Post Apocalyptic Bridgton, ME
So the weather here in Southern Maine has been totally nuts lately. Last week was wall-to-wall thunderstorms. We even had a microburst in Bridgton last Tuesday. I had never even heard of one, and here we have it.
Anyway, Tuesday is the day I've been meaning to talk about. See, Daniel and I did a red-eye from Vegas which landed on Monday morning, and foolishly I went to work all that day. So Monday night I was in no condition to do anything. 90% of my clothes are dirty, the only thing to eat in the fridge is condiments. I think to myself, "I'll take care of laundry and groceries Tuesday night."
Tuesday after work I go to the gym and it's feeling great and I stay for like, and hour and a half. So by the time I'm getting back to Bridgton, it's late. Like, 8:45. As I pass the Lampron's Gas station I think, "that's odd they're closed before nine ..."
Then I see the drive-in movie theater. The sign out front is off. "Weird, with the kids out of school now, you'd think they'd be open on a Tuesday."
It's not until I hit the next intersection and the street light is out that I realize there's no electricity here.
Of course I was planning to go to the new Hannaford that's like, a second from my house. No power there, either.
That means Daniel's house is dark, too.
Luckily he's working at his Mad Monkey Cafe in Raymond, which has juice.
Lucky for me we still have Food City on the other side of town, which apparently has electricity. I go there, but what to get? The stove is electric, I could get cold cuts or something, but I neglected to mention the sink. Just about every dish we own is dirty. So that's kind of gross.
I decide chicken is the route to go. We have the gas grill, you know?
So there I am. 9:30 pm, grilling chicken by flashlight in the sprinkling rain.
And that's when it hits me.
I'd be screwed if this was more than just a few hours without power. If this was days or weeks, or worse, I'd be in big trouble. The ONE flashlight we have that works plugs into the wall. That'd be gone in a day or two. We have candles, but trusting us with lots of fire seems like a bad idea. Worst of all, we have very little booze. I mean, food. Food.
Maybe I'm insane, but my mind starts wandering when I'm cooking in the driveway during a complete blackout. I don't even know if the water works. If this was a nuclear attack I assume Maine would be safe, right? But no doubt electricity would be spotty at best. We have enough food for a few days, tops. Sure, we could walk the ten miles to our folks' house, and they have more food. But then what?
At that point some kids walked by. It really startled me. Now, I'm not a senile old man, but I was seriously thinking, "We should own a gun. Because when the apocalypse comes, we should be armed."
What these hoodlums would steal - who knows? It's not like we have a cache of food handy.
Hannaford.
Holy smokes. It's right there. Seriously, besides the house next door and the apartments across the street, we live the closest to the grocery store. We could be in and out of that thing before the rest of the town mobilizes!
That gave me solace.
For a minute.
Then I realized we would have things that the hoodlums would want to steal.
We'd need guns for sure now.
All of a sudden it's plural. I'm picturing Arnold hanging out of the office building with the machine gun shooting the helicopter in "Terminator 2". I'd be in my bedroom window, firing away onto Route 302 at the no doubt hords of hoodlums wanting my Hannaford booty.
Luckily at this point I realized the ol' iBook's batteries were charged, and I could go play on the computer for a little bit before bed. My wandering mind at easy by technology, I slept soundly that night.
In the morning the power was back on, and everything was right in the word.
For now ...
Anyway, Tuesday is the day I've been meaning to talk about. See, Daniel and I did a red-eye from Vegas which landed on Monday morning, and foolishly I went to work all that day. So Monday night I was in no condition to do anything. 90% of my clothes are dirty, the only thing to eat in the fridge is condiments. I think to myself, "I'll take care of laundry and groceries Tuesday night."
Tuesday after work I go to the gym and it's feeling great and I stay for like, and hour and a half. So by the time I'm getting back to Bridgton, it's late. Like, 8:45. As I pass the Lampron's Gas station I think, "that's odd they're closed before nine ..."
Then I see the drive-in movie theater. The sign out front is off. "Weird, with the kids out of school now, you'd think they'd be open on a Tuesday."
It's not until I hit the next intersection and the street light is out that I realize there's no electricity here.
Of course I was planning to go to the new Hannaford that's like, a second from my house. No power there, either.
That means Daniel's house is dark, too.
Luckily he's working at his Mad Monkey Cafe in Raymond, which has juice.
Lucky for me we still have Food City on the other side of town, which apparently has electricity. I go there, but what to get? The stove is electric, I could get cold cuts or something, but I neglected to mention the sink. Just about every dish we own is dirty. So that's kind of gross.
I decide chicken is the route to go. We have the gas grill, you know?
So there I am. 9:30 pm, grilling chicken by flashlight in the sprinkling rain.
And that's when it hits me.
I'd be screwed if this was more than just a few hours without power. If this was days or weeks, or worse, I'd be in big trouble. The ONE flashlight we have that works plugs into the wall. That'd be gone in a day or two. We have candles, but trusting us with lots of fire seems like a bad idea. Worst of all, we have very little booze. I mean, food. Food.
Maybe I'm insane, but my mind starts wandering when I'm cooking in the driveway during a complete blackout. I don't even know if the water works. If this was a nuclear attack I assume Maine would be safe, right? But no doubt electricity would be spotty at best. We have enough food for a few days, tops. Sure, we could walk the ten miles to our folks' house, and they have more food. But then what?
At that point some kids walked by. It really startled me. Now, I'm not a senile old man, but I was seriously thinking, "We should own a gun. Because when the apocalypse comes, we should be armed."
What these hoodlums would steal - who knows? It's not like we have a cache of food handy.
Hannaford.
Holy smokes. It's right there. Seriously, besides the house next door and the apartments across the street, we live the closest to the grocery store. We could be in and out of that thing before the rest of the town mobilizes!
That gave me solace.
For a minute.
Then I realized we would have things that the hoodlums would want to steal.
We'd need guns for sure now.
All of a sudden it's plural. I'm picturing Arnold hanging out of the office building with the machine gun shooting the helicopter in "Terminator 2". I'd be in my bedroom window, firing away onto Route 302 at the no doubt hords of hoodlums wanting my Hannaford booty.
Luckily at this point I realized the ol' iBook's batteries were charged, and I could go play on the computer for a little bit before bed. My wandering mind at easy by technology, I slept soundly that night.
In the morning the power was back on, and everything was right in the word.
For now ...