Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Backstories: When the Lights Go Off 19/2/2010

My first Ukrainian power cut happened this morning – thirty seconds after I’d stepped into the shower. The bathroom light went out, came back for a second, and then everything faded to black. Fortunately, there was just enough light coming through the door for me to see what I was doing, the hot water tank was full, and I was planning to have frozen pelmeni for dinner anyway.

The power had gone off across the whole of the city centre. The traffic lights were out all the way into school and there was no photocopier once I got there. “How long does this usually last?” I asked the secretary. “Maybe a couple of hours,” she shrugged, then thought for another moment. “I hope.”

This time she was right.

1 comment:

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