Where were you when the (traffic) lights went out?
So did all you G-Town types have fun on Tuesday?
I was out pretty much all day, helping mum gather stuff for Brother Tim’s birthday (which was on Wednesday, procrastination always being the order of the day in this house). We were at this one shop down in Belmont (cos it’s in the Barwon Valley, you see, so it’s “down”) and the guy at the counter was all apologetic that he’d have to write us out a receipt, because their power was off.
Driving home shortly after that, we noticed the lights were out at that massive intersection down behind where the old Go-Karts used to be (Hooly knows what I’m talking about…). We would’ve noticed sooner, but mum always takes the ass-backwards way home from Belmont.
Continuing on without incident, we were surprised to find the lights at Townsend Rd/Bellarine Highway out as well. Of course by this time we started to twig that there might be something of a blackout in progress. I put the radio on to find out what in tarnation was going on, but was met with static at every pre-programmed frequency. K-Rock, Bay FM… nothing. Total zombie movie shit there, essential services failing and all.
We got home, and mum spent about a minute pressing the garage door remote and getting increasingly frustrated while I laughed my ass off. I eventually managed to bark out “Power’s… bwahahaha… out… aaaaahahahahaha… mum!”
So we went inside, and like a really bad late-90s roleplaying game, family members popped out from corridors and side-rooms, telling us what we already knew. My sister had been at the movies seeing “Crappy Feet” (you guys can use that one, if you want), and the power went off half-way through. I can only imagine the sheer chaos of a depowered movie theatre full of harried school-holiday mums and confused kids. I bet it was hilarious.
We all pretty much sat around in the blistering heat, sans fans or cooling, saying ‘faaark’, ’struth’, ’spewin’!', and all the other disbelieving curses in the Aussie vernacular for a while, before just deciding to sit in the car with the AC on, cruising the dial for a functional radio station. The big boys like Fox and Nova were still operational, so we suffered through the homicide inspiring voices of the fuckwads they get to DJ on those stations to get the info we needed. Power out from the inner suburbs all the way out to Geelong? Faaark. Struth. Spewin’.
Heading back inside to the hellish sepulchre of a suburban house without cooling on an Australian summer day, we decided to follow Winston Churchill’s famous advice and ‘go down to the beach’. Well, Winston Churchill via Karl Pilkington anyway. Luckily I’d received a call from my boss informing me that there’d be no work that night, for obvious reasons.
So we piled into the car and headed to ‘The OG’ (I coined that term in 2003. Me. Now everyone’s fucking using it without giving me credit.) I’m too cool to look like I’m having fun, though, so I just sat up by the dunes, reading and taking photos of the beach to make a certain snowbound Seattle girl jealous.
We headed home just after 8, walking through the door to a beautiful cacophony of functional consumer electronics. LG. Life’s Good.
All 27 lights out at my favourite unnecessary 5 lanes either side intersection? Disaster!
I was already at the ‘beach’ (such as it is up in C/Springs) and we came back to Matt’s house to swelter for a while before they decided to go to the other side of Geelong to a cooler house. I told them to get stuffed and instead of driving 40 minutes in a hot car I drove 3 mins home (where it keeps fairly cool). Dad was on the net on the laptop and had a TV hooked up to a car battery. What blackout? Laughin’.
Jokin’!
I was at work which wasnt to bad course we couldnt use the welders or grinders so we got off half an hour early, it also sucked course i had to put the roller doors down manually which in that heat you can imagine how shit it was.
I got out of work at 4:30 and i had to go through 5 intersections to get home, all of them caiotic with cops directing traffic.
oh, and i posted this vid on youtube which you ,ight like
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kf5YN63PNsM
Haha, Mick, those ads are great.
Street’s Vienetta… do they even sell that anymore?! And Telecom, too. Good stuff.
The blackout forced my family to leave the house and drive 1 minute to the beach right next to my house. Darn blackouts.
yeah, they still sell vienetta.
I have shit loads more ads im gonna post in the coming weeks.
Geez, Robin, don’t let Captain Planet know about your needless use of fossil fuels. Dude’ll fuck you up. Jules and I saw him beat a little girl to within an inch of her life for dropping a paper cup on the footpath.
I’m not worried. I’m in cahoots with Captain Pollution.
Then our world is in peril!
Oh I love it! - all these old time references - Vienetta was one of my favourite desserts. I’m going to look for it next time I’m in the supermarket. And Telecom. And Captain Planet (he’s our hero…
Those were the days…
(Glad I don’t live in Victoria with all that blackout craziness
yeah, it was weird. Um.. dan.. i’ve only ever heard you say “The O.G.”… and only in this blog.. I guess i should get out more, yeah? I found salvation in a friends pool that evening. Also, the emergency radio 774 3LO are always on for this very reason, duffa. You should have tuned into that one. Oh well… next one.
XXX
You must be speaking of the fabled AM band, Sir Crommadus. ‘Tis a sound never poured into these ears.
I did a little reply to your blog in my blog so get your beastie boys bling on and Ch-ch-ch-ch-check it out.
Aw, I missed it!