the dimming of the light (Part 5)

Peter Hunter

Day 2

  cold, very cold

the contents of the wood burner are still warm a diminishing pile of grey embers which Alice rapidly encourages to a healthy heap of flaming logs

  but still no electricity - no uplifting current from the sockets to encourage the bulbs into an even flickering light. Things are not looking good. Alice girls gets together some carrots that are in danger of deteriorating together with a few raw sausages that are slowly de-frosting - and we eat them cold - the girls are planning a strategy for using our supplies in the most logical sequence to avoid waste by spoilage and how the wood burner could be used for indoor cooking

  it is not a happy meal

The cats look longingly at our sausages and it breaks my heart that we choose not to feed them.

Still no news no communication and I suggest walking towards the centre of the village to find if anyone else has news or rumours that might enlighten us.

Still the odd vehicle - presumably folk that know better than us and have some reason to use what now might be precious fuel. I have decided to walk or use my bicycle for short distances and only use my car only for some reason that I cannot yet think of

  and if I need to travel a few miles, such as three or four - then use my tractor - topping up the half tank of diesel already in it, with a little of the Colonel's five or six hundred litres of domestic heating oil - bartering maybe some fish from the lake.

The fish are giving me some concern

  we fully expect the brook shortly to become contaminated by sewage due to inconsiderate villages either using it directly or failing to understand the rapid problem of 'backing up' due to the pumping station no longer working. After careful thought, we calculated that with the dilution factor and the small portion of the brook that was diverted into the lake input channel - any harm to the fish would be minor.

  the fish, trout, carp and pike might become an important element of our survival and as I had plenty, some fish could perhaps be bartered with the rest of the village. It would be much easier than trapping or hunting animals and birds. Lots to think about

... meanwhile the lights were still dead and we still did not know the extent of the outage

(To be continued)

Peter Hunter 2012

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