“If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small.” – Proverbs 34:10

“…and by his light/ Did all the chivalry of England move/ To do brave acts.” – Shakespeare: II Henry IV III.ii

“Put all your eggs in one basket, and — watch the basket.” – Mark Twain: Pudd’nhead Wilson’s Calendar

“The goal of war is peace; of business, leisure.” – Aristotle: Politics IV

“Four be the things I’d been better without-/ Love, curiosity, freckles, and doubt.” – Doroty Parker: Inventory

“I am more and more convinced that man is a dangerous creature; and that power, whether vested in many or a few, is ever grasping, and like the grave, cries “Give, give!” – Abigail Adams, letter to John Adams, 27th November 1775

Be careful, Rick, of that which you ask for yourself.

A hermit living with a person well-connected to the modern workforce, and with whom one shares a refrigerated upright box and a freezer chest will discover that waiting in a queue for hours to purchase a portable generator, petrol and oil occupies leisure time more suited for looking at a clear night sky, seeing meteor light trails above one’s house for the first time in decades, light pollution absent during a regional power outage.

Living on word-of-mouth, relying on my folks in Florida to tell me via mobile phone that the powers-that-be have imposed martial law…uh, I mean a dusk-to-dawn curfew in north Alabama.

Solar power, other than fueling the dome of trees keeping this house cool in summer, is not going to energise chilling compressors very well through the light-filtering leaves, but it will recharge batteries for radios, portable TVs/computers, and mobile phones.

A parabolic/trough solar water heater will produce hot showers on a cool morning.

So, I ask myself, with this opportunity to observe life in the moment without nuclear/coal power plants pushing electrons, what of a family’s daily existence is truly essential.

Don’t need an automatic dishwasher, clothes washer/dryer, microwave oven, toaster, refrigerator and/or freezer.

Don’t need a lawnmower, hedge trimmer, vacuum cleaner or electric screwdriver.

Convenient, yes. Need, no.

Clean water, absolutely.

Don’t need a doorbell that chimes electrically, a phone answering machine, videogame system, large-screen tellie, home intrusion alarm, or clothes/hair iron.

Don’t need an electronic piano/organ, ebook reader, electrified light bulbs, record/CD/DVD players, or AC-powered clocks.

Want them but don’t need them.

Of course, a hermit’s needs differ slightly from a family’s needs.

A hermit doesn’t need a baby monitor, or oxygen machine.

A hermit can create an ant-powered supercomputer to gauge and predict patterns whereas a technology-challenged family can make do with basic mobile phone service to track changes in personal networks.

Enough chatter. Time to reprogram an ant colony and then scavenge for the fuel-hungry monster keeping our frozen/cooled foods at optimally-safe longterm storage conditions for delayed eating gratifications.

Windmills aren’t useful in dead air space.

Meanwhile, sun tea brews in the sunroom and a solar cooker is ready to make a delicious meal. Where’s that Mylar camping hot water shower bag? My wife says she’ll heat water with our coffee pot, electric, o inspired by college dorm hot water problems.

“I’m glad you two are still together: it helps me save on postage.” Ashleigh Brilliant: Pot-Shots No. 528, Marriage series

How many entrepreneurs in this power outage will inspiringly invent and successfully market an efficient home heating/cooling system that is self-contained and/or scalable to efficient neighbourhood levels?