I'm very tempted to give a nice long spiel about Things Which We Take For Granted, inspired by my recent experience of a First World Problem (as opposed to Third World problems - which are big).
But that would be really boring and probably very uninspiring. I'm a great believer in the philosophy that you can only really learn something properly until you've experienced it yourself. For example, your father may tell you that the barbecue is hot, so don't you dare touch it. But then you touch it anyway because surely there are different opinions on what 'hot' can mean. 'Hot' is what temperature exactly? 'Hot' as in we need to jump in the pool? 'Hot' as in you feel the heat radiating onto your face? 'Hot' as in adults like to drink their tea hot (I hate tea)?
More like 'hot' you'll burn your finger, and so my little brother did. Touch the barbecue, I mean. And burn his finger too. At least we think he did because he tore off down the garden as soon as it happened and disappeared in the bushes for a while.
This morning I was on the internet at 7:30am because we'd received a little slip of paper in the mail telling us that the power would go off from 8:30am to some late hour. Without thinking about it too heavily, it registered in my mind that no power equals no internet. That's okay, I don't really need 24/7 internet access as long as I check everything in the morning...
It then registered in my mind (after a little more light thinking), that the computer doesn't work very well without power either. Since I'm in the middle of that uninspiring paper on the federation of Australia which needs to be finished by...today, it could be a little hard to complete it on an hour and a half of laptop battery.
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| How it looks under the desk - lots of electricity |
On account of not being able to open the fridge and let all the cold air escape (since fridges don't work very well without power either), I couldn't take any lunch, but I was pretty sure Nonna could handle that (hello, she's nonna to the rescue).
Did you know that there is actually a lot you can do without power? Think 100 years previous and anything involving water. Handwashing the clothes. Handwashing the dishes. Handwashing the bathroom. Handwashing your little face. In the end, I got a little distracted with the water and the washing so it was a little late when I scooted out to the car. I was in a really good mood too, having just spent a really constructive hour handwashing.
I was sitting in the car, about to ignite it (with the ignition) when I heard a funny little noise coming from behind me. I also noticed that I was simultaneously pushing the button on the garage door remote while listening to the little buzzing noise.
I'm pretty sure that until the day I die, I will never know what that noise was. I didn't really care because the power was out and the garage door wouldn't open.
I was suddenly really unimpressed with electric garage doors. Or in fact anything electric in general.
Confession: I got out of the car and pointed the remote at the door...and pressed the button again. Just in case... Just in case the power wasn't really off and every other appliance in the house was just broken. You just never know.
It didn't open. Blast. A car is a really useless thing when stuck inside a brick box. It's just really ornamental.
I went to the phone to ring Dad and low and behold...it worked, but it was a fax machine which was plugged in, which meant the buttons wouldn't beep. Can you make a phone call when the buttons don't beep? I never found out because I suddenly remembered something about opening the door by hand. What a concept. Opening the garage door with my little mitts. A real first world problem. Tsk tsk.
I had to stand on a deck chair to reach the little red lever which I assumed would unlock the door from electric mode. Mum stood by to make sure I didn't break anything (including myself).
I was a bit hot and flustered when I got to nonna's but she soon calmed me down by feeding me ciambotta for lunch. Freshly made ciambotta. It doesn't get much better than that.
I finished my uninspiring paper on Federation.
Oh no! How is there going to be any dinner if the power is off? Cold baked beans? Heavens forbid. Not after ciambotta.
Unbelievable. Nonna hands me a pot full of artichoke soup as I'm leaving this afternoon. Nonna to the rescue!
Today I learnt several things...
- I use a lot of electricity
- I really need electricity
- I am now really grateful for electricity
- ciambotta is currently my favourite food
I discovered that one of the most inspiring things about my uninspiring paper is the fact that one of my references goes by the name 'Knightley'.
This caused me to think more about Austen than Federation. Whoops. ;)
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