Blackout chronicle. Covid movies
20221127
Thursday
I dictate this at 10 o'clock in the morning on November 24. I am using my handheld Olympus device because my computer absolutely will not boot. I am learning a lot about how things work in this blackout. I had plugged my bicycle headlight into the USB port of the computer. I probably should have unplugged it. When the power went out. Anyhow, I suspect that the headlight battery sucked the battery of the laptop absolutely dry. I will not know until the power comes back and I can try.
Our mobile phones have not worked since yesterday. The Internet was up last night – I was able to call Oksana via Skype to arrange picking the children up from daycare – but the Internet has been down this morning. So we are in the dark without communications.
Last night Oksana and I and the three kids all slept in the same bedroom. It was her suggestion. I don't know that we stayed warmer, but it did emphasize the fact that these are not normal times. I slept beautifully. Oksana, who slept beside me, said that she didn't sleep well at all. Marianna woke up a couple of times in the night crying. I cannot imagine that Marianna doesn't sleep at all. I didn't hear her until about five in the morning.
I saw that the electric clock was on, so we had electricity. I got up and fixed oatmeal for Mariana and whoever else wanted it while we still had hot water. A good thing too. We lost electricity again at eight. Taking Zorianna to daycare, I learned that nobody in the city has the Internet and only about a third of the city has power at all. I cannot even read what happened, but I can imagine.
The temperature in my office this morning was about 61°. That's the temperature, as I understand it, of an English house in the winter. Not warm, but tolerable.
The heated floor downstairs was a bit warmer. I expect the downstairs will be a better place to be for most the day.
I got the gas stove fixed just in time. We needed to cook our corned beef last night. I am glad that I filled the bathtub downstairs with water to use for washing and flushing the toilet. I got it only halfway full – will certainly fill it clear to the top is the next time we have water.
Saturday
That was the 24th; today is the 26th. My computer definitely does not work. I’m typing this on the eleven-year-old Dell. Oksana asked me to sleep in my office while she and the kids stay in the big bedroom. She says I toss and turn so much that it keeps her from sleeping even on her side of a queen-sized mattress. Truth is that I like the freedom of being able to get up in the middle of the night without bothering anybody.
Thursday and Friday – today is Saturday – I was out shopping quite a bit We invited Sasha and Vika, parents of Eddies friend Artem, over for a dinner in the dark. Quixotically, the family wanted sushi. I made a two-hour trek to four grocery stores, one closed, the others jam-packed with shoppers anticipating the worst. No sushi. I bought a frozen salmon which I could hack into steaks that we could pan fry with butane. The dinner was a delight.
Yesterday I went clothes shopping, something I dread. I bought my first new winter coat in 25 years and my first padded pants ever. I have to concede that they now know how to make them warm.
As I wrote, the stores are cash only. Fortunately this is a cash society.
There have been a raft of movies about the Covid fiasco. Most of them, like “The Real Anthony Fauci,” very well researched. Two of the leading lights, Robert Malone and Steve Kirsch, are distancing themselves from Stew Peters’ “Died Suddenly.” Some of the footage appears to be contrived. Their position is that, unlike the mainstream media and the government, they have pride and credibility and want to protect it.
I think there is a place for both. Peters often talks about topics Kirsch and Malone avoid, such as the unnamed ingredients in the jabs, they being graphene oxide, self-assembling nano-particles, and MAC codes. Enough has been written about these things that I believe there is some substance to them, though nobody has put all the pieces together. Bottom line, I have less to lose by forgiving Peters taking some shortcuts.
I have recovered some of my notes on Malone’s book and will continue work on my review today.
That’s the news on Sunday morning, while we have lights. Forecast calls for more rockets, so I’d better get this out.
I'm in Arkansas, USA and we keep our heater at 54 degrees. We like the cold house, we just wear warmer pajamas and have nice quilts on our beds.
The lack of electricity would get to me at some point, but we don't rely on it for our water either. I primitive camp a month each year ,during our harshest winter weather in Arkansas (which is normally lows in the teens and highs in the mid 30's fahrenheit. Just like summer, my family conditions our bodies to our weather temps. Our home AC never goes below 85 degrees.
Anyway, we aren't dealing with rockets, good luck to ya
Thanks Wanda -
There is a working hand pump on community property about five minutes from here. We have a wheelbarrow and 6 liter bottles. We are of course keeping quite a bit of water in tubs and basins.
We have a pond across the street, tools to break the ice - never more than about six inches - and bleach to kill the bugs. Four drops per liter.
The main thing is that Ukraine has been very resourceful so far in restoring power. I cannot believe that Russia has held much back at this point. We may go a week altogether without power, and after that a few hours per day. We'll survive. We have not yet resorted to sleeping together to stay warm or to using our stash of charcoal.
Thanks for thinking of us!