These blackouts (PC term is 'load-shedding', I ask you with tears in my eyes) do have some advantages. You can get on with things that don't require electricity (if during daylight hours) - watering the garden and enjoying the flowers and birds, taking a walk, sorting out cupboards, washing windows, playing Scrabble or Uno and drinking tea or coffee from a flask.
No background TV, computers or internet for those of us with landline-based access, so no need to check for messages - if the phone rings, it's for you. Very pleasant to be without technology for short periods.
Night-time takes a little more organisation, but once your candles and paraffin lamps are in place with lots of boxes of matches everywhere, you are set to go, and although reading is not an option, great family bonding can take place with the aforementioned games. Alternatively, star gazing conditions are as close to perfect as they can get provided there is no cloud cover, and it is always beneficial for the soul to look upwards and out into the universe in quiet contemplation.
Although we have schedules with the times applicable to various stages of stress, this seems to be something that our power 'supplier' can't stick to in advance. Facebook and social media are humming with warnings that are sometimes not applicable, causing howls of dismay and much cursing, only for it all to come to naught when the grid recovers.
I think that here in the Deep South we get off a bit more lightly than the rest of the Peninsula, as our times are generally early morning or late at night and sometimes the lights stay on. On the other hand, our infrastructure is pretty old and we have more than enough emergency repairs to provide impromptu load-shedding anyway.
The answer, as any good Boy Scout or Girl Guide will know, is to Be Prepared. Oh, and keep a torch handy.
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