Have you ever experienced an electricity blackout before? Last week (not for the first time) we woke up without power. What turns off when power is lost? Anything that uses electricity. When we lost power last week, home phone, lights, computers, garage door and any other thing you have to plug in, stopped working. We had to use wireless devices and candles to light up the house. Candles are usually used to light up the house and are very useful. BUT, we humans have found a more efficient and light source. Devices such as Phones, iPads and iPods can also be used. Because they are wireless, they simply just need to be turned on! In the settings, you can control the brightness. I usually get all the devices I have and turn them all to maximum brightness. Wow these electronics really helped us on that day. The number 1 thing you should have during a blackout is a FLASHLIGHT! We did not have one!! I recommend every house to have at least one. We are working on it. A flashlight uses batteries! Batteries are rechargeable and can be used anytime. Flashlights are used a lot and are very powerful. Also, you can easily take it with you were ever you are unlike candles and devices. The main point is: we need to be prepared for a blackout.

Some kids think no power means no things like TV, computer and lights… it is more than that. One of the worst things about a blackout is that there is no heat or Air Conditioner, even a fireplace doesn’t work if you have an electric one. Imagine sitting on a couch wearing layers of blankets because the heater is not working. It is worst at night. It is good if you have a gas fireplace because then you can still keep warm. Another bad thing about the blackout is the food. A fridge needs to be plugged in therefore uses electricity. If power goes out, the food in the fridge will have no coolness. If the power is out for a long time, the food might even go bad and it will be such a waste. Also appliances like microwaves, stoves, ovens, dishwashers and more, won’t work. During the short blackout last week, I ate cold delicious cereal (luckily the milk was still good). It is hard to believe people in other places in the world live like this every day while we can’t last a few hours.

Anyone that lives in Toronto or the Greater Toronto Area should remember the 2013 December ice storm. It was horrendous. Many people lost power for a long time. It was devastating news. Last year’s winter was bad enough without the ice, but then Mother Nature went crazy with winter. There was a huge ice storm. It left tons of power lines frozen which caused the loss of power. The night of the storm was when my family would host a Christmas party. Many people came. Unfortunately, I was really sick that day so I went to bed early and didn’t say bye to most of my guests. I already knew one family was going to sleep over, but I woke up to noise of women (more voices then my mom’s). To my great surprise and pleasure, about a third of our guests had to sleep over. They had to because the power at their house went out. I was feeling a bit better than the day before. It was fun to have them there to eat breakfast, open presents and more, with us. Some people got power sooner than others. Therefore some still had to stay and they were more than welcome. I am very lucky and fortunate that I did not have power outage. On the news, there were reports of people needing to sleep in shelters or hotels for a long time because their power was still out. It lasted until January!

One national day is Earth hour. That means for one whole hour at night, you turn off everything that uses power. The point of earth hour is to save energy for an hour. It also is to get closer to your family and do things like play games, tell stories and other fun things. Our earth hour does not include us unplugging the fridge or microwave so it is not severe. But we turn of the main things and get out flashlights.

As you can tell, electricity is important. Always be prepared. What is your experience with a power outage?

Maxine Mutasingwa