I’m having a power interruption

11/8/2006

Sometimes Wellington North Power gets it right.


It isn’t easy to like the power company, and they are in a tough spot. No one wants to buy a drink for the person who controls all the switches. They make you feel small, and no one likes that feeling.


We have progressed to the point where electric power is a crucial commodity in our society. Computers, microwave ovens, and clock radios are wonderful tools, but they are little more than ugly furniture when the power goes off.


With every one of our great technological advances, we have become increasingly dependent on good old volts and amps. There isn’t much we can do today without electricity, and no one is happy when a power interruption comes their way.


Power interruption. It sounds horrible, actually; sort of like something you might say when you can’t quite reach the top of a flight of stairs.


“I’m sorry,” you might say to the first person that passes you. “I’m having a power interruption.”


That’s what W.N.P.Inc. called a short interruption in the electrical service from approximately 6:30 a.m. to 6:45 a.m., and again at approximately 11 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., on Sunday.


W.N.P.Inc. was upgrading hydro lines on Wellington St. E. and required an interruption for safety reasons. Safety first!, Elmer the Safety Elephant used to say. Or was that Smokey the Bear? Or the Trojan condom company? I can’t remember.


Regardless, if safety doesn’t begin in Wellington then where does it? A little interruption isn’t all that bad now and then. It forces us to fend for ourselves for a little while, and I happen to like that idea.


That is why I have to hand it to W.N.P.Inc.


When you give it some thought, 6:30 a.m. on a Sunday is the best time of the week to shut everything down. Any other day would power down too many of the machines that keep the world working.


Most of us who enjoy living it up on Saturday night are finally in bed, or on the floor, by 6:30 a.m.


Relatively normal people are also usually asleep at 6:30 on a Sunday morning. There is no reason to be awake at that time of day, unless you are milking cows, or landing an airplane full of people.


Relatively normal people are also in church on Sunday morning around 11 a.m., when all you really need to get by is a few strong voices and seats uncomfortable enough that people won’t nod off.


There isn’t even anything good on television on Sunday morning you might be missing. There is no way a decent society could pull the plug on a Sunday afternoon during the fall football season.


It is Grey Cup time, after all.


So, hats off to W.N.P.Inc. for knowing what is important. Good job, and feel free to interrupt the power every Sunday morning. We’ll get through it.