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Well, that was an interesting little ride.

When the power first went out yesterday afternoon I wasn’t actually surprised. Pissed off, because I was on a short deadline and didn’t want any interuptions, but we had all noticed the slight dimming of our monitors and lights a scant minute or so before the full blackout hit. And now my deadline is extended a day, which combined with the weekend will make my life a little easier.

It seems that most people assumed the power would not come on in time to return to work today – all night I heard people out partying, laughing, yelling. But it wasn’t the noise of terror or chaos, it was the sound of adventure, of excitement. I must admit, even I felt a little disappointed when the power came on again a few minutes before five this morning – just over twelve hours after it went out. It was a little bit of an adventure. Rather than sitting and watching TV all night, I took my book and wandered down the path that leads behind my house to a little park, where I watched a baseball game finish up (unbeknonst to me at the time, it was actually my company playing. They won). I watched some kids play basketball. I finished the evening by reading on a bench until the light was too low to see the words anymore. I had an interesting time getting back into my apartment though; the emergency lights were not running in the hallways, so I had to feel my way along the wall, counting doors as I went. I even fondled the numbers on my own door to make doubley-sure I wouldn’t accidentally try to walk into someone else’s apartment.

The rest of the evening was spent by candlelight and flashlight, and the glow of my laptop, until it died (It said there was still an hour and a half of battery life … gotta remember in the future that it lies …) Only a paragraph or so of the story was lost at least.

So now I’m sitting here, wondering if I should be getting ready for work because the Premier of Ontario has requested that people not go to work today if they don’t have to but that little voice inside my head says that’s silly, ’cause work is there and the power is on. Kind of like when they called in the army a few years ago in Toronto to deal with a little extra snow (and yes, I worked in TO at the time, so I think I can say Mayor Mel over-reacted). It was bad, but not worthy of the army.