Here's a little story, true, I sent to a dear friend yesterday.
Last night, we were watching something or other on tv while, um, dining (can you really call it "dining" if you're doing it in front of a tv set? Nah) when the lights went out. The whole neighborhood, mebbe more, swathed in darkness. And raining. After the scramble for candles, and chianti bottles to put them in, we settled down. What to do. You go into a different room and flip the light switch even though you know it won't work.... Play gin? Some other game? Old Red isn't much for extemporaneity.* Read? Pretty hard by candlelight (we're spoiled).
And then, what do you think, just being quiet and being there was lovely. The candlelight so soft and kind, the rain falling on the autumn leaves, soughing, sweetly splashing, the silence deep and welcome.
I called PG&E once around 9, and they predicted light again by 10:30 (by that time we would have been watching the tube again—this time to see the Lakers and Warriors in the first preseason game, playing in Hawaii). Ah well. With candle in balsamic vinegar bottle (nice handle on that) I repaired to the bath to wash my hair and me. Not much light needed for that; and the water keeps warm without electricity.
Feeling fresh and lovely, about 10:45 I called again; this time PG&E knew more: the outage was caused by a car knocking down a telephone pole, a key telephone pole, and the lights would be back on between 3 and 6 a.m.! So much for basketball. And I settled in to get used to reading by candlelight. As soon as I got settled, the lights sputtered back on, Al's PC boinged and his Mac blustered into life. The fridge began its whirr, and the housewide plethora of red and green and blue LEDs spit and flickered back into being, like colorful lightning bugs. Ha.
Lakers lost by a point. Go, Nellie.
* Extemporaneity—do not know if this is a word or spelled right; but if it isn't a word, it should be; and I'm too lazy at this near-midnight to look it up. Oh all right, I'll look it up. "Extemporaneousness" is the word. I like it my way better, kind of gets more spontaneity into the picture....
