In the Dark

It is certainly a blessing to have Dana and Jim nearby. After a day of frustration Jim announced that he was bringing dinner from Petaluma where he works, and that we were to come to their house because, although the don’t have power either, they DO have hot water! After dinner, which we ate at 5:30 before it got dark, Dana dug out every candle she could find and lined them up on the table. The result is today’s image which sums up this whole weird experience rather well...cheering but not warm, illuminating but not very but cozy nonetheless. We went home (with an extra glass of wine on board) and went to bed at 8pm because there’s nothing else to do in a cold, dark house.

Of course, having gone to bed at 8, I woke up at 2am, slept fitfully for a couple more hours, finished my book on my Kindle, and then was unable to download another book because the WiFi is out. I finally gave up the ghost at about 4am and went about the business of hauling water from the hot tub to the bathroom.

As soon as it was light enough to see (and negotiate a number of intersections with disabled traffic lights) I went to Acre for some coffee. My own coffee maker is disabled and Ozzie gave me a hurt look as I made for the door without giving him his customary lick of the remains of my Cappuccino.

I talked to the fellow in front of me in line at Acre about generators (I have learned more about generators and storage batteries in the last six months than I ever thought I would care about). The lady behind me in the line,a total stranger, offered me a shower at her house.

Soon we will go back to Dana’s where we both plan to take a nice hot shower! Life’s little rewards loom even larger in a crisis...even an ill conceived one. Jim will be bring Thai food for our enjoyment tonight. We have the wine but it’s not very cold.. tomorrow I will probably have to throw out all the food remaining in the fridge.

It’s not how I thought I would be spending my days but at least I’m not like the 89 year old man who requires oxygen to breathe and has to spend the day in a tent in a parking lot at the Veteran’s Building charging his portable respirator.