Living in darkness....

I went to the Green Room kitchen to get a cup of soy milk, and as I was pouring it, the lights went out. It was about 4.15 p.m. yesterday.

The Green Room kitchen without lights is very, very dark.

I stumbled my way out of the Green Room and up the stairs to the front lobby and to my office, where there was light and plenty of windows.

We thought the construction workers digging up the street beside the theatre were responsible. No, they said, a good part of the city was blacked. So it was, as far as we could see, in any direction.

It looked as if my fitness club at the Rideau Centre was dark too, so I decided to walk home.

All the traffic lights were out. The police were directing traffic at major intersections; traffic looked orderly, but slow. Abysmally slow. One step away from gridlock. Luckily I don't have to stick to traffic-laden city streets: once I'm past Laurier Ave., I can walk home by the canal, with not one cross-street for two miles, just a few underpasses where there are bridges.

The more I walked, the more it was obvious that the blackout wasn't just in centretown. Someone said it extended all the way to Toronto, maybe even beyond.

Since it was daylight still, my apartment was lit, but the kitchen and bathroom were too dark for visibility. I got out my candles, lit a few, and ate cold leftover curry for supper, with cheese and crackers for dessert. Waaay off my diet, but good.

I read.

When it got dark, I read by candlelight. Many, many candles.

All my radios needed power to work, or batteries. I didn't have enough batteries for any of it. The gentleman next door was playing his radio. I could almost make out words. I put my ear to the wall, but I could only hear the occasional phrase, and as soon as it got interesting, my budgies would cheep so loudly I couldn't hear anything else. I gave up.

I tried washing dishes in the dark, wishing I'd done that yesterday, when there was light and hot water. Such luxuries!

When it got dark, it got very dark. maboroshimaki dropped by and suggested that we go for a walk. We did.

It was easier to walk without a candle, which interfered with our night vision. We walked to Bank Street, where one of the restaurants was open still - people were drinking by candlelight on the patio at Feleena's. We walked to Kettleman's Bagels, and bought some, and got fruit juice.

It was so hazy the lights of the cars were framed in misty halos. The moon was huge and amber at the horizon. Mars was bright like a reddish spotlight.

The weirdest thing: when we looked north along Bank Street we could see miles of dark, lightless city. And beyond that, on the other side of the Ottawa River, we could she the brightly-lit office buildings of Hull.

Civilization with its attendant technology was just... over there. Just out of our reach.

We sat by the canal and ate bagels, and watched the darkness for a while.

When I went to bed, I started reading slash by flashlight. The light seemed to be getting dimmer. This is a frivolous use of batteries, I told myself, and went to sleep.

It was a hot night, but not as hot as it could have been.

No power in the morning. People told me that non-essential businesses were closed, and people were being officially asked to stay home. I stayed home. Some of my friends - reachable by telephone - had power since midnight, or 5 a.m., or 6 a.m. Not me.

Around lunchtime, maboroshimaki and I heard a rumour that one of the local grocery stores was open. We went walking in that direction. It was powerless and closed again by the time we got there, but we went onward to Bank Street and discovered that the Second Cup on Second Avenue was open, so we got iced lattes; and the Glebe Loeb was open, so we bought some groceries, though the bank machines were down and we had only $12 each. After groceries we pooled what was left and we had $3.47, so we were able to buy a Polish hot dog from the vendor on the street corner and eat half of it each.

It was wonderful.

In the afternoon, we sat on maboroshimaki's balcony with all the budgies and a friend from the third floor, and devised a game of Smallville Monopoly, which (with any luck) we can play with our Smallville friends next week.

The power came on again at about 4.30, after about 24 hours of being out. I am afraid to look inside my refrigerator. From time to time during the day I heard sheets of ice fall in the freezer - I should have defrosted it a few months ago. The ice cream will be gross. I suppose I should clean the freezer before it freezes again.

Naw. Too late now.

So now I'm about to work on the physical cards for Smallville Monopoly. maboroshimaki is making the playing pieces.

And it's a weekend.

I wonder if the television is working. On Wednesday, it wasn't; my cable/digital box had gone screwy, with an error message. Makes a person nervous.

I missed my online friends. Everyone. All of you. It's weird to be cut off.

Smallville Monopoly...

What do you do on a long, hot afternoon, when you aren't at work and there is no electrical power?

You design a game.

I planned this months ago: creating a game of Smallville Monopoly. I had it in mind for a while, and searched yard sales until I came across a new unopened Monopoly game, cheap.

This afternoon the budgies and I visited maboroshimaki's balcony, and she and I planned the game: what each card would be in Smallville terms, what the text on the Chance and Community Chest cards would be, what pictures and logos to put on the cards.

After the power came on in the late afternoon and we had access to the computer, I started making up the cards and visual designs to print out. Patti worked on the playing pieces. While we worked on it we watched the Smallville DVD - the Pilot and "Metamorphosis".

We aren't finished yet, but it's gorgeous. We can hardly wait to play.

I have to find a picture of Clark behind bars (from "Heat") and of the back of one of Lex's cars, showing his license plate. Shouldn't be difficult....

Also have to find pictures of green and red kryptonite; I think comic book representations might be best. Or... ah well, I'll find a way to do it.

The cards and pieces have been done. Tomorrow we'll create the board.

Then the next step will be getting a bunch of people together for a game.