Posted by I sit outside with pen and paper, and it’s almost 7 pm as spring decided to give us a day of grace, so we can better cope with a national blackout. With the benefit of hindsight, a lot of us could have just gotten ourselves to the beach around noon and enjoy a day in the sun. Instead, we stared at black screens, kept refreshing our phones to search for internet coverage, and, as it became clear that the problem was not temporary, rushed to the supermarkets in search of candles, vegetables and toilet paper. What does our world look like without electricity?
The initial shock
I was in the middle of a video meeting with Mozambique when it happened. I laughed as I texted my colleague that the electricity was down. He probably thought I was joking and just wanted out of my call. As I walked outside to check in on other offices, we started realising it was not local, it was the whole city. By the time I walked back into the building, we concluded it was nationwide. By the end of my third flight of stairs, we heard it was international. This was the real deal. A wide-spread blackout. I promptly switched off my computer and saved the battery for another time. It was clear it was time to process what was going on.
The WhatsApp groups were still buzzing, just in time for the parents’ frantic messages about school being open and a fair amount of fake news to go round. My battery was low already when this started and it was already looking bad. We grabbed chairs away from the screens and speculated in the oblivious ignorance that this would not be a matter of 30 minutes.
A different way of working
As we went in as many circles as possible, trying to guess what was happening, and as the schools confirmed they would stay open, it was time to make the best out of it. I decided we were having a brainstorming meeting, one of those we often complain about going for too long,. After all, we had nowhere to go and no real alternative tasks we could be working on. What ensued was a focused discussion, going deeper into some topics, developing ideas without rush and giving everyone a chance to digest and contribute.
I have held quite a few deep dives at the charity, and more often than I like to admit, they are not welcome (at least for too long). The exception is when we hold offsites and just block the day and the screens out. Courtesy of the blackout, we had a productive and fully engaged session (even if we all needed to do 100 different things instead). It was also a very good way to get our mind off the fake news that kept coming about the blackout and the continuous attempts to call family as the phones slowly stopped working. We did not go for unnecessarily long and were aided by the clock, reminded that we still had no way to heat up our food. We realised it was perhaps best to go “hunt” for lunch..
The hunt is real
We decided to walk out to a coffee shop to buy a sandwich as the security guy slightly snorted at our intentions. “All the others went earlier!,” he said. Undeterred, we stuck to the plan and were encouraged to see so many places still open and with people around. It felt good to be out enjoying the sun and walking out without a sense of needing to go back fast. That was until we got into the first coffee shop to realise all lunch and sandwich options were gone.
After a few attempts, we found a coffee shop that had 3 buns of bread left and, with some careful investigation (and instigation), we also found out they had lukewarm soup. Sadly, the place also had a dazzled manager who continuously asked if we had “cash-cash”. As we kept telling her we did, she moved to the next objection. “But I don’t know what to charge you!”. Luckily, we pointed her in the direction of the price list on the wall. And luckily, one of us had “cash-cash”! The hunt was over.
Life without electricity
Once we got food and wrapped up our brainstorming, it was time to call it a day. It was only 3 pm, and we could see traffic building up. None of us wanted to be rushing amidst confused people who could not keep their eyes off a non-working phone. Most of our building was gone. So we packed up and braced for the streets. At that point, we did not know what to expect. As we drove off, I took one of my colleagues along. There was no train and no subway, so she was going to struggle to get home. We did not even know if she should go home at that point, given that buildings downtown were expected to have no water, and she had no alternative to electricity to cook.
As I picked up Little Girl C from school, she had gone from worried to excited, describing all the possible causes of the blackout, including a shark. Who needs Netflix when you have such imagination? She was excited we had extra company in the house and quickly moved to try to convince my colleague to have a sleepover in our house. She also announced plans to throw a garden party for all the neighbours the next day. Secretly, that is when I wished for electricity to be back for the first time!
Uncertain of our next steps, we tried to hang out at home and enjoy the weather on the terrace. But everything seemed out of place. We kept trying to call people, and the calls would not go through. We conceded defeat on doing nothing and decided to venture into town, stocking up on some items from the fridge and bracing ourselves for hours in traffic.
Ghost town
As I drove into the city, I had COVID vibes. Not that I drove during COVID, I was not even in Lisbon at the time. But I imagine this was how it felt. The heavy traffic was replaced by free lanes, and careful drivers observed their surroundings. I guess everybody had given up and gone to the supermarket or the petrol station much earlier. The absence of traffic (and traffic lights) reminded me of what was happening. And even so, the more complicated crossroads were smooth as people gave way and took turns. I was amazed.
As we made our way, my colleague realised she did not quite know the way home. She is from out of town and usually takes public transport, so we had to go old-school. Whilst I don’t know her part of town very well, I got excited at the prospect of finding my way there. Little Girl C was hesitant about us not having Google Maps or Waze. Against her odds, we made it there smoothly and on the first attempt. I gave myself a proud badge of honour and a small pat on the back.
The other side of driving into town is that you need to drive out, and you need to do so with the people who had to stay behind for one reason or another. Guess what? People did not have Waze to redirect them away from traffic, so they stayed on the known streets. I took the small roads. And I kept taking mental notes of all the lessons I was getting from this blackout.
The peace of dusk
With spring conceding a few extra hours of light, Baby S was delighted to use the BBQ to cook. We converted our original plan of having meatballs into burgers, as everything else in our house is electric. The excitement peaked as I boiled pasta on the BBQ as well. There were also no complaints as they had to use pans of BBQ heated water for the bath. Everything seemed so novel. Every small step was an adventure.
“It turned out pretty good after all, don’t you think, Mummy?”
Baby S
Baby S has a way and timing with words. For a while, he had been asking if we could have a day without electricity, so everything that turned out different from usual was a way to develop his interest further. And he thought this day without electricity was not bad at all, especially as he got to man the BBQ.
As dusk reminded us that there was no electricity, we lit some candles. There was peace around the house and no fights at bedtime. I was ready to go read by candlelight, and just as I started sitting down, my phone started buzzing as different regions got electricity back. What now?
What will we take from this? When I got into the office in the morning, I was in full override mode. I wanted to stay on my screen and talk to no one. I was more stressed than usual and just really wanted to get my things done. The universe dictated otherwise, and I am sure my stress is now better. As is my productivity. Surprisingly, it was so extreme that I did not even get upset. I knew it would not last long, so I focused on minimising the damage and maximising the benefit. It did not turn out so bad.
PS – Some lessons
I decided to jot down a few lessons for myself and our house, even if a few I had in place:
- Find my solar power bank (and always have a charged power bank)
- Get a home phone that needs no electricity (that was a real bummer for me)
- Have a real gas stove (that one was in my house plan already)
- Keep my phone charged, even if that kills the battery in the long run (but to be honest, my battery died just a few minutes before we lost all internet connection anyway, so I guess no big deal)
- Don’t keep the car low on gas or electricity (let’s not talk about my new electric car)
- Either go to the supermarket for any essentials you know you are missing in the first 30 minutes or don’t bother (and don’t go crazy on toilet paper)
- Have cash-cash
- Always carry a book (or a journal and a pen)
- Have a few water containers of emergency water. And having an emergency bag is really not a lame idea
- Make the best of each moment (and take time to take it in)