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The Great Outage of 2003 was a fun time. We had a gas stove so we could still cook dinner (though as a newspaper columnist friend of mine wrote at the time, the

The Great Outage of 2003 was a fun time. We had a gas stove so we could still cook dinner (though as a newspaper columnist friend of mine wrote at the time, the entire neighbourhood was suffused with the smell of everything out of every fridge cooking on the barbecue), and several neighbours came by to share a glass of wine on our front porch. It was breathtaking, that night, to look up at the clear sky and see the countless stars blazing down without having to compete with light pollution from the city. Normally you have to go several hours into northern Ontario to see the like. One of the things that impressed me was how civil everyone was. I was at the downtown library when the power failed, and the 2 km walk home was filled with curiosity (just how big is this thing?) but free of incident. Even at intersections, nearly everyone slowed down or stopped and eased through without trouble. On a few corners, self-appointed crossing guards helped maintain order - in fact, those tended to be the worst intersections, because drivers would cede responsibility to the crossing guard instead of responding directly to the conditions.

stan_rogers 14y ago
It was interesting, too, that the outage coincided with the Mars close approach. I had a hard time understanding why my fellow Torontonians were not not all staring skyward as I was.
- tapertaper 14y ago
  I was in Toronto during the blackout and never looked up even once. I think about that missed opportunity all the time.
- WalterBright 14y ago
  There were all those green flashes coming from Mars then, too. Hmmm.
DonnyV 14y ago
It was fun because you knew there would be an end to it and the power would go back on. If it lasted a month and there was no communication, survival mode would kick in.
- pavel_lishin 14y ago
  A month is generous, though it depends on the community, I suppose.
  - jacquesm 14y ago
    If you want to see how strong society is turn off the water supply, and leave it off. Never mind the power.
    - Dylan16807 14y ago
      What's that supposed to do, exactly? Worst case is you buy $1 gallons of water at the grocery store for a while and don't shower.
      - TeMPOraL 14y ago
        The grocery stores will run out of water in the first few hours. That is, every single grocery store. Now what was that again about worst-case?
        Dylan16807 14y ago
        Great, now that people are supplied for a couple days let's get into the meat of it. People with wells can supply their neighbors and sell excess water for a nice profit, the police and fire department can take over the reservoirs and help with transport and filling containers... Okay considering the downvotes I suppose I should have laid out my point at first: We use far far more water than we actually need. In an emergency situation it's not extremely hard to get a couple of gallons a day to people. Unless by water supply we actually mean turn off the rain. I have no response to that one. That's not going to impact society, that's going to kill almost every bit of land life across the entire earth.
      - jacalata 14y ago
        And don't use the bathroom?
halostatue 14y ago
We had just gotten back from camping—our camp stove was still handy—and my parents called just as the outage happened (we were outside on our balcony so wouldn't have noticed anyway). We had some cash on hand, so we were able to go over and buy ice and some necessities with cash from the local grocery (that no longer exists). Our building had elevator service because the condo board had, in preparation for y2k, bought a big-ass generator. It provided elevator service for the entire week—although it was a close thing, since we were beginning to run out of diesel for the generator, and two of the board behind the generator were starting to scorch from the heat of the exhaust… By preparing for a disaster that never came, the condo was ready for the disaster that did come. We now keep a few hundred dollars in our house in the event of something like this happening again (so we have access to foodstuffs). When we can afford it, I plan on getting a household battery backup system and a solar charging system that feeds the battery backup (we don't really have room for a generator, and I don't think it makes sense). It was an amazing little event in Toronto with a lot of friendliness around the neighbourhood.

stan_rogers 14y ago

It was interesting, too, that the outage coincided with the Mars close approach. I had a hard time understanding why my fellow Torontonians were not not all staring skyward as I was.

tapertaper 14y ago
I was in Toronto during the blackout and never looked up even once. I think about that missed opportunity all the time.
WalterBright 14y ago
There were all those green flashes coming from Mars then, too. Hmmm.

DonnyV 14y ago

It was fun because you knew there would be an end to it and the power would go back on. If it lasted a month and there was no communication, survival mode would kick in.

pavel_lishin 14y ago
A month is generous, though it depends on the community, I suppose.
- jacquesm 14y ago
  If you want to see how strong society is turn off the water supply, and leave it off. Never mind the power.
  - Dylan16807 14y ago
    What's that supposed to do, exactly? Worst case is you buy $1 gallons of water at the grocery store for a while and don't shower.
    - TeMPOraL 14y ago
      The grocery stores will run out of water in the first few hours. That is, every single grocery store. Now what was that again about worst-case?
      - Dylan16807 14y ago
        Great, now that people are supplied for a couple days let's get into the meat of it. People with wells can supply their neighbors and sell excess water for a nice profit, the police and fire department can take over the reservoirs and help with transport and filling containers... Okay considering the downvotes I suppose I should have laid out my point at first: We use far far more water than we actually need. In an emergency situation it's not extremely hard to get a couple of gallons a day to people. Unless by water supply we actually mean turn off the rain. I have no response to that one. That's not going to impact society, that's going to kill almost every bit of land life across the entire earth.
    - jacalata 14y ago
      And don't use the bathroom?

halostatue 14y ago

We had just gotten back from camping—our camp stove was still handy—and my parents called just as the outage happened (we were outside on our balcony so wouldn't have noticed anyway). We had some cash on hand, so we were able to go over and buy ice and some necessities with cash from the local grocery (that no longer exists). Our building had elevator service because the condo board had, in preparation for y2k, bought a big-ass generator. It provided elevator service for the entire week—although it was a close thing, since we were beginning to run out of diesel for the generator, and two of the board behind the generator were starting to scorch from the heat of the exhaust… By preparing for a disaster that never came, the condo was ready for the disaster that did come. We now keep a few hundred dollars in our house in the event of something like this happening again (so we have access to foodstuffs). When we can afford it, I plan on getting a household battery backup system and a solar charging system that feeds the battery backup (we don't really have room for a generator, and I don't think it makes sense). It was an amazing little event in Toronto with a lot of friendliness around the neighbourhood.