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'

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.