Wednesday, January 24, 2007
Blackout
There was utter chaos this morning as a result of the bad weather sweeping Italy.
The whole of the north east of Sardinia was in blackout from sometime in the middle of the night when I stumbled out of bed in the dark for a glass of water to just after midday today.
More than 150,000 families didn't have any electricty - that's a lot of towns affected when you think that Olbia is the biggest town in the area and has just over 30,000 inhabitants.
And it made me realise just how dependent we are on electricity. I couldn't use the kettle, I couldn't use the hob, I didn't have any heating, I couldn't use my computer, my phone or scanner - in fact I couldn't do much at all because we have a basement apartment meaning we don't get lots of light unless it is the summer.
So, I'm now more determined than ever to have an eco-home and to use solar energy and water/wood combination for heating and for cooking.
Anyway, there is news on the home front as we saw the geometra last night. Find out more at Oh dear the roof collapsed.
Emma Bird is the director of www.howtoitaly.com and the co-author of Starting a Business in Italy: how to set up and run a successful business in the Bel Paese
The whole of the north east of Sardinia was in blackout from sometime in the middle of the night when I stumbled out of bed in the dark for a glass of water to just after midday today.
More than 150,000 families didn't have any electricty - that's a lot of towns affected when you think that Olbia is the biggest town in the area and has just over 30,000 inhabitants.
And it made me realise just how dependent we are on electricity. I couldn't use the kettle, I couldn't use the hob, I didn't have any heating, I couldn't use my computer, my phone or scanner - in fact I couldn't do much at all because we have a basement apartment meaning we don't get lots of light unless it is the summer.
So, I'm now more determined than ever to have an eco-home and to use solar energy and water/wood combination for heating and for cooking.
Anyway, there is news on the home front as we saw the geometra last night. Find out more at Oh dear the roof collapsed.
Emma Bird is the director of www.howtoitaly.com and the co-author of Starting a Business in Italy: how to set up and run a successful business in the Bel Paese
