Alas, Babylon.
As I'm sure you've heard by now, the Greater Puget Sound area was hit with record winds (upwards of 69 miles per hour) Thursday night. The winds took down many trees and the falling trees took down many power lines. Many places in the area are still without power, including my house.
I know this is a very cliche thing to say but it really is easy to take our infrastructure for granted. Stop lights disappear and intersections get dangerous. Refrigerators stop and food spoils. Thermostats fail and houses get cold. And everything is very, very dark.
Fortunately, we have friends in the area and we’ve all pooled resources. Backup food stores merged can create some interesting feasts. A couple burners on the gas stove plus bunch of bodies in one house make the ambient temperature reasonable. And we’ve all been amazed how long a UPS can power one lamp into the night.
The whole thing reminds me of Alas, Babylon. Well, at least, the parts I remember from the first and last reading in high school.