While we’re still away, we’re giving thought to the increasing likelihood of power outages back at home. This is not a phenomena restricted to the west of Ireland, but one across all Western Europe and Canada. Those chilly nine January days without electricity got a little grim, washing out of buckets of warm water heated on a barbecue, eating fast food at a service station as our only hot food for the day. Angie got fractious, I just ran out of energy and the atmosphere in the house was like the weather, stormy with clouds and rain. Not conducive to writing.

Back in 2011 I was writing a story about a family split over the issue of carbon capture and it’s ramifications. Meant to be a black comedy of errors, ‘Not with a bang’ was the story of how humankind finally develops the means to control CO2 levels on Earth with fusion driven power and a new electrostatic technology that literally unbinds the Carbon and Oxygen molecule making Carbon Dioxide. Essentially it was about what would happen if the radicals got their way and reduced atmospheric CO2 to under 150ppm.

However, real life got in the way, my thread was lost and the story still sits, part completed, on my hard drive. Unfortunately the story went from an intended 5,000 words to a mini novella of 20,000 words and I still had integral story lines which needed far more narrative room.

At that point I decided not to keep going with it as I felt the story would be out of date before it was completed. That and having other projects I was more keen on, like with my comic paranormal tales, which I wrote mainly to cheer myself up. In its current form ‘Not with a bang’ isn’t very good, so will not be posted here, or anywhere for that matter. Besides, I am committed to complete ‘Darkness’, so the tale will remain in my archives, never to see the light of day. Even if it is pertinent to the insane push for ‘Net zero’.

On that topic we’ve decided to find backup sources of heat and light for our home. My calculations indicate that a 22Square metre solar array and at least a backup 4kw diesel generator with 20kw/hr battery storage should inoculate us from any further outages. Water might be an issue if the backup generators fail at the local pumping station like last time, but our property still has an old bore hole, a well that could quickly be brought back into commission to supplement a rainwater collection and storage system. That would require a small water filtration / treatment facility added to the water softener, but if the current crop of politicians have their way. That might just be a wise investment. Not enough to go completely off grid all the time, but certainly enough to tide us over in comfort for a month.

As for comms, we’re considering Starlink for Internet with hopefully their mobile phone subscription to keep us in touch no matter what the outside world, in its lack of wisdom, decides to do. Candidly I’m fed up with the ineptitude of the modern European political class, and am electing to insulate myself from its worst insanities. Western Europe may be going to immolate itself in a purge of insane self loathing, but I have no intention of joining it.