Tuesday, September 23, 2008

The lights are on

Here in Houston, marking the moment when a household's power is restored, is like remembering where you were when the Berlin Wall came down, or when JFK was shot. The guy who picks up our garbage had his power back the first Sunday after the storm at 2:00 pm. So he told me with a big grin as he was dumping a huge trash bin filled with decaying food into the back of the garbage truck. He was not the nicest smelling guy in Houston - but he had power back at the house.

When Kathleen and I returned from the movie theater last Saturday night, the lights were on... What a relief. Some may say that we are 'spoilt' with all our appliances and electrical devices, but let's face it they have become a part of our very existence. And in this climate, air-conditioning is a necessity, not a luxury.

So in short order we made some tea, and turned on the TV news to watch hurricane footage. Even though we lived through it, we had no real sense of the devastation wrought by Ike in places like Galveston, the Bolivar Peninsula, and Chambers County, having only been able to listen to sketchy radio coverage for the last 8 days. The damage appeared to be even worse than we had imagined. Those poor people.

I got quite a lot of exterior painting done over the weekend and the place is actually starting to look pretty neat. One of the garage doors which had been knocked off its tracks by Ike has been fixed, and I've started prepping the garage exterior for a paint job as well. Now if we can get someone over here to replace the shingles on the roof, we'll be making some progress!

Still nothing to report on the running front: happy to say that the knee is getting much better now; I might be able to start some light jogging by Thursday or latest by the weekend. To overcome the post-hurricane depression, I might have to go and spend a little money. I think there are new running shoes in my not too distant future!

6 comments:

Amy said...

Glad to hear you got your lights back on - along with all that other important electrical stuff!

Van 1- Hall said...

Knowing what happened last year pre-Boston, I would give anything for that knee to heal a lot quicker. I know how it goes man. Just being smart is sometimes the only thing we can do. glad to hear the power is back on!

Alexandra said...

Glad to know your power has been restored! Now to have power restored to your knee! What you have been through...you deserve new runners! I would say new socks too and a nice new shirt and new shorts and new hat and new...oh the joy shopping brings!

Steeeve said...

Bert, your vintage is showing. In the modern age the touchstone is "where were you when you heard the OJ Simpson verdict".

Priscilla said...

Congrats on the power being restored! We were in the same boat as your garbage guy, we had power restored the Sunday after the storm around 5pm. I do have guilt and send positive vibes to those still without power.

Fishmagic said...

Hope things are returning to some semblance of normalcy, it must be tough, but at least you have power. Good luck with that knee. I'm dealing with sciatica at the moment.