Blackout

Last thursday (14th) there was a massive blackout here in Toronto all the lights went out streetcars stopped and there where crazy people in the street shouting that it was the end of the world. We own a variety store and on the 14th our little store probably the size of two living rooms had people lining up all the way outside to get supplies. Without cash registers we where stuck with battery operated calculators. Our candlelit store quickly ran dry of water, candles, and bread and soon we had to shutdown since we had nothing more to sell.

When night hit the city was pitch black and for the first time you could see the stars. They where the most amazing sight since the night sky was litterally dotted with them, and usually all you could see is 5 stars. Street parties where poping up here and there on different streets, with no TV or media word of these street parties traveled by word of mouth. Me and a friend eventually met up admist all this chaos and decided that this would be the one time we'd be able to jump in a street car and "play around with the controls". So after observing the presence of cops carefully we found our car and jumpped in.

The street car was powered off nothing was really operational but you get a sense of what the driver has to deal with. First he has poor visibility there's a blind spot directly in front of the streetcar due to the driver's seating position and the street car's height. Secondly the controls are very stiff.

After leaving the streetcar we headed down queen's street and passed by a club that brought the club outside. Afterwhich we stopped and watched about 1/2 hour of news at the CITY TV building and that was the blackout as seen by me where where you?