apologies to Joyce Kilmer, I think devices are made by fools like me but only Gaia can make a tree.
About the squirrels on my street who spent the week in the wake of the storm harvesting the acorns blown conveniently onto the ground by the wind. I’m glad someone’s happy.
About all those amazing people who rode their bikes to Seattle on the Ride to Conquer Cancer in the middle of the worst windstorm since 2006. If I were cancer, I’d start worrying.
About all those drivers who are outraged by that other guy who didn’t wait for his turn during the four-way stop procedure when the traffic lights were down. Really?
About the climate change deniers who immediately leap to the conclusion that this has nothing to do with climate change. And if it is climate change, it’s caused by sunspots or something. These guys have gone from being merely stubborn to downright heroic.
Apologies to that other poet, Robert Frost:
Some say the world will end in fire, Some say in ice.
Like it matters.
What’s really important is that if we don’t do something about it — and fast — it will end while we’re sitting in the dark wondering when BC Hydro will turn the lights back on.
Deny that.
Journalist and communications consultant Paul Sullivan has been a North Vancouver resident since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the rise of Madonna. He can be reached via email at p.sullivan@breakthroughpr.com.
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