Ireland is beginning to recover from ex-hurricane Ophelia the worst storm we’ve had since 1961. Before getting herself to a nunnery, she claimed the lives of 3 people and left 360 thousand people without electricity.
I was down in Kilkenny during the hurricane and the power went. All in all, we were left without electricity for about 24 hours.
Here are my findings regarding life without electricity:
- When it got dark, there was nothing left to do only talk to other people. You couldn’t read! I couldn’t go online because I was trying to preserve the battery of my devices. I cooked in candle light, but these really weren’t my finest dishes… But it didn’t seem like anyone cared, perhaps because they couldn’t really see what they were eating… We then sat around the dinner table for hours and told funny stories. I think I got to know a whole new side to the people I’ve known for a long time.
- I got the best sleep since… forever. It seems that the artificial lights really do mess with our brains. I wasn’t even tired, but I don’t remember falling asleep and certainly don’t remember the last time I woke up this refreshed in the early hours of the morning.
- It occurred to me that back in the day when there was no electricity you had no hope of surviving on your own.
In conclusion, this technology has made us unsociable and sleep-deprived. Not that it comes without huge benefits.
In our recent budget there is a tax break on electric cars. Where would we be if all cars were electric and this happened?
My heart goes out to the thousands of people left without power. The electricity people said it may be up to 10 days before some homes get it back, probably the ones who are most remote and vulnerable to infrastructure interruptions – and that’s a lot of old people. I imagine that’s going to be very challenging.
A millennial's musings 
It is wild when the electricity goes out. People. Don’t. Know. What. To. Do. With. Themselves. And you’re right, sleep is great without that background bzzz. Glad to hear you got through relatively unharmed. Never heard of a hurricane hitting Ireland before.
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Yes, it’s the worst hurricane here in my memory. And indeed, genuinely was quite disorienting!
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I pretend to have no electricity one evening every week. Candle light and all 🙂
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As a kid, I used to keep the window open in winter and sit in the sill until I was freezing, just so I could appreciate my donoor even more 🙂
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*doona 😦
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Clever! And very stoic, though I can’t see you doing stoic lol 🙂
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I lived with solar power unconnected to the grid for 35 years. One winter, the battery bank decided to die. It could store about an hour’s charge, and we couldn’t afford a new lot.
When I went to work, I charged my laptop. At home, I reckon I was the only person in the world to use a computer by candlelight.
🙂
Bob
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Computer by candlelight – that’s mad! Were you in stuck like that for long? It must have been very hard.
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It just was. You do what you have to do, and it’s all right unless you choose to worry about it. We saved money, and bought another second hand battery bank.
🙂
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🙌
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Decentralizing the grid, having community-based solar, wind, and hydro, battery back-up, candles…all great ideas. Having emergency plans in place are also super wise…
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That’s a really cool suggestion actually!
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The electric vehicle batteries would provide temporary power backup for speoples home and laptop, and people shouldn’t be driving during the storm anyways. Good for Ireland for forward thinking in working towards mitigating one of the sources of climate change… the internal combustion engine. Sorry for the damage caused by Ophelia.
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I guess, I haven’t actually gone near an electric car ever, but it seems that it may be worthwhile having at least some diversity of energy supply
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