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. Invader_Stu says:

    Keith – Dam it. I told Martin not to tell anyone.

    Jodie & Tenakalaz – Rule 10058 clause A appendix B: All rice should be uneatable too.

  2. vallyP says:

    The Mac uprising? We don’t need to rise up, we are already on top of everything he he ;-)

    Great post, Stu. Of course if you’d had an iBook, you’d know that you have at least four hours battery time…. but then if you must go for the peanuts, you will also have to deal with the monkeys..lol.

    Aaaagh, stop throwing those coconuts! I didn’t mean it…well not all of it……!

    But yes, being without power is a learning experience isn’t it…love the cartoon too.

  3. Tamara says:

    You can sleep in my shelter if you get that PSP working with coconuts and I get to play and watch it with you. (debating with monkeys is my specialty, so no worries there)

  4. Invader_Stu says:

    I would not throw coconuts at you. I need them to power my PSP :p

  5. Charlemagne Stavanger says:

    Stu, you guys should have approached this in a planned manner. The episode with the laptop should never happen & of course you could always go for a jog ;D

  6. Keith says:

    You could have read a book by the light of the flickering candle, or gone out to the local bar and practised your “chatting-up-the-local birds” technique, or just go to sleep…or is that too low a technology for you?

  7. Tenakalaz says:

    If only I had had more time stu, I could have macgyverd a generator using on the motion of the cat in a wheel to supply us with energy.

    I have calculated that we could run one pc for 4 hours at a time, ( I spose the cat has to sleep and eat at some points)

    To see who gets to use the pc for those 4 hours we could settle with a shackled fight to the death.

    And no having your own blog does not gain you any extra credit!!!

  8. Tenakalaz says:

    Do they have charades on PSP ?

  9. Invader_Stu says:

    Shruti and Ashwin – Thanks :)

    Tamara – So you are another tecno addict? :p

    Tenakalaz – We can try your cat power supply idea on the island.

  10. ChickyBabe says:

    Priorities! Last time I had a power cut, I fretted because I couldn’t access the internet. Food? There’s always take away…

    “Unhealthy dependency on Technology”? Never! :P

  11. Jodie says:

    Stu – O the terror – no electricity!

    I think in such a situation I would revert to Primitive Jungle Jodie and build a fire on the balcony. Then I’d have to roast our two rabbits for food and run around a lot whooping and speaking in strange tongues… At some point Baz would probably hit me over the head with a large blunt wooden object… or he’d just use my ukulele.. and then drag me upstairs so I could sleep off the madness.

  12. Invader_Stu says:

    Charlemagne Stavanger – I would have been jogging blind through unlit streets. I guess I could have taken a candle.

    Keith – We only though of that afterwards. We’ll be ready next time.

    ChickyBabe – but you wont be able to order the take away online :p

  13. Julie says:

    You need to get on the team developing these.

  14. Invader_Stu says:

    Jodie – Another hour or two and I think I would have done the same

  15. ellen says:

    Weren’t you on “Gilligan’s Island”?

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