After the annoyance that was Hurricane Irene, I have found that should all power cease, I will probably turn homicidal within five days.
That is not quite fair. I managed to survive without power for five days (I know to fill up the bathtub and every available pot, pan, and large bowl with water, also to garner as many jugs of drinking water as I can), but it was listening to the neighbors' generators that made me search out the rifle from its hiding place (by flashlight) and whatever shells I could find. They (the generators) are all LOUD; that is a given. But one of them sounded like an idling lawn-mower. RUMMMMMrummrummm.. put.. put.. put.. RUMMMMMMrummrummm... put.. put.. put...
There must be something against the Geneva Convention about forcing a person to listen to that for 100+ hours!
And for all you cynical types: No, it wasn't because my neighbors with their loud, obnoxious generators could watch television or access the files on their computers, and certainly weren't worried about the food in their freezer thawing. Nor was it because they could still get water for cooking and washing dishes and flushing toilets, without checking the jugs to see how much water was left, and determining which pots of water could be used now... but if the power doesn't come on tomorrow, I'm screwed... No indeed. I've been camping. I know how it works to have nothing but a camp lantern to see by, and to find a bush in which to do one's business, and to wake up with the sun (horrible thought) and go to bed with the same. I am not jealous. My ancestors lived like this, and so can I!
(Pay no attention to that man installing a generator.)
