Editorial: Power cut a timely reminder

People in Napier brave the elements to fill their gas bottles at a BP station.

There's nothing like a power cut to make you appreciate the small things in life.

I was disproportionately excited when I was able to boil the jug for my morning coffee yesterday.

I had gone to bed on Saturday preparing for the worst. The fire had been stoked up, my phone was fully charged, candles and matches were at the ready and the full fruit bowl meant I wouldn't starve. But I hadn't made a contingency plan for my morning coffee. I doubted hot water out of the tap would be hot enough and I could hardly boil water in a pot over our log burner. Luckily I didn't have to test my survival skills - I never was the best Girl Guide.

Technology has made life so easy for us that sometimes we can be downright lazy. I mean why take the time to fill the sink, rinse, wash and dry the dishes when you can put the dishwasher on and walk away.

But while power gives us our creature comforts it still plays a vital role in heating our homes, especially when many homes now use a heat pump as their main source of heating.

A Transpower fault on Unison's Hawke's Bay network meant most of us lost power for about 2 hours on Saturday. At its peak almost 60,000 Unison customers were without power. That meant a lot of homes cooled quickly when the heaters switched off.

It gave me a new appreciation for our log burner - even though it takes longer to light once it's going it's nice and toasty.

Some people climbed back into bed and some braved the elements to wait in line getting their gas bottle filled. Perhaps the power cut was a timely reminder to make sure the gas bottle stays above halfway and to order the next load of wood.