sovay: (Psholtii: in a bad mood)
sovay ([personal profile] sovay) wrote2018-04-25 11:37 pm

Tough times are a way to prove that life ain't nothing but the rent that's due

And tonight, the third total street-and block-wide blackout in less than a week. What the hell, Eversource. What the hell. We keep tea lights on the mantel and a flashlight in the bottom cupboard of the glass-fronted cabinet, but that's not an invitation, you know? I am getting tired of being told that I am one of the first callers in my area to report an outage. ([personal profile] spatch: "It's lost whatever prestige it had!") In a kind of grimly salvaging way, I am enjoying the photographic effect of the flat white streetlight on the rain-filled parking lot across the street, producing the kind of roughened, splintered wet asphalt glitter that adorned many a back alley of noir. I would cheerfully trade it for the headlights of an oncoming repair truck, however. The robo-call said helpfully, "April 26th."

There now appears to be a repair truck at the end of the street. I saw its flashers reflecting in the glass bricks of the windows of the Pentecostal church, adding an amber-colored hazard touch to the scene. Autolycus is prowling the darkened floor with his characteristic clicking of claws, but Hestia is crouched on the arm of the couch, which puts her at just the right height to groom, simultaneously and at the same time, her own back fur and Rob's eyelids. The breeze drifting in from the street smells disorientingly like salt and exhaust, like a harbor full of tugs and commercial tankers. "Maybe they've put a new coat of creosote on the pilings," says Rob.

The repair truck has shown itself! It is a cherry-picker. We salute it as it goes by.

It does not immediately restore the electricity.

The electricity is restored! Train whistles holler through the night as if in solidarity. It is not even yet April 26th.

Nonetheless, Eversource, what the hell.
gwynnega: (Basil Rathbone)

[personal profile] gwynnega 2018-04-26 04:58 pm (UTC)(link)
That is such a drag. We had what felt like an awful lot of power outages in my neighborhood last year, and none since. I hope the electricity stays on in your neighborhood from here on out!