Second night in, and a second lot of candles to accompany dinner. Having no electricity (or means to revive it, other than the beginner's knowledge that USgal and me are slowly acquiring piecemeal from neighbouring squatters) really does make you think about how we take electricity for granted.
Do the occupants in the lit appartments across the street ever stop to think how lucky they are? Do we ever stop to consider how dependent we are on electricity and how we use it almost without a thought? How did the pre-electricity generation get by?
What has no electricity meant to us so far? :
For one, that candlelight encourages more communal activity. We've read our books together around a single candle in the living room. Reading this way has been almost meditative, contemplative, with nothing but the flicker of flame and street noise to soundtrack us. No distractions to obscure our entertainment.
We've already had some interesting debates by candlelight (eg. "Life without Electricity" or how our home could almost be like the real-world-in-minutae for all the current hot potato political issues right now on energy/conservation/economy).
Eating by candlelight, the texture of the food suddenly becomes apparent. Takeaway kebabs have never felt like pleasure zones for the tongue before.
You can pause for a thought in our flat and find you can really think, nothing to pull you away.
Thanks to the large windows in the living room, we're not completely in darkness. Between the candles and the full moons of late, and we could be in some romantic honeymoon hideout somewhere.
