For this week’s Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie First Line Friday , Dylan Hughes gives us the first line of “One by one the lights of the city block winked out, the dark coming ever closer.”
I was going to write a post today about a power outage we had last night, where block by block, the transformers that power our neighborhood blew as a result of an electric substation that apparently also blew. When I saw today’s first line, I thought I might adapt it to suit the post I was planning on writing anyway. In my semi-rural, suburban neighborhood, where we don’t have sidewalks, much less streetlights, I couldn’t exactly use “lights of the city block” in my response. So, as you’ll see below, I modified the first line a bit to fit the reality of what happened.
Last night, at around 8:20, the lights of the homes in our neighborhood winked out when, one by one, the transformers sitting atop telephone poles blew, casting our streets in total darkness. My wife saw a light flash outside of our kitchen window and then we heard a loud popping sound. I ran outside, where my neighbor, already in the street, was pointing to the transformer high atop the telephone pole across from my house. He told me it had just blown in a mini-explosion. And then I saw another transformer at the end of our block light up for an instant and heard another popping sound. My biggest fear was that if any sparks from the blown transformers hit the ground, they might trigger wildfires right in my neighborhood. Fortunately, I didn’t see any sparks, just smoke coming from the transformers and the unpleasant smell of seared electrical wires.
I took my dog out for a quick walk and the only light to be seen was from my headlamp and from the flashlights of my many neighbors out in the streets. I think that they, too, were worried about the threat of a fire as a result of the blown electric transformers and/or falling live wires.
This was the second power failure in our neighborhood in a week. I wrote in this post last week about the first power outage this season in our area. It was bad because it was 110° when the power went out and it lasted for four hours. With no air conditioning, it didn’t take long for our home to get uncomfortably hot. Fortunately, for last night’s outage, it wasn’t nearly as hot as it was the last time the power went out. It was in the low 60s last night.
The good news was that by around 10:20 last night the power came back on, so the outage this time was only about half as long, two hours, as the one we had last week. And, as I said, it wasn’t brutally hot this time.
Anyway, I hope, Dylan, I didn’t screw up your First Line Friday prompt this week too badly, but with power outages casting my street into a darkness that seems to be coming ever closer these days — both literally and, sadly, metaphorically — I’m using my privilege as a blogger to leverage your prompt in a slightly different manner.
This, That, and the Other 
Don’t worry, I’m sure the CEO will still get his bonus.
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No doubt.
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Stay safe. I hope those pops don’t set anything on fire!
Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPad
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Thanks. I hope there won’t be any more “pops.”
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I lost my cable TV and the internet for about a half hour today.
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But not the rest of your electricity (e.g., lights, refrigerator, air conditioning)?
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Skillfully managed the prompt. I hope it doesn’t happens again.
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Me too!
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👍
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Oh man you guys can’t catch a break!
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Tell me about it. 😟
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Waiting for the power to come back on can seem like an eternity. Nice job with the only
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*great take on the prompt, my dear. I loved it
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Wow, that is something to read about. Perfect timing with the prompt, and you didn’t screw up the first line, just adapted, like all good humans should do.
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Yeah, we’ve had a lot of power outages and the fire season isn’t over yet, so there’s likely to be more.
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i enjoyed reading your account although I’m quite sure you didn’t enjoy living through it. Back in 2013 when the 100 year flood hit Boulder, I was working in a retirement community. I shouldn’t have gone into work but I didn’t want to let my co-workers down. I think I was in shock after my car was slammed into by a huge wave coming over a bridge where normally there wasn’t even any water below. I had a routine of working out in the therapy pool, and I went in and did that as usual even though there was chaos all around.
As I was working out, I heard the transformer blow outside the therapy pool area and the room went dark. I went in and showered and dressed for work in the dark locker room.
I’m glad the power is back on for you. Being without power sucks.
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i enjoyed reading your account although I’m quite sure you didn’t enjoy living through it. Back in 2013 when the 100 year flood hit Boulder, I was working in a retirement community. I shouldn’t have gone into work but I didn’t want to let my co-workers down. I think I was in shock after my car was slammed into by a huge wave coming over a bridge where normally there wasn’t even any water below. I had a routine of working out in the therapy pool, and I went in and did that as usual even though there was chaos all around.
As I was working out, I heard the transformer blow outside the therapy pool area and the room went dark. I went in and showered and dressed for work in the dark locker room.
I’m glad the power is back on for you. Being without power sucks.
~Cie from Readers Roost~
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It’s back on and, so far, no more blackouts.
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Here’s hoping your power outages are few and far between. I’ glad those sparks didn’t find anything flammable.
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wow fandango! That sounds scary! Lucky nothing went on fire from the mini explosions! I hope there arent any more power outages for a while. ❤
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Me, too!
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