Darkness at (around) noon

A few weekends ago, I was having a perfect Sunday. All my jobs were done. I had an excellent lunch,put my feet up on the sofa and reached for the remote.....

The washing machine's isn't working, said my wife...... sigh...

In fact, we had a power failure. Now if this happened in my homeland, no problems. UPS s, emergency lamps and candles spring into action, and life barely breaks stride.

Here, in my adopted country, mayhem reigned.

Traffic lights were out, shops and supermarkets were closed, and mobile networks were faltering. How long would it take them to fix it? What about heating? Prompted by my wife, I did something unprecedented. I went out and knocked on a few doors in our neighbourhood. I finally found one man in. It's OK, he said. Power's out every where, I can't see any wireless networks on, should be back soon. I came back home. We all sat in the living room and talked. My son played on the carpet.

The power was back soon. We all sighed in relief. I turned the TV on, my son went back on the Internet.

I have a brilliant idea. Let's have 'surprise' blackouts, say every month. Save power. Save the Earth! Have more family fun time together.

And who knows, I might even meet some more of my neighbours.........

YIKES!

OK, silly idea.