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 