By Sue-Ann Wayow
IT was back to basics for almost everyone in Trinidad who experienced the island-wide blackout on Wednesday.
The elementary form of existence was compounded with no water and a breakdown in telecommunication services.
While many were initially frustrated by all the inconveniences caused including a major traffic jam on the nation’s roads as street and traffic lights refused to function, some sought to see some light in the darkness.
The full moon seemed to have made up for the lack of man-made illumination as many were seen outside their houses on Wednesday night, enjoying the natural light.
AZPNews.com spoke with several persons from different areas on how they were affected by the nationwide blackout.
Annoyed at the disruption, grateful for the break
Self-employed Alette Williams from Princes Town said, “I’m an entrepreneur, so I work from home. I had all of my activities planned out. Just after a Zoom meeting I thought to do a quick wash of clothes between catching up on work for clients. I stood for about five minutes wondering what was wrong with our washer. Then I spent about 15 minutes switching from Wi-Fi to data and even turning my phone on and off again before realising electricity was gone.”
She added, “You see, I work in silence, and where I live is breezy. So, I really had no real indication of the outage. I used my laptop to charge my phone and used my spare time to call and follow up with clients. I also spent time listening to an audiobook and cooking instead. I also hand washed some clothes because I needed to wash them. Real old school drying too, put the clothes into a towel and squeeze it then hung it up.”
Williams said she was thankful that she washed in time as soon after, water went.
As the night progressed she spent some time with her mother admiring the moon and went into bed early.
“I was annoyed by the disruption, but actually grateful for the break,” Williams said.
Romantic moonlight moment
Senator Dr Varma Deyalsingh and his wife Dr Sherene Kalloo could have advised couples to have a romantic night outside just as he did in Valsayn.
He told AZPNews.com, “I must say I enjoyed sitting outside with my wife under the silvery light of a brilliant full moon and stargazing. Trying to identify different constellations. We had lovely music from YouTube with some lovely Beejees, Lionel Richie and Chicago music. It was indeed calming and romantic sitting outside in my garden chair snuggling against my wife sipping a glass of port.”
The outside moment was interrupted by a car slowly passing by.
“We felt vulnerable in our own frontyard and cut short our time to hasten inside behind locked doors where we continued our intimate time. There is therapy and magic in the moonlight it took a blackout to appreciate this,” he said.
Wondering about mosquitoes
Music artiste Chris Garcia said he was in the dark literally as to what would have caused the darkness.
He said, “The length of time the electricity had gone made me think quite a lot. One of the things I thought about was before the advent of fans and air-conditions, how did people deal with mosquitoes and when current coming back. Tunapuna is my home and from my gallery I could see the central plains and beyond, full of strange nothingness, this strange sight I thought could stir up an idea in Stephen King’s mind.”
Garcia added, “But, through it all, there was a sweetness in the calm of the dark, my guitar sounded so angelic and the hummings of neighbours reminded me just how beautiful we are and the power of turning a negative into a positive. Then the lights came back.”
Eating ice cream before it melted
Agriculture economist Omardath Maharaj from Chase Village said the first major impact was the disconnection from online schooling for his three daughters and inability to complete assignments and his own work for the day as there was no telephone or water connection.
He said, “At sunset when we realized the electricity problem was persisting, our daughters got involved to gather candles and deeyas to provide light for the evening and used their reward of A&J’s Premium Ice Cream before it melted in the fridge. We filled buckets of water from the tanks to bathe and had a light dinner, peering at the moonshine.”
Dinner by candlelight
For Susan in Gasparillo, the outage was initially horrible for the children at home as schoolwork was interrupted added with internet moving at a pace slower than a snail’s, no water in the pipes and additional heat.
She said, “But thank God we were able to appreciate life without the computer or tv. We were able to spend more family time, enjoy the full moon and fresh air. We were also able to enjoy cooking and eating by candle light. For us, our appliances and other electrical items are still working. Hope it’s the same for everyone. Hope we learnt some small lesson from last night.”
Putting children to sleep in cars
And one person from La Romaine said electricity went just when her son-in-law was about to warm his lunch in the microwave and she did not take on the issue too much as electricity going in La Romaine was the norm.
However, what raised the alarm was when she tried calling her daughters and she did not get through as her data on her Bmobile phone also went down. She said persons were still somehow getting through on the Digicel network.
Her husband’s studies came to an abrupt end and her son-in-law could not leave until the electronic gate was switched back to manual.
She said, “It was back to basics, bathing with a bucket, thank God we still had water in our downstairs area bathroom (water that was running very slowly)… had cereal for dinner.”
Her main concern was for her grandchild who had to be put to sleep in the car as he has gotten accustomed to sleeping in a cool environment.
