I'd almost forgotten just how quiet the world is, when the electricity goes out.
Around here, it's not that unusual in the wintertime when the ground is soaked from heavy rains and just a small amount of wind might push a tree over... onto a major power line feed.
It's actually a pretty clear and still morning, so the outage came as a bit of a surprise. I was up at 7:15, and then we suddenly went dark at 7:50. Thankfully, my phone is charged so I could check the power company web site... and, indeed, about 3,000 customers in our area are dark.
At least I did get my morning coffee!
It's so remarkably quiet. Normally, we'd be listening to whatever roaring storm that took down the power lines... but there is just stillness, occasionally broken by the distant sound of a fog horn across the bay. There is a major shipping lane out there... everything from Asia and the Pacific region bound for the ports of Seattle and Tacoma passes by here.
Sometimes I can hear a faint beeping, likely belonging to power company trucks; crews out looking for the problem.
The stillness reminds me of my childhood in Denmark and times spent at my auntie's summerhouse some 50 miles outside the city of Copenhagen. In the 1960s and 1970s, it was still pretty remote... to give you an idea, it was one of the last areas in the country to still have a manual telephone exchange with actual human operators at a switchboard, putting your call through.
When you called the exchange, my auntie's number was three.
I'm not kidding...
When it was finally automated, her new number ended in 00003.
Getting back to the stillness, there was little more than forest and farmland around her house, so the ambient noise was all natural, including occasional mooing. About every hour,the whistle of the train passing an unattended crossing would remind us that another world existed, outside this little time bubble.
I loved the silence, both as a kid, as well as many years later.
I still do.
In our technological world, I doubt most of us really realize how much electronic "white noise" surrounds us, 24/7. What we think of as "silence" is actually a thick fog of background humming from fans, heaters, refrigerators, computers, and all the modern conveniences we take for granted.
In this moment, the only "artificial" sound in my space is the ticking of the mechanical clock on the wall... its steady rhythm reminding me of the old wooden dial wall clock in my auntie's living room, marking the passing of time.
I can actually hear the birds in the trees, outside.
I expect the power here will come back on after a couple of hours or so, and the sound of all the electronics/electrics coming back to life will sound like a waterfall of white noise, drowning out the birdsong I can hear from the outside.
Although I hate typing on my phone, and typically don't even use the web on my phone — except to occasionally get directions, find restaurants and such — there's little to do other than slowly tap out a post like this.
When the sun gets a little higher in the sky, I'll probably get around to my art... I work in a room with large windows on two sides. That is, if the power doesn't come back on before then.
Well, I've had enough of this eye-strain exercise... more later... or not.
Thanks for stopping by, and have a great rest of your Sunday!
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Created at 2025.03.02 10:19 PST
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Very good. Sounds like you made the most of the temporary outage, @denmarkguy, by getting out into the peace and quiet of the country surrounding you. That is where I like to head in my free time. Others head into the heart of some big population center. Not me. I prefer the peace and quiet of the great outdoors. Shared only with loved ones nearby.
I really enjoyed your comments about our current standard of living and comparing to what it once was like:
Did you ever experience party lines, where there was one line for more than one family? I did.
No question. Says the ringing in my ears. Hahaha ...
Much better.
You are a real trooper, if you put this post together on a phone. Thank you for making the effort. Brought back some good memories!
Haha, I was just thinking about that a few days ago. It's like background noise. And it is not only noise pollution, but also light pollution. At night, if you go out to look at the stars, you see many more stars and the sky more clearly when there is no power, in my opinion, or so it seems at least. But the sky looks different.
Also, I think that electronic devices mess with our sleep.
Cheers to you!
Last summer, the local power company buried lines in my neighborhood. They've also been on top of clearing trees away from long-distance transmission lines and making upgrades along the way. That doesn't prevent the occasional blip from something in the wider power network, or damage to those long-range lines from various causes despite their efforts.
When I was growing up in the late 80s and early 90s, my parents didn't have a TV on 24/7. Terrestrial radio was still a common source of news and entertainment, but it wasn't always on. Ar first, we lived on a little-used rural road with only occasional farm noise from the neighbor. Then we moved next to a highway, where the hum of engines and tires was a background hum at all times. But I did grow up playing outside, or with non-electronic toys and books inside. Times have changed, and my niece and nephew have had tablets since they were toddlers, always with electronic background noise.