What Not to do in a Power Cut

Power Cut

Sometimes I think I have an unhealthy dependency on Technology. It could almost be called an addiction. It makes me wonder how I would survive if I found myself trapped on a deserted island with out working electronics.

I realized the level of my dependency on technology a few days ago when a power cut suddenly plunged everything into darkness while my flat mate and myself were watching TV. It did not take us long to work out that the power would be out for a while and we would have to make preparations.

Our first challenge was to find illumination. After lighting a few candles this problem was easily solved and at the same time gave the room a Charles Dickens like atmosphere.

The second challenge was to save the frozen food. We took the easy option and didn’t.

Challenge three was to find non-technology based entertainment to keep our selves amused until the power came back on. This was a problem for us.

However, we were in luck. The battery in my laptop still had power so we could use it to watch a DVD. I turned it on and we started the lengthy debate about which movie to watch. Selecting a film is not a straight forward choice. There are several considerations that have to be made. Do we want a mindless movie with scantily clad ladies and explosions? Do we want a movie that demands our attention with a plot that has to be followed? Is the porn on my laptop hidden well enough? Can I trick my flat mate into watching Ghostbusters for the millionth time? We spent sometime pondering these issues. In fact we spent so much time thinking about it that just as I was putting the DVD of choice into the laptop the battery suddenly died and we were right back where we had started. Turning it on at the start didn’t seem like such a bright idea any more.

However, there was another option and a few moments later we were crowded around my PSP (Play Station Portable) watching Serenity (I had suggested Ghostbusters) on its tiny 4.3inch screen. It was a sad act of desperation. We must have looked like a group of lost arctic explorers desperately clinging onto their last source of heat. A few scenes into the movie we both decided we need to get out more.

I think I know what I would be doing on that deserted island now. As everyone else tries to builds shelters, find food and treat the injured from the plane crash I would be working on a way to power my PSP with coconuts and debating with the islands monkeys what movie to watch.

Stuart

Stuart is an accident prone Englishman who has been living in the Netherlands since 2001. Even his move to the country was an unintentional accident, the result of replying to a cryptic job advertisement he found one day in a local British magazine. Since then he has learned to love the Dutch (so much so that he married one of them) and now calls the country home. He started the blog Invading Holland in 2006 as a place to share his strange stories of language misunderstandings, cultural confusions and his own accident prone nature.

28 Responses

  1. Aisling says:

    I set some popcorn on fire yesterday.

    It was amusing.

    You could do that.

  2. marycub says:

    Christ stu you’re the amazing blogging machine… where does it all come from? I’ve been completely lacking in inspiration for a while now zzz a bloggers block if you like :-(

  3. Keith says:

    You said: “My name is really Bob and I live in France”

    Liar. I know for a fact that you are in the next cell to me at “The Ajax Home for the Bewildered” because Matron told me.

  4. Tenakalaz says:

    Invaderstu, Vampire killer.

    Sponsored by Garlic, a whole bloody bulb no less!!!!

  5. Invader_Stu says:

    Julie – That would be useful

    ellen – I was thinking more of the island from Lost

    Aisling – Was that by mistake or are you a very strange arsonist

    Tenakalaz – Still tasting the Garlic from when I cooked on Monday?

    marycub – I make it all. Stuart is in fact a fictional characters. My name is really Bob and I live in France :p

  6. Jodie says:

    Tenakalaz – shame on you! No self-respecting citizen of cyberspace should ever complain about eating too much garlic… its in the rules see!

    Rule 10057 clause A appendix B: Any dish served by one who is of the electronic arts should contain at least 5 cloves of garlic on a normal day and three times that much on sundays. This is, of course, our only line of defense against vampires; wrinkly oldies who demand kisses for no reason whatsoever and the dreaded denizens of the 5th level of hell who work at the Town Hall.

    See, told you it was in the rules!

  7. Tenakalaz says:

    still tasting it, smelling it, sweating it out.

    The pile of dead vampires around the house is getting out of control now and is starting to prevent me getting tot he front door, which I hasten to add opens itself now if I breath on it.

    Althought it was nice of you to add a side dish of meat to the garlic, for some variety!!

  8. Tenakalaz says:

    Bob from France, it all becomes clear.

    Sherlock holmes and the great garlic mystery is solved.

    Stu is Bob from france (I notice that you chose a REALLY french name for that, bob, not Pierre, Francois, no BOB!!)

  9. Tenakalaz says:

    I need a new lawyer!!!

  10. Rose says:

    LOL Thanks for the laughs Stu. We had a bad storm here that nocked out our phone lines. No phone or pc for a day so I went shopping. LOL

  11. seo says:

    Stu,
    next time I would suggest you play darts.
    Not being able to see the bull’s eye would be an added attraction, don’t you think?
    Putting (after first making a hole in the floor) would be an excellent alternative!

  12. Dragon lady says:

    Tenakalaz, you should be gratefull to Stuart for the garlic. He was only looking after your welfare. Everyone knows garlic is good for you, and just think you will never suffer an aphid infestation while Stuart is doing the cooking.

  13. tenakalaz says:

    Dragonlady – But there is a limit to how much garlic the body can digest.

    Maybe it’s just me but utilising 2 whole BULB’s of garlic is little overboard.

    Admittedly the mosquito problem was quickly solved, and the vampireshaven’t even asked me to dance let alone eat my face off.

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