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Yesterday, I had work, and an actual meeting that dealt with the schedule and the TV Guide listings. We were to work on them today and finish them before I went on my vacation.
I had to leave work early because I had a dentist appointment to attend to, at 3:00. (Remind me not to schedule things so close to the wire.)
He went through the typical motions - scraping at this particular tooth that was quite shudder-enducing, and when he was done - bamf, the power died. Emergency lights around the office.
I took the stairs out, as they had just announced as I was leaving that one elevator was still operational, and I was only on the 6th floor.
I picked up my car and went home - Dad was in his car w/AC on, and the radio.
Turns out the power was out in Southern Ontario / Eastern US (Detroit, New York), reaching at times as far as Conneticuit, Michigan, and Ohio.
So, I went and found my walkman, and Dad found this tiny stereo and we listened to the news reports. 56 minutes into the problem, there was a report: "Don't bother calling - Toronto Hydro knows". *laughs*
Jean Chretien said the Niagara Falls power plant was hit by lightning on the New York side.
Not since 1965 has a power outage like this occured. When it did happen last time, they had to rethink the power consumption grid. It's bound to happen again.
I had heard a report that there were tons of John Does directing traffic at the intersections, as there was no traffic lights at all (they're supposed to be treated as a four-way stop, but people just weren't paying attention, obviously). I offhanded said to Dad that I'd do that...
When Mom got home, she said she saw someone directing at Florence and Yonge.
Since I had mentioned it before, and I realized that I should probably help out, I went out and helped direct traffic!
I met the kid, who lives down the street, Mike @ 6:30. He was wearing a TTC florescent vest (borrowed from his father) and was singlehandedly controlling the traffic. I brought him some water and asked if he needed help. We started out working really close to each other, then eventually branched out so I took the southbound lanes and he took the northbound lanes.
Tons of 'thanks' and praise, people handed us water (even a jug) - even OJ! Only one angry guy - it's amazing that there are idiots who don't notice that ALL the traffic lights are out and that there might be something wrong...
I was listening to my walkman most of the time, in one ear only. I wanted to check on updates and such - one such report was from CNN - "Southern Ontario MIGHT have no power"... this was 3 hours after we first blacked out. XD
I came back around 9:30, my arms aching. They still ache right now. (Why were there cars still on the streets at 9 anyways? :P) But damn, it was a good workout, and it was very cool! Walking around, directing traffic like that... I found it cool that in this time of panic, everyone was still level-headed. And how I can stretch my arm out and cars will stop in front of me ... ^_^
Once it was around 10, it was Dark! Totally Dark! Totally Strange! Not a sound to be heard! ...except for some neighbour running a generator... It was still so quiet, and dark... it was like we moved our house up to Lake Nippising! ^_^
Mel Lastman (or mayor) predicts there will be a baby boom in 9 months - personally, it won't be too bad, because in extreme heat, who wants to get hotter? O.o I can understand the Winter Storm a few years ago, but not blackout in a heat wave...
I think I'll write up a HeroicStory on Mike. And everyone in TO, for that matter. No mass panic! Incredible...
The only "that's stupid" moment was hearing that convenience stores were charging $10 for a 9-Volt -_-;;
Today was supposed to be my last day of work before my "vacation". Great start to a vacation - "Non-essential service workers, stay home" was the report I heard as I drove down Florence, on my way to work :P Apparently power wasn't restored there until about 1:30pm anyways (as Erich went in at 2:30 - no-one was there, surprise).
We have no subway, and no major electrical systems running yet - only a few gas stations are working as they all use electricity to pump gas... There's a chance some places won't have power until the end of the weekend! I'm happy I've got power, but we still have to keep it low and steady.
The TV station was down all this time - but who was watching, anyhow? No power...
I had to leave work early because I had a dentist appointment to attend to, at 3:00. (Remind me not to schedule things so close to the wire.)
He went through the typical motions - scraping at this particular tooth that was quite shudder-enducing, and when he was done - bamf, the power died. Emergency lights around the office.
I took the stairs out, as they had just announced as I was leaving that one elevator was still operational, and I was only on the 6th floor.
I picked up my car and went home - Dad was in his car w/AC on, and the radio.
Turns out the power was out in Southern Ontario / Eastern US (Detroit, New York), reaching at times as far as Conneticuit, Michigan, and Ohio.
So, I went and found my walkman, and Dad found this tiny stereo and we listened to the news reports. 56 minutes into the problem, there was a report: "Don't bother calling - Toronto Hydro knows". *laughs*
Jean Chretien said the Niagara Falls power plant was hit by lightning on the New York side.
Not since 1965 has a power outage like this occured. When it did happen last time, they had to rethink the power consumption grid. It's bound to happen again.
I had heard a report that there were tons of John Does directing traffic at the intersections, as there was no traffic lights at all (they're supposed to be treated as a four-way stop, but people just weren't paying attention, obviously). I offhanded said to Dad that I'd do that...
When Mom got home, she said she saw someone directing at Florence and Yonge.
Since I had mentioned it before, and I realized that I should probably help out, I went out and helped direct traffic!
I met the kid, who lives down the street, Mike @ 6:30. He was wearing a TTC florescent vest (borrowed from his father) and was singlehandedly controlling the traffic. I brought him some water and asked if he needed help. We started out working really close to each other, then eventually branched out so I took the southbound lanes and he took the northbound lanes.
Tons of 'thanks' and praise, people handed us water (even a jug) - even OJ! Only one angry guy - it's amazing that there are idiots who don't notice that ALL the traffic lights are out and that there might be something wrong...
I was listening to my walkman most of the time, in one ear only. I wanted to check on updates and such - one such report was from CNN - "Southern Ontario MIGHT have no power"... this was 3 hours after we first blacked out. XD
I came back around 9:30, my arms aching. They still ache right now. (Why were there cars still on the streets at 9 anyways? :P) But damn, it was a good workout, and it was very cool! Walking around, directing traffic like that... I found it cool that in this time of panic, everyone was still level-headed. And how I can stretch my arm out and cars will stop in front of me ... ^_^
Once it was around 10, it was Dark! Totally Dark! Totally Strange! Not a sound to be heard! ...except for some neighbour running a generator... It was still so quiet, and dark... it was like we moved our house up to Lake Nippising! ^_^
Mel Lastman (or mayor) predicts there will be a baby boom in 9 months - personally, it won't be too bad, because in extreme heat, who wants to get hotter? O.o I can understand the Winter Storm a few years ago, but not blackout in a heat wave...
I think I'll write up a HeroicStory on Mike. And everyone in TO, for that matter. No mass panic! Incredible...
The only "that's stupid" moment was hearing that convenience stores were charging $10 for a 9-Volt -_-;;
Today was supposed to be my last day of work before my "vacation". Great start to a vacation - "Non-essential service workers, stay home" was the report I heard as I drove down Florence, on my way to work :P Apparently power wasn't restored there until about 1:30pm anyways (as Erich went in at 2:30 - no-one was there, surprise).
We have no subway, and no major electrical systems running yet - only a few gas stations are working as they all use electricity to pump gas... There's a chance some places won't have power until the end of the weekend! I'm happy I've got power, but we still have to keep it low and steady.
The TV station was down all this time - but who was watching, anyhow? No power...
