The Old Battery Radio Was Playing Again

“Watch out for the fallen tree in the Roosevelt Park” said the nice lady at Canada Customs. We were just returning from a trip over to St.Andrews and the weather had been anything but nice. Storm casts and driving rain had lasted all day. So a tree had fallen and hit the power line. Of course, Welshpool was without power again. And sure enough our house was dark. But we have a propane stove for days like that, and that’s where we made hot water for coffee. Dinner, a soup of a can, was also made there. But then it got really dark. So we lit candles and our oil lamp, had a fire lit in the stove and listened to French chansons from our old battery-run transistor radio. It was magic. We talked and we realized that life had changed so much. Our laptops were not in use, there was no internet, and the cellphone was in the van to be recharged after the day out. Bea talked about the people of Puerto Rico where so many have no power, no clean water and very little food and where hopelessness was with every family. Stuff to think about for sure. Our power repair crew had arrived shortly after us and at 8:15pm our lights came back on. Power was restored and we went from magic to normal within seconds. Next year it is 70 years ago that Campobello Island received electricity for the first time. Before that, life on the island had been based on kerosene lamps and candles. Quite amazing, if one remembers that most of the States and Canada had enjoyed electricity decades earlier.