Mom and I were at my brother’s when it happened. We had stopped in to have a bite and say hello when his power went off around 4:10 pm. Of course, like most people we thought it was localized and that it would come back on momentarily. He lives in a new subdivision with housing construction going on and it didn’t seem too out of the ordinary to me. Was I wrong!
Mom and I left Matt’s, and the next item on the agenda was to get gas before heading north to Orillia, where Casino Rama and the Huey Lewis & the News concert was we were going to. Well, we passed the gas station right near Matt’s house and they had put garbage bins in front of all of the pumps. I thought maybe they were undergoing renovations or something, and we drove on. The power was still out, even as we left Whitby. I was getting nervous, because I was nearly out of gas. We made it to an Esso station near Manchester, and when some people waiting there said they had no gas, I couldn’t believe it. I didn’t have enough to go on to another station or to go back home. People started coming into the station with their radios on. We heard the outage went all the way to Toronto. Then Windsor, then New York. I had been listening to a CD in the car, so didn’t hear any radio announcements. We put on the radio and listened in disbelief. The little store at the gas station was open so we got a drink and settled in for the long haul. People would drive into the station, ask out the window if there was any gas, and then drive off, looking for more. We laughed at them, because it seemed they just wouldn’t accept what was going on. One lady asked me if the gas station owner was going to do anything to pump the gas out. People kept trying their cellphones. The toilets in the coffee shop wouldn’t flush. Fortunately, there were some really nice people hanging out there with us. A couple on their motorcycle, a man in a mini-van and three teenagers in a jeep. The motorcycle couple were really close to their home, but they coasted into the station on fumes, too, and didn’t want to chance getting stuck. Two hours later a man named Jim came by and told us that there was a gas station open on Simcoe Street, in Port Perry. He had one of those little liter bottles of gasoline (that I should keep in the trunk for the next time I nearly run out of gas) and gave some to me and some to the guy on a motorcycle and we were able to drive over to the other station and get in line. I kept thinking that they were going to run out of power or gas before I got up to my turn at the pump, but it worked out and we were able to fill up. We headed to Orillia, as the Rama staff had told us on the payphone that the concert was still on. We got to our motel and the casino shuttle had just pulled up so we hopped on and headed over. I could not believe that the casino could generate enough power to run all those slot machines and lights and their entire hotel. It was crazy! Well, the concert was cancelled, but at least we were able to get a bite to eat and play some slots for a bit. No winnings, but it was still fun. When we got back to the motel we were led to our room with a lantern. I turned the car’s headlights on outside so we could see to get ready for bed. There was barely any water pressure. Needless to say, although it was nobody’s fault, the motel gave us a reduced rate on our room. The power came back on at about eleven o’clock, just before we left, the next morning. It was on and off here and there on the drive to Cobourg, but had returned to Cobourg at five o’clock in the morning, making their outage only twelve hours. Mom had been concerned about her meat in her freezer, which was still frozen solid when we got home. My dad and his wife said they got power back around five Saturday, making it a 24-hour blackout in Oshawa. Said they took advantage of the quiet, dark and privacy by going for a skinny dip in the pool! I wasn’t in Toronto during the power outage at all, but my roommate said they got some power back very early Friday morning for a couple of hours, but then it went out again until five or six Friday evening. We lost a lot of groceries: all kinds of frozen meat, cheese, eggs, milk, cream cheese, mayo, some fruit…all very expensive. Such a waste. I think I’ll hold out a few days to get some more groceries though, in case there is a “rolling blackout“. Apparently there isn’t much food on the shelves in the stores, anyway. We are doing our part to conserve by leaving the air conditioner off for now. With the windows open and keeping the apartment dark, it isn’t too hot inside. The humidity we’ve been having the last week or two seems to have dropped a little. This whole experience has made me realize how much we take for granted!
