![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
The Great Darkness, day one
Aug. 28th, 2011 08:51 pmHours before the hurricane is set to roll into our area, the lights go out. 7:00 a.m.
Corb spends the morning in a state of increasing agitation. "This one's going to be big, I can just feel it." "We're going to get hit really hard." "We're east of where it's expected to travel...that's bad!"
I'm, in the meantime, trying to sleep, because I feel so freaking tired lately. No use. Even though I know there's nothing we can do but wait out the storm, and that it probably won't be a hurricane by the time it reaches us, I start to freak out, too. I get up.
I realize that the place is a mess. We had foolishly spent the day before at Canoby Lake with Josie and the kidlets. Had gone food shopping after that, but there were no batteries to be found and some of our choices, like buying meat, seemed stupid in light of the power going out. Oh well, maybe it won't be out that long.
To work out my anxiety, I start to clean like crazy.
At nine, I text Josie. She still has power. We agree she should keep the kids today.
At eleven, Corb and I go to the supermarket. It's dead in their, and all the employees are just hanging around. It's spooky outside, and I'm freaking out the entire ride there, thinking about what could happen.
At 11:30, we're hungry, and come across a little hole-in-the-wall restaurant that's actually open. It's a strange place, that specializes in serving weird meats, like llama, ostrich, and buffalo. Their electricity is down, but they have a gas grill in the back. They are actually heating up their coffee the old fashioned way.
There are only ten other people in the diner. The meal is absolutely delicious. It feels like we're eating in another time.
Two o'clock, back in the apartment. Nothing to do except read. Corb falls asleep in Theo's room, listening to the wind, with the door to the balcony wide open. I lie next to him, reading the second in the "No 1 Ladies Detective series." Light reading, perfect for a breezy day. I get through 180 pages by day end.
Six o'clock and the worst is over. Most of the dramatic damage around us occurred in the morning. We decide to go out for a walk and view the grounds. A lot of other folks have the same idea, especially those with kids. The kids must have been going nuts, cooped up inside without electricity.
Eight o'clock we drive around, looking for a place to eat and scanning other areas. Many places are completely dark, some sections have light, lucky bastards. See one road where a telephone pole was completely broken in half.
End up deciding on sushi. The place we go to is completely crowded and the host isn't even speaking to people coming in looking for dinner. We wait twenty minutes then leave. And I think, "If not getting good service at a sushi joint is your biggest complaint, things aren't that bad."
The roads are scary, driving home that night. Everything completely black.
Eleven o'clock, crawl intio bed, still without power. Read by candlelight. Fall asleep right away.
Corb spends the morning in a state of increasing agitation. "This one's going to be big, I can just feel it." "We're going to get hit really hard." "We're east of where it's expected to travel...that's bad!"
I'm, in the meantime, trying to sleep, because I feel so freaking tired lately. No use. Even though I know there's nothing we can do but wait out the storm, and that it probably won't be a hurricane by the time it reaches us, I start to freak out, too. I get up.
I realize that the place is a mess. We had foolishly spent the day before at Canoby Lake with Josie and the kidlets. Had gone food shopping after that, but there were no batteries to be found and some of our choices, like buying meat, seemed stupid in light of the power going out. Oh well, maybe it won't be out that long.
To work out my anxiety, I start to clean like crazy.
At nine, I text Josie. She still has power. We agree she should keep the kids today.
At eleven, Corb and I go to the supermarket. It's dead in their, and all the employees are just hanging around. It's spooky outside, and I'm freaking out the entire ride there, thinking about what could happen.
At 11:30, we're hungry, and come across a little hole-in-the-wall restaurant that's actually open. It's a strange place, that specializes in serving weird meats, like llama, ostrich, and buffalo. Their electricity is down, but they have a gas grill in the back. They are actually heating up their coffee the old fashioned way.
There are only ten other people in the diner. The meal is absolutely delicious. It feels like we're eating in another time.
Two o'clock, back in the apartment. Nothing to do except read. Corb falls asleep in Theo's room, listening to the wind, with the door to the balcony wide open. I lie next to him, reading the second in the "No 1 Ladies Detective series." Light reading, perfect for a breezy day. I get through 180 pages by day end.
Six o'clock and the worst is over. Most of the dramatic damage around us occurred in the morning. We decide to go out for a walk and view the grounds. A lot of other folks have the same idea, especially those with kids. The kids must have been going nuts, cooped up inside without electricity.
Eight o'clock we drive around, looking for a place to eat and scanning other areas. Many places are completely dark, some sections have light, lucky bastards. See one road where a telephone pole was completely broken in half.
End up deciding on sushi. The place we go to is completely crowded and the host isn't even speaking to people coming in looking for dinner. We wait twenty minutes then leave. And I think, "If not getting good service at a sushi joint is your biggest complaint, things aren't that bad."
The roads are scary, driving home that night. Everything completely black.
Eleven o'clock, crawl intio bed, still without power. Read by candlelight. Fall asleep right away.
