Thunderstorms are awesome things to watch – I love the power that comes with them, the electrifying excitement, the knowledge that there are some things that humans can’t control, that we just have roll with.
They sometimes bring a great deal of rain and some times, inconvenience – or at least that’s the way we see it, but is it really?
We lost our power a couple of weeks ago, only for a short time, but it was long enough for the kids to groan that there wasn’t any TV and then brighten when they realized we couldn’t get any water out of the taps, so they didn’t have to have a shower!
Once the storm and rain had passed, the silence was deafening. There wasn’t any buzz from the fluoro lights, or the motor of the fridge and deep freeze cutting in and out. No TV blaring in the background and, funnily enough, the kids weren’t fighting! By candle light they were playing games like Uno and Toot and Otto. They had to think for themselves and make their own fun!
A candle lit dinner and an early night for all of us followed!
I lived like this for about five years and never thought anything of it. When Anthony and I first started farming, the atco hut we lived in didn’t have power or a toilet (we got a toilet after about a year). We had a gas fridge and in the evenings, we would start our trusty old generator and run it for about three hours. It was just long enough to make the bread and do a couple of loads of washing. Most evenings our dinner would be by candle light and it was a very special time. We talked, laughed and planned. We concentrated on each other. It was a wonderful start to our married life.
But back to the present…
At some stage during the night the power was restored, thanks to the dedicated people willing to brave horrible conditions to fix everything. I was woken by the lights flickering back on and the bed head clock flashing with the low buzzing noise of the power making it work.
We seem to not hear most of these quiet noises – we’ve become used to them. But we certainly always hear them when they come back on.
I love thunderstorms. Great post, Fleur! 🙂
Lovely post, Fleur. When Cyclone season hits and the power goes out I’m always amazed at how much background noise we take for granted.