Garp
28-12-2008, 18:19
So.. Friday night turned out to be interesting. Kari and I popped down to the mall so she could use some money she got for Christmas to buy some nice perl earrings she'd seen; and use a gift card for Ruby Tuesdays that we'd received, where we had a wonderful meal before ambling back home. Whilst walking back we kept seeing flashes of lightening but not hearing any thunder which implied it was north of the island, certainly north of the mountain anyway which puts it on Honolulu's side. The lights went out along the strip of road we were on but as the rest of the area was okay we thought nothing of it.
Got back to the apartment block and decided we'd quickly check the mail before heading up. The lifts are right by the mail boxes so instead of walking up the stairs like we usually do we took the lift.
The power cut completely. We were still in the lift, with no light source, just a red LED by the emergency call button which I promptly used. The lady on the other end of the line was with a bunch of rather busy workers as it turns out power to the entire island failed. One power plant was hit and taken out of service, and the resulting overload on the rest brought the whole system down (or so they're saying so far).
In an amazing bit of precognition one of my gifts this year was a small pocket penknife/screwdriver set.. complete with integrated LED torch, and I'd got it in my pocket. Eventually I was able to pry the doors of the lift open to reveal we were just inches away from having arrived at our floor anyway!
Then in another bit of precognition another relative had bought us a "Camping light" which came complete with batteries, which gave us a source of light for the night.
Power was still off when we woke up yesterday morning, though it was restored to Kailua where Kari's parents are at around 6am, probably more because Obama is staying in Kailua than any other reason. The Windward side is usually one of the last areas to get power restored normally.
So yeah, kinda interesting night/morning. We didn't dare open the fridge or freezer as we didn't want to spoil any food in them. Our stove is electric not gas so I couldn't even make a cup of tea *sob*
We did laugh a bit that the news channels were all mentioning how the "Obama houshold suffered a power cut" but completely failed to mention the reality that the entire island of Oahu was without power. Kari's folks were listening to the radio instead on Friday night and they had a call in show. One caller said "I feel it's so embarrassing for the people of Oahu that the Obama's are suffering a power cut." DJ's response was superb "You think it's embarrassing that we suffered a huge, natural electrical storm? *CLICK* "
edit: Something that made me a little nervy last night: We went to a reunion with some of Kari's old school friends. The party was up in a penthouse suite on the 35th floor. Riding that elevator after getting stuck on Friday? *gulp* I know it's highly illogical and perfectly safe and whatnot, but still...
Got back to the apartment block and decided we'd quickly check the mail before heading up. The lifts are right by the mail boxes so instead of walking up the stairs like we usually do we took the lift.
The power cut completely. We were still in the lift, with no light source, just a red LED by the emergency call button which I promptly used. The lady on the other end of the line was with a bunch of rather busy workers as it turns out power to the entire island failed. One power plant was hit and taken out of service, and the resulting overload on the rest brought the whole system down (or so they're saying so far).
In an amazing bit of precognition one of my gifts this year was a small pocket penknife/screwdriver set.. complete with integrated LED torch, and I'd got it in my pocket. Eventually I was able to pry the doors of the lift open to reveal we were just inches away from having arrived at our floor anyway!
Then in another bit of precognition another relative had bought us a "Camping light" which came complete with batteries, which gave us a source of light for the night.
Power was still off when we woke up yesterday morning, though it was restored to Kailua where Kari's parents are at around 6am, probably more because Obama is staying in Kailua than any other reason. The Windward side is usually one of the last areas to get power restored normally.
So yeah, kinda interesting night/morning. We didn't dare open the fridge or freezer as we didn't want to spoil any food in them. Our stove is electric not gas so I couldn't even make a cup of tea *sob*
We did laugh a bit that the news channels were all mentioning how the "Obama houshold suffered a power cut" but completely failed to mention the reality that the entire island of Oahu was without power. Kari's folks were listening to the radio instead on Friday night and they had a call in show. One caller said "I feel it's so embarrassing for the people of Oahu that the Obama's are suffering a power cut." DJ's response was superb "You think it's embarrassing that we suffered a huge, natural electrical storm? *CLICK* "
edit: Something that made me a little nervy last night: We went to a reunion with some of Kari's old school friends. The party was up in a penthouse suite on the 35th floor. Riding that elevator after getting stuck on Friday? *gulp* I know it's highly illogical and perfectly safe and whatnot, but still...