Power To The People

Well, today started a bit out of the ordinary in the McShea household...no power. Our entire neighborhood was without power, so that means I saw a lot of people going to work in wet hair (no electric hairdryer), no commuter mug of coffee from home (no microwave or electric stove working), and disconnecting the electric garage door opener hinge to manually raise the garage door to get our cars out. (file photo shown, not specific power lines)

As I took our dog for a walk this morning during the power outage, I saw a lot of my neighbors rushing out of their driveways to work (electric alarm clocks probably didn't go off), and in one case, a neighoor of my couldn't open her garage door and asked to use my cell phone to call a coworker for a ride.  I called National Grid right away this morning to report the outage. I learned a long time ago, never assume that someone else has reported a power outage.

I know everyone complains about paying their utility bills - I do as well. But, within 15 minutes of my call to the power company, I saw two crews out working on the problem. Within 45 minutes, the lights went back on, and the neighborhood was back in service. And, 10 minutes after that, I received a call from National Grid informing that power had been restored, and if I had a problem to call them back. Now that's service!

It's just like the government. Everyone complains about the government until you need them...like for Social Security when you retire, or Medicare when you're a senior citizen on a fixed income; or FEMA in case of floods, tornadoes and hurricanes; or unemployment checks if we are out of work.

I salute the hard work of the National Grid technicians out there in all kinds of weather, and thank them for getting power to the people...my neighborhood, all in one hour!