The bedroom was completely dark. Thinking that maybe the clock had died quietly in my sleep during the night, I tried the lamp on the night stand, but there was no power going to it, either. I laid back down, snuggling more deeply under the warm bed covers to drift back to sleep, telling myself that when I awoke later on, the life giving power would once again be flowing unabated through all of its arteries and veins, but then, just before my eyes closed completely, I noticed light coming in under the bedroom door. My curiosity was piqued; if the hydro's off, why can I see light coming in under the door? There was no way I could go back to sleep until I found the answer, so I threw off the covers and went to investigate.
I found a tea light burning in a saucer in the main bathroom, another one placed in a ceramic tea light holder sitting beside a propane lantern in the living room and two more tea lights burning in the kitchen. There was coffee in the carafe that felt warm to the touch, so I knew my husband had been able to use the coffee maker to brew himself some coffee before the power went out. The weather station on the kitchen table displayed the indoor and outdoor temperatures: 15 degrees Celsius and minus 21 degrees Celsius respectively. It was still quite dark but I could see the sky lightening outside. My ever resourceful husband, who had located and set up all the tea lights and his camping lantern, had already left for work, so I went back upstairs and crawled back into my now lukewarm bed. It wasn't long, perhaps 20 minutes, before I noticed that the covers I'd gotten back under weren't holding the snuggly warm heat as well as they had been earlier. I wondered how much longer it'd be before I had to get up to add another blanket, but I never got the chance to find out, because Roxy had decided she'd stayed long enough in bed and it was time to get up and go out for her morning pee.
The bedroom floor felt a little cooler under my sock covered feet as I walked over to pick my sweater off its hook on the bedroom door and put it on. I shoved my chilled tootsies into even chillier shoes, opened the bedroom door and watched Roxy jump off the bed, shake herself back into order and then saunter off down the hallway on her way to the back door. Just as I was about to set my foot on the top step and follow Roxy down to the kitchen, I noticed the hydro had come back on; the black tv screen jumped back to life, all snowy at first, but then regular programming resumed. The sound of the furnace kicking in was both welcome and reassuring. The kitchen light was on. I opened the back door just enough to let Roxy step outside and I swear I heard her gasp when the coldness of the morning air took her breath away. Before she had cleared the door and I could close it, the beastly cold air, chilled to an insane minus 22 degrees Celsius, muscled its way inside and surrounded me. I felt its icy fingers reach into my pyjama collar and tickle the back of my neck, making me shiver involuntarily. I really dislike the cold!
This isn't the first time we've had a power outage around here, but it is the first time this winter. When the thermometer dips into the minus 20's Celsius, a loss of power for any great length of time can be a scary, even deadly, event indeed. I am so grateful for the people who work so hard to keep the hydro flowing through the power grid and into our homes, where it gives life to our tv, computer, cordless phone, the lights, and provides the spark in the gas furnaces. I know you can think of other things to put on your list of must-haves that we'd all have to do without if there was no hydro-electric power, but until the day comes when hydroelectric power is a dim memory, let's just face it: For now, we're all hydro whores and we make no apologies...
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