And the lights all went out in . . .

Last Friday night, after dark, the lights went out in the Claremont Quarter shopping centre and both blocks of apartments.  Luckily it was not the night before  -  Thursday is late shopping.  Bad enough that the two supermarkets lost all their power and lighting but it would have been a disaster if the power had gone off on Thursday evening.  The boom gates in the parking area were set to let people out but the residents of the 75 apartment could not get in.  The lifts were not working and no-one except a handful of  long-term residents realised that their apartment keys opened the fire escape doors to their apartment level  -  only their level and that did not mean the secure parking which is protected by electrified gates.

I had a small torch and a heap of candles but nothing to light them with but was rescued by a Level 6 resident with a cigarette lighter.  The gas cooktops were no help  - they work off electro-magnets.  I gave Mrs 703 a couple of candles as all she had were four tea lights and a couple of candles for the person with the cigarette lighter, after showing her how to stick a candle onto a plate  -  shades of the 1940s when my family lived here in Perth for a number of years during limited power and hourly blackouts.

The generator which supplied power to Perth was a second-hand purchase from Imperial Russia and was not designed for a growing city.  For the three or four years we lived here power was rationed to every alternate hour  - one hour south of the river and one hour to the north.  Everyone had gas stoves, lanterns and candles and as the supply changed on the hour we all knew when to light the candles.

My grandparents lived in the Adelaide Hills and were almost completely self-sufficient: dairy, orchards, sheep and horses.  Darky, Bluey and Bloss were the draughthorses, Duchy pulled the trap to go into the town to collect the mail and Gay was my grandfathers thoroughbred riding horse.  Lighting was gas and the gas was generated using carbide rock and water.  It must have been difficult to read at night but as children we thought that it was fun.  In the city we had 25-watt globes and blackout curtains.

And to cut a long story short -  I now have multiple boxes of matches but less candles.

The Limerick:-

There was a young fellow named Willy
Who acted remarkably silly.
At an all-nations ball
Dressed in nothing at all
He claimed that his costume was Chile.