.

.
.

Friday, February 25, 2011

Weekend Reflection: Our reliance on Electricity








http://newtowndailyphoto.blogspot.com/

On Tuesday, after work, I pulled in to my gas station to pump my petrol. There was a sign," EFTPOS not working, cash only."

EFTPOS is the general term used in New Zealand for debit card based systems used for processing transactions through terminals at points of sale.

I looked inside my wallet, I had only five dollars. I drove off upset with myself that I have allowed myself to be a cashless person, and upset that the gas station has allowed their EFTPOS system to fail. I didn't want to drive to an ATM machine to withdraw some money just in case all the EFTPOS system is down.

You might say I was paranoid, such things don't happen. I drove home risking running completely out of petrol.

I got home, my son said, " Mum, Earthquake in Christchurch again."
We just had one in September. When I watched on TV, it was like a war zone. All the power were down.

Through out this week, I had been teaching my students the results of the earthquake. In fact, even my little 8 year olds were teaching me. I encouraged them to write and draw a card each which I hope to compile into a book.

No water, No drinking water, No shower, No flushing.
No Power, No cooking, No food. NO TV, No radio, No phone, No lights, No heater
No Money, No Shopping,
People die, people get hurt, people runaway.

The lists go on and on.

How terrifying it is. My poor young students, in six months, they witness 3 calamities.

My photos are for you to reflect if there is no electricity.

15 comments:

MadSnapper said...

Ann, my husband and i often talk about what depends on electric. almost every thing we do relies on it, and we to are a cashless family. the list would be miles long of things that we would lose with power. all things you mentioned, and traffic signals would cause chaos just by themselves. NO BLOGGING is really scary. for me anyway

rainfield61 said...

Then I found one of the caterpillars at your place: earthquake.

You are lucky for not being nibbled by the earthquake.

Betsy Banks Adams said...

Hi Ann, We all depend on electricity ---and get upset when the power here goes out, even for a little while. I can only imagine what the people in Christchurch are going through.. It's just so sad.

We don't carry much cash either --and have gotten stuck a few times without enough cash to pay for something... George tries to carry an extra bill in his wallet just for these occasions.

Hope you have a great weekend.
Hugs,
Betsy

DawnTreader said...

I've been thinking a lot about this during the past week (because of the earthquakes in Christchurch). We really do rely so much on all our technology. At the same time it helps news to travel fast. I've been reading posts from one blogger in Chch sent by her phone. It makes it more 'real' than any TV news.

Ginny Hartzler said...

Yes, it's all in perspective. We think we have it bad till we see someone else with it much worse. What an awful thing. What is that picture with all the grass?? It looks like a sunken building.

ancient one said...

We should all try to think ahead, but we don't. Before Y2K we had stocked up a little. Y2K didn't happen, but in 1999 we had the "flood of the century" after a hurricane. We were without electricity for about a week, but we were prepared. Sad to say if something were to happen today, such as your earthquake, we'd be hurting.

George said...

When the power goes out for even a short time period, just about everything comes to a halt. At times it seems we are too dependent on electricity.
We've been following the latest earthquake in Christchurch. The devastation is unbelievable.

Cezar and Léia said...

Dear Ann,
So sorry for this terrible moment.
All my prayers and thoughts to people there.
Take care sweet Ann,
hugs
Léia

Francisca said...

Yes, electricity is a biggie. I live in an emerging economy that sees its days of black-outs, although fortunately less now than in years past. But I know the nuisance and the pain that it can be. I have family living in Christchurch and my heart goes out to them and to all the people affected down there. [I am at home in Manila and next week I fly to Europe to stay for four months. No idea how much blogging I'll be able to do when there.]

Unknown said...

We all depend on too many things!
I was watching CNN when the first news about the earthquake came out. I am so sorry.

Kim, USA said...

Hi Ann good to know that you and your family are okey. But so sad of what happened to Christchurch. It's hard to not have an electricity anymore and much more hard if we don't have water. Happy weekend!
Weekend Reflection

Pat Tillett said...

A reflection of another type. With more and more things being digitized, computer based, or totally on the internet, we are running the risk of having NOTHING when and if the power goes out!
Patrick Tillett, Extremely Overdue

MarieElizabeth said...

I do hope things recover there as quickly as possible. It is important to reflection on our reliance some days.

Lew said...

We do rely on our electricity and modern forms of payment! Snow and wind have caused loss of electricity in our area this winter. We have been lucky - our power outages have been very brief.

Reader Wil said...

Yea it's terrible! But I am glad that Marja and her family are safe and very busy to help wherever they can.