If a tree falls in a forest at night, does it make a sound?
It was a clear, calm night at about 10.15pm and I was in bed reading. I heard a bang, and my light went out. It flickered on for a few seconds and then extinguished once more. Then the fire alarm started bleeping. I ventured upstairs using my mobile phone as a torch and met my housemates Sabine & Rachel there, and Sabine punched in the code and silenced the alarm. With the exception of the alarm, the power was out throughout the building. Sabine and I decided to investigate further. I pulled on a pair of jeans, slipped trainers onto my bare feet, grabbed a torch and walked outside. I had got as far as the end of the driveway (it’s a long driveway) when Sabine came up behind me in her car. I jumped in and we set out in the direction from which the noise and related power cut had come.
Just to give you an indication of the area, I currently live and work as a support worker in a village for adults with developmental disabilities in eastern Pennsylvania. In one direction lies the beginning of the suburban sprawl that makes up the edge of Philadelphia. In the other lies mile after mile of rural greenery. We headed greenwards. Half a mile or so down the road we almost hit the cause of the power cut. A tree had fallen across the road, bringing the electricity lines down with it. It must have been weakened by a storm we had here a few days ago, itself a by-product of hurricane “Ernesto” that surged up the east coast. Sabine turned the car around, and we headed back to the house to find the telephone number of the power company.
As we stepped out of the car, we heard the screeching of brakes and then another bang. Sabine grabbed the telephone directory and we jumped back in the car. As she drove, I tried to call the power company only to be met with an automated service and a demand for a 12-digit code. There are certan occasions where you just want to speak to a bloody human being. This was one of them. Less than a minute later we were back at the scene. A guy waved us down, and told us that someone had hit the tree but that nobody was injured. He went back to stop traffic on the other side of it, and we took his position. The 1st car to pull up on our side was a fellow support worker, Robbie, who after hearing of the nature of the incident, swiftly turned round and returned to our village to assure others that the sound had not been gunshots, as some of them had suspected.
A few minutes passed and the local sherriff showed up, our cue to return home to a dark house. As I lay in bed again, adrenaline still coursing through my veins simultaneously with worries in my head that all our food would go off, the lights came back on. Less than 2 hours had elapsed since the original incident.
Bucky
Tags: Pennsylvania, Travel, tree, USA
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