Mississauga Black Out
Friday, August 15th, 2003Okay, so the power goes off around 4:15 PM. I though it’d be back in a few minutes. Nothing happens. It’s way too long, so I figured it might have been a busted fuse. So I go downstairs, and reset the fusebox. Nothing.
Brian, calls me all the way from Brampton (roughly 9 miles northwest from Mississauga) saying the power’s gone. Strange.
And the rest you probably saw on TV (or heard on the radio like the rest of us).
- It’s weird seeing everyone outside walking and talking to each other. People playing ball, gathering at a local stripmall’s storefront, and unsual amount walking on the sidewalks.
- Most cellphones didn’t work. PBXs and anything with an extension or voicemail was unusable.
- My neighbours invited me over for dinner. They had a natural gas stove, so they managed to cook up a warm meal. That was great.
- CBC Radio One and 680 News came in handy on my walkman (if only to provide some white noise to the eerie silence.)
- I got a bunch of calls. Thanks to everyone who checked if I was alright. I got 3 calls from the Philippines too at around 7:00 PM (which is about 7:00 in the morning over there). I guess they heard the news over CNN
- I read a bunch of mags and newspapers until sunset. After that, it was too dark to do anything and every game I have is on a computer. *sigh*
- Not sure how well the food in my fridge held up to 14 hours of continuous black out.
- It was pitch-black in my room. But the stars in the sky were great