My BC Snowstorm Adventure
It was with somewhat misguided delight that I watched the first snowflakes fall. After all, any snow is bound to cause a "snow day" at work, and it was, of course, Sunday. I awoke to fully half a foot of snow covering my yard, patio and - much to my horror - street. Of course, this left my entire household - three cars - with no reasonable way to get around (we all have summer tires you see). Now, being stereotypical Victorians we never really saw a need for "all season" tires. This day would prove to be somehow different.
At around noon something happened. Or rather, something DIDN'T happen. The lights didn't stay on. Kevin and I were quickly faced with a full fledged power outage - something that hardcore consumers like us couldn't quite fathom. It took us three whole hours before we became stir crazy. No music, no television and - worst of all - no computer! We looked towards a future of stale wheat thins and Pilsner Beer (the latter wasn't so bad). The snow abated and the streets looked at least somewhat passable. We had to get out, we would have no doubt starved to death otherwise.
Into the 95 Golf (summer tires and all) we went. After spending what seemed an eternity wiping all the snow off the car, we were off. Where? Well that was just it, we didn't know how far flung the power outage was. We figured out that it was, quite literally, JUST OUR HALF OF THE STREET. Angered, we carried on to the main roads where the going was much better. I was surprised how well the summer tires garnered traction in the slushy muck. With the exception of one particularly interesting moment, we made it clear across town to a pub and some much needed food. Like naturally positive people, we figured a quick bite at the pub would result in the power having come back on.
The error of our ways was soon realized when we arrived home. No lights, no heat, no... well anything. To add insult to injury the temperature was continuing to drop. Perhaps worst of all, the temperature in my aquarium continued to plummet - the fish were now in mortal danger. Kevin braved the night at home... I decided to go out for a bit - this time smartly taking a taxi as the slush was becoming increasingly ice like.
So I thought. Fifteen minutes into quite a harrowing cab ride we approached a corner at a speed I judged - rightly - to be far too fast. The two tonne rear wheel drive taxi spun once, I saw where we had come from. I then saw a ditch and before I could really think about it - we were in it. The cab was, of course, quite well stuck in the ditch. The driver attempted to spin the wheels - hoping against hope that he might hit something solid. The only solid object he did get grip on was some poor lady's rose bush, which was now quite torn up (and in her front lawn). The driver informed me he would call me another cab, and a tow truck for himself.
Dejected, I continued on.
The following day, after calling into work early to say I couldn't possibly make it in, I returned home to a continued power outage. The temperature in the fish tank was miraculously still 14 degrees (down from 28) and my tropical fish looked very near death indeed. At this point we could see our breath in the house, the only option that remained (we had burnt just about everything in the fire place) was to curl up into our respective beds and wait out the outage. Things were looking grim. A call to BC Hydro assured us things would be back to normal by 6pm!
Fast asleep at 1715 something happened. Accompanied by a sudden cacophony, the lights came back on... the computer speakers popped. Was power really back? I bolted out of bed and looked around. The lights were on! We were saved!
One minute later we were plunged into darkness anew. We sat there, staring out the window, watching the BC Hydro trucks driving by. We knew they must be close to a fix. The lights came on again, the furnace fired up. Three minutes later we were huddled around the fireplace trying to burn anything that would keep us warm - the power had gone again.
Eventually services were restored, and we hoped beyond hope that finally we would be able to return to a state of normalcy. A knock at the door brought more bad news - a cable was badly burned and needed replacing - the power would be out for a final (we promise) 15 minutes.
Indeed the lights went out again. We counted down the time over cigarettes and more newspaper in the fireplace. The lights came on again, the furnace kicked in, the aquarium started gurgling and heating up again.
So far it's been almost 30 minutes with stable power... everything is going well. The fish might actually survive.
Lessons learned? Well, always have a flashlight handy for one. Secondly, a cell phone is a really great thing too.
Oh and BC Hydro - please stop forwarding emergency calls to a busy line, and please PLEASE take "Or Visit BChydro.com for outage details" - It's bad enough I didn't have power, you don't have to remind me I don't have the internet either.
At around noon something happened. Or rather, something DIDN'T happen. The lights didn't stay on. Kevin and I were quickly faced with a full fledged power outage - something that hardcore consumers like us couldn't quite fathom. It took us three whole hours before we became stir crazy. No music, no television and - worst of all - no computer! We looked towards a future of stale wheat thins and Pilsner Beer (the latter wasn't so bad). The snow abated and the streets looked at least somewhat passable. We had to get out, we would have no doubt starved to death otherwise.
Into the 95 Golf (summer tires and all) we went. After spending what seemed an eternity wiping all the snow off the car, we were off. Where? Well that was just it, we didn't know how far flung the power outage was. We figured out that it was, quite literally, JUST OUR HALF OF THE STREET. Angered, we carried on to the main roads where the going was much better. I was surprised how well the summer tires garnered traction in the slushy muck. With the exception of one particularly interesting moment, we made it clear across town to a pub and some much needed food. Like naturally positive people, we figured a quick bite at the pub would result in the power having come back on.
The error of our ways was soon realized when we arrived home. No lights, no heat, no... well anything. To add insult to injury the temperature was continuing to drop. Perhaps worst of all, the temperature in my aquarium continued to plummet - the fish were now in mortal danger. Kevin braved the night at home... I decided to go out for a bit - this time smartly taking a taxi as the slush was becoming increasingly ice like.
So I thought. Fifteen minutes into quite a harrowing cab ride we approached a corner at a speed I judged - rightly - to be far too fast. The two tonne rear wheel drive taxi spun once, I saw where we had come from. I then saw a ditch and before I could really think about it - we were in it. The cab was, of course, quite well stuck in the ditch. The driver attempted to spin the wheels - hoping against hope that he might hit something solid. The only solid object he did get grip on was some poor lady's rose bush, which was now quite torn up (and in her front lawn). The driver informed me he would call me another cab, and a tow truck for himself.
Dejected, I continued on.
The following day, after calling into work early to say I couldn't possibly make it in, I returned home to a continued power outage. The temperature in the fish tank was miraculously still 14 degrees (down from 28) and my tropical fish looked very near death indeed. At this point we could see our breath in the house, the only option that remained (we had burnt just about everything in the fire place) was to curl up into our respective beds and wait out the outage. Things were looking grim. A call to BC Hydro assured us things would be back to normal by 6pm!
Fast asleep at 1715 something happened. Accompanied by a sudden cacophony, the lights came back on... the computer speakers popped. Was power really back? I bolted out of bed and looked around. The lights were on! We were saved!
One minute later we were plunged into darkness anew. We sat there, staring out the window, watching the BC Hydro trucks driving by. We knew they must be close to a fix. The lights came on again, the furnace fired up. Three minutes later we were huddled around the fireplace trying to burn anything that would keep us warm - the power had gone again.
Eventually services were restored, and we hoped beyond hope that finally we would be able to return to a state of normalcy. A knock at the door brought more bad news - a cable was badly burned and needed replacing - the power would be out for a final (we promise) 15 minutes.
Indeed the lights went out again. We counted down the time over cigarettes and more newspaper in the fireplace. The lights came on again, the furnace kicked in, the aquarium started gurgling and heating up again.
So far it's been almost 30 minutes with stable power... everything is going well. The fish might actually survive.
Lessons learned? Well, always have a flashlight handy for one. Secondly, a cell phone is a really great thing too.
Oh and BC Hydro - please stop forwarding emergency calls to a busy line, and please PLEASE take "Or Visit BChydro.com for outage details" - It's bad enough I didn't have power, you don't have to remind me I don't have the internet either.
posted by Lucas at 19:16
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