I woke up this morning to a call from my son's school. There would be a two hour delay. I looked outside and it wasn't snowing so I wondered what had caused the delay. It didn't take long to figure out that we'd lost power sometimes during the night. Upon further investigation we found that wind had knocked down power from our mountain community all the way down to the neighboring city some 40 miles away.
It's funny how many things we take for granted that run on electricity. As I started my day I had no internet, no television (not that we watch it on weekdays) and our cell phones were also going in and out. When I decided to clean I had to pick and choose the chores I could do because laundry, dishes and vacuuming were out. I couldn't operate the garbage disposal or whip up a batch of bread in the bread maker.
Thankfully my son's school is just fine with operating without lights and off to school he went. This left me with a lot of time to clean, organize, purge. I found myself looking around and accomplishing more and more simply because I didn't have the interruptions of calls, emails, Pinterest! (said as an expletive! LOL). There was nothing to distract me from garden chores, chicken chores and all that deep cleaning which often gets neglected. The reality was; I had a lot more day!
I'm not ready to forgo technology and go back to my colonial roots. However, I did wonder how much time I waste on the computer or answering emails, texting, etc. Maybe sometimes a time out can bring some prospective, or at least some much needed cleaning time. I might have to make this a new weekly goal; turn off the electronics for a few hours and see what gets accomplished. Definitely eye opening.
So very true, one doesn't stop to think about just how many of our everyday devices and conveineces are centered around electricity until they're gone. Last year when we were still living in a high rise apartment in Toronto, the hydro power got knocked out for about a day and a half, and with it went our ability to use the elevators (23 flights or stairs to get in or out of the building), and even flush the toilets (which was the bigger issue). Had the power not come back within hours of when it did, we would have had to have gone to a hotel right away.
ReplyDeleteI adore many element of the past, but am deeply grateful for the modern convince of electricity and hope that I don't have to go without for more than a few hours at a time ever again.
Thank you very much for your comment on my post about wardrobe budgeting, dear gal. I adore thrift stores, too, and am happy to know you've found some recent deals there, too.
♥ Jessica