Historical Fall 2007 article. Dates, prices, services and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.
OK, so let me begin by noting that this year’s power outage doesn’t even begin to come close to last year’s down-time.
This year our friendly zip, 63112, was all out a total of maybe a dozen hours. Last year some of us – please note the “us”; this is a first-hand account – were out seven days. That’s seven days as in the same length of time it took Walt Disney to create the world. Seven. And let me continue by expressing my admiration for the crews who braved the heat (they were still hot even after they restored others’ power) and risked their lives to enable you and me – please note the “me”; this is a firsthand account – to work and relax in comfort. Thank you! Our lives proceed smoothly only because of the myriad of people like this, often faceless, who do their thing so that we can do ours. It’s easy to pick on Ameren, our utility. Utilities aren’t warm and friendly. People develop loyalty to their sports teams, politicians, and even computers (the Apple loyalists are a bit nuts, if you ask me; it’s only a machine), but no one seems overly fond of Laclede Gas or Ameren. When’s the last time you saw someone wearing a Metropolitan Sewer District tshirt, for example? Go MSD, yeah team! I’m in no position to know Ameren’s level of responsibility in all of these power outages.
I mean, they didn’t cause the storms. Perhaps the hiring of Karen Foss, former KSDK news anchor was a wise move too. For all I know, she is the reason that so many people’s power was out a much shorter time this year.
Please note the “our”; this is a first-hand account. Thank you, Karen.
A year ago, seven days. Did I mention that this is the amount of time that it took to create the entire world, including the continents, mammals and reptiles, and the arch? Oh, I did.
This year the power was out just a few hours for most of you.
Please note the “you”; this is a first-hand account.
When the power first vanquished, I assumed, being the trusting soul that I am, that it would be restored momentarily. Sitting there in my Metropolitan Sewer District t-shirt, I sighed and waited. And waited. Growing up in St. Louis – don’t even ask, Roosevelt High – I’m used to the rolling thunderstorms and brief outages.
We don’t have an ocean, Wash U students, so this is as glamorous as Mother Nature gets. Enjoy. So I waited.
After an hour or so I figured that I’d have a couple of hours to go.
The good news, I knew, is that the outage was pretty local. “It’s in the Central West End, they said on the news,” my mom reported when I talked to her on my cell phone.
It was encouraging to realize that the crews weren’t going to have to work to restore the power to hundreds and hundreds of thousands of folks like they did a year ago. Sooner rather than later they’d get to us, I knew. So I waited. Did I note, by the way, that this is a first-hand account? Initially, it was OK. Although the temp was hot, hot, hot, the house was closed and the air remained reasonable.
It was during the day so there was enough light to read.
I couldn’t use my trusty laptop for a couple of hours but that was OK.
I don’t want to become too dependent upon technology, so I was gratified to see that not touching a keyboard for even three hours was tolerable.
The food in the fridge was still cold, so the afternoon passed more easily with some white wine and a frozen Hostess Cupcake. Life was good.
I love camping out like this.
Then a few hours turned into six hours. By now it was early evening.
I went outside to brave the heat and read. (Do you know that the sun stays out longer in the summer? Amazing!) By now I was beginning to have some computer withdrawal symptoms.
My fingers were moving sporadically, uncontrollably, searching for JKL;.
I went inside to check to be sure that my computer was OK, and it was.
It was just sitting there, all dark and lonely. And then the sun began to go down. Still no power.
With no sun, no light; with no light, no reading.
Now what? Not only could I not read, I couldn’t turn on the tube to see the latest Gilligan’s Island, an evening ritual. What if this was the episode where they escaped from the island, and I missed it? Yegods! Late afternoon turned to night.
I could peer out the window and see that some of the neighbors had power; their porch lights taunted me. Still dark at my place, though. And now it’s beginning to get a bit stuffy.
But the inside air is cooler than the outside air – the temp was still hovering in the low 90’s as late as 10 pm – so I kept the house closed and tried to sleep.
The good news is that it was dark.
The bad news is that it was dark. And warm. Did I mention that I was without power?
I changed to my Ameren night shirt, and tossed and turned all night. Morning came and still no power. Where’s Karen Foss now that I need her?
I checked the computer and it was still OK, just resting.
I grabbed the cell, and called the Ameren hot-line.
The recording said that all power would be restored by 4:30 a.m. That’s great but it was already 5:45 a.m. and I’m still without!
I ran from room to room turning on and off light switches, just to ensure that I hadn’t missed the voltage jolt. Alas, no.
I only tripped and fell twice in the dark. I’m still in the dark, literally and figuratively.
I called Ameren again and waded through the labyrinth of phone options – it felt good to work the phone keyboard; I pretended that it was my computer. Note the “my,” by the way; this is a first-hand account, pun intended. Finally a live voice got on the line and told me that they were working on it. “The number of powerless households is less than fifty,” he said way too cheerily. “Powerless,” eh?
He called that one right, I thought, sitting in the dark and having voted for both Gore and Kerry.
Now what? At a bit before six, the sun was rising so I could read, but I was in no mood to do so.
I pulled my Laclede Gas baseball hat down around my ears in a fit of frustration.
I need a jolt, I realized so I changed to my AT&T gym shorts and drove to Starbuck’s to get some hot java, but that didn’t help. Try as I might, I couldn’t use the caffeine to turn on the computer. So I waited. And waited.
Then it dawned on me, even without power I can use my laptop. Thank goodness for batteries!
I turned the computer on and was hugged by Microsoft. Bill Gates never looked so good. No, I can’t get on-line, but that’s OK, at least I can write.
I wonder what is happening in the world, but it will have to wait.
My In Your Ear column is due, so that will be my focus. Power or no, life feels a bit normal now. Sure, it’s already turning warm, and I can’t even microwave my too-cool Starbucks.
But at least I have the power to type! Thank you, Energizer Bunny.
I don’t know how long the power in my computer will last, but I want to write about modern conveniences and how reliant we’ve become on them. You see, without electricity, I find that
Originally published in The Times of Skinker-DeBaliviere, Fall 2007.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Original source: SD_Times2007_09.pdf, printed page(s) 8; PDF page(s) 8.
