Just sayin’...

from The Local February 13, 2023

by The Local - The Heart of the Highlands' community publication

Pick me, pick me!

By Donna Kelly

DINNER done and I was sitting down ready to watch, again, Mr Inbetween. It's a great Australian series, quite dark, but also very funny. The guy who wrote it is also the lead character.

Anyway, Ray was about to shoot someone and, the power went out. Now this may seem a first world problem but it literally happens all the time. And you get that annoying phone message that Powercor is aware of the outage and it should be fixed by...some time later. Last Thursday it was originally going to be done by midnight but that quickly became 12.30am. And it went out about 8pm.

Now, I am sure you are thinking there are plenty of things to do in the dark but Kyle and I have been together for 29 years so we barely even talk to each other, let alone do other things. I put out a FB message saying if one of us was murdered it was on Powercor. Just in case.

So we found our trusty giant torch, some candles and a gas lighter and put some Spotify music on. Seventies road trip, I think. And then we just sat and listened to the tunes. And wondered how long the UPS (uninterrupted power supply) would last to our computers and whether we should shut down our programs before they shut down themselves and we lost data. You know, stories, photos, graphic design work.

I might have posted a few things on FB. A little complaint perhaps. Might have used the F word. And some people put smiley faces on it and others said I should be more careful because "what if someone had of been injured". I didn't bother correcting the grammar but then I saw that someone had not been injured but had hit a power pole in East Street in Daylesford. Maybe speeding but that is not for me to say. But you would have to hit a pole pretty hard to take out the power.

Anyway, I am sorry someone hit a power pole but why does that take out power all the way to Glenlyon? It's a good 10km - I know that because it used to be a 20km round trip to pick up a bottle of wine at the end of the day. (Thank you Cellarbrations for starting up a great delivery service!)

Imagine if you lived in Melbourne and someone hit a power pole in say, St Kilda and power all the way to Black Rock went out, closing all the businesses along the way. People would be up in arms.

And it happens all the time here. I asked a few friends who live around Melbourne how often their power went out and they looked at me like I was starting a joke. When we had that massive storm in 2021 and they lost power for about four days in Trentham, all the media reports were focused on power being lost in the Dandenongs. While all the Trenthamians, is that what they are, got on with life, those nearer Melbourne were outraged. We are just used to it.

I know Powercor will sometimes reimburse people for lost fridge and freezer food but I reckon they would be better off giving everyone a free generator when they sign up for power. Would probably be cheaper in the long run and lead to less "neighbour envy" when you are sitting in the dark and listening to your neighbour's generator whirring away. (Yes, I am talking about you, Gary.)

Anyway, the torch is back in the cupboard, the candles have returned to the dining table and thankfully, we did not lose data so you are reading this edition of The Local in a timely manner. And we wait for the next blackout. Perhaps today - it's quite hot, next week - might be windy, or any time of the day when someone wants to drive a bit fast on a country road. I guess I could write to Powercor and see if they can make sense of it all but I have a feeling I will be left in the dark. Just sayin'... (I was wrong. Powercor got back to me. Read their reply at www.tlnews.com.au)

Ageing DisGracefully members, including Max Primmer, get together at the Daylesford Mill Markets cafe on Thursdays at 11am. All welcome. For information email ageingdis3461@gmail. com, call 0427 131 249 or head to the Ageing DisGracefully Facebook page.