The Spark of Life

In my blog ‘Good News’ I talked about a terrible storm we had last winter when the local wind speed reached 184 km per hour. It was very frightening, but I was comforted by a DJ talking us through it on a tiny radio.

My electricity went off not long after the storm started and stayed off for four days. This was because 768,000 other homes in Ireland had lost power too and it took a long time to clear the fallen trees lying on the power lines and get everyone connected again. Some people were without power for 2 weeks.

I was so lucky because I have 2 wood burning stoves. This meant I could stay warm, make hot drinks, heat water to wash in and cook food in saucepans on the top. So many were very cold and had no way of heating food or water.

Another stroke of luck for me was that it was freezing outside. This meant I could put milk, butter and other perishable essentials into a metal bucket with a lid on outside and they would stay cold and fresh. The contents of the freezer had to go though. The local shop tried to stay open, but could only accept cash so everyone ran up a tab.

We had plenty of candles, but these don’t give off a huge amount of light. It became very depressing sitting in the gloomy half-light. That was probably the worst thing. I missed the TV as well. It’s a cheery sound in the corner and without it the house seemed a little too quiet. My partner had to drive around aimlessly with our phones connected just to get a tiny bit of charge in them, but we were very grateful to be able to use them, albeit sparingly.

When the power finally came back on, the lights seemed wonderfully bright. It was heavenly to have a shower again and really great to switch on the TV and hear about how everyone else was faring.

All this was a reminder of how much we rely on the miracle that is electricity. I’ve done a little research and it seems no single person was responsible for discovering electricity, it was a series of moments of enlightenment (pun intended!) But it is agreed that 1946 was the year electricity first came to homes in Ireland. That’s only sixteen years before I was born!

There is no doubt that electricity is a truly amazing luxury. We are so lucky to have it and I feel for anyone who has to cope without it.

We bought a very small 600-watt power bank after the storm so now we can charge our phones and have some lamps on when it happens again. It WILL happen again because global warming means high winds are here to stay. But that storm was described as The Storm of the Century.

I take my hat off to those who live off grid without an electricity connection.

Nature can be a terrifying force. We are very protected here in our cosy houses. We rely on things like electricity and a fresh water supply without thinking much about it.

So today, give a thought to the magic that is electricity and give thanks we were born in such an illuminated age.