energy blackout
Music to set the tone:
Welp. I was in the coworking office when the power went out yesterday. We thought it was just our office, but then more people were calling my colleagues, sharing that their power was out too.
Thankfully, the group threads started, and everyone began updating. In the Digital Nomad group, I learned that there was an outage in all of Portugal and Spain. And maybe in France and other parts of Europe. Plus, some fun fake news stories were flowing and creating hysteria about cyber attacks.
At that point, I knew it was going to be a while. I waited for a few coworkers to return before heading home. I debated stopping by the grocery store as I had planned before the power went out, but decided just to get back….
Life continued as usual. The construction on my street was uninterrupted; everyone was gracious at the few stoplights, and it almost felt like nothing was the matter.
I took a nice long nap, hoping to wake up to electricity. At that point, four hours in, I decided to visit my local market. That’s definitely where the chaos lied. There was a line of 10 people in a small market, waiting to pick up their items and pay. They were completely out of bread, milk, and eggs.
Since my house is entirely electric, I opted for rice cakes, peanut butter, a few bottles of water, and some dried pasta. It wasn’t entirely cohesive, but there wasn’t much else.
Pipoca and I then just went on a nice walk to the newly renovated and opened park. On a balmy spring day that felt like summer, we were not alone in the idea. Kids were skateboarding alongside the peacocks, dogs chasing their toys, and friends picnicking.
Phones were down, so it was a pleasant surprise when Renan knocked on the door, hands filled with groceries! I was honestly relieved he was there. I was reaching that weird point of “so, what do I do now?”
I snuck down the block and grabbed some cold beers, and we sat on the patio taking in our little veggie garden.
He decided to head home to his gas stove and make dinner before sunset. And I finally got around to those random projects on my list: organize my desk drawers and write some postcards.
It was a simple and romantic evening despite a country-wide blackout. Thankfully, power was restored at 11pm – about twelve hours later - and I woke to lots of light filling my room and cheers from neighbors!
Today I grabbed more batteries, lighters, and real food.
Practical suggestions to prep for a Blackout / Natural Disaster / Etc:
Have some extra water on hand (in case your water goes out)
Pull some cash out to pay for things for a few days/week
An electric or hand radio for communications (cell phone service was super spotty)
Some charged external batteries
Make sure your car's gas tank is full…
Candles serve another purpose; make sure you also have some spare matches or lighters
Solar lights are helpful additions (mine are in storage lol)
Canned foods are a bit more practical than my dried pasta
I’m thinking about getting a small camping stove just in case — plus I camp occasionally.
