2003 - Blackout - A quick recollection

Author's rendition of how the blackout appeared

Around 4:10 p.m. on Thursday, August 14th in 2003, the power went out. I was working in publishing at the time and was on my way to work. In Toronto, we had, at the time, a fairly decent transit system, the TTC (I can't speak to it now. I haven't taken transit in years. I'm sure it's still great). On the main east-west line, you go over the span of the Don Valley via the Bloor Viaduct, so it's one of a few spots where you are actually outside, under this massive bridge, with a really nice view. That's where the train stopped. I was fortunate. We had a crosswind up there, so we were kept relatively comfortable. I've heard tales of people trapped in trains in the tunnels who roasted. 

Rather than give you a play by play recollection of the day, here are the things that stand out for me:

Mel Lastman & Son (click on pic for source page)

- Toronto city mayor, Mel Lastman, furniture salesman supreme, told off the Americans early in the game. They ('murica) had insisted the whole issue was Canada's fault. Mel told them off insisting that Canada was not to blame. Turns out he was right. It was Ohio's fault. Sometimes it's nice to have an outspoken mayor. Mel was the best Mayor of this city (but I digress and that is just my personal opinion). 

- While trapped below, my cellular coverage was sporadic, in that, I was able to receive incoming calls, but unable to successfully make outgoing ones after a time. My husband would call with updates as he was doing his best to make his way over to try and rendezvous with me. As a ham radio operator, he, via a network of hams, had quickly established the sheer size of the outage area. So quickly, in fact, that I had relayed the information to the train operator and guard who weren't even aware the blackout was outside of Toronto at this point, and they had communications with other trains and head office via their rail radios. They quickly spread that information to their compatriots. 

- I had made a total of 10 paper origami cranes (the ones where the wings flap when you pull on the tail) for the kids trapped in my immediate vicinity on the train as the last thing I wanted to hear was crying children. It worked. 

- I had 47 cents in my pocket and a useless bank card. As I started to walk home, hoping to meet with my husband along the way, I'd had enough of the heat and walked into a store, hoping just to get a glass of water or something. The owner told me to just take the bottles of water and wished me well. There were tales of this kind of human decency coming from all over Toronto for weeks later. At a time when human decency seemed at an all time low, it was so refreshing to hear that nothing serious happened that night, no one got seriously hurt and people were helping each other. 

- Because of 9/11, the radio broadcast kept repeating the message that this wasn't a terrorist attack. That was the most chilling memory of the day I have.

- That night, because we had nothing else to do, we hit the bar. A friend of ours who had a cache of cash via her parents, lent it to us and we hit the bar that was open, serving beer with ice. It was a friendly atmosphere, of people making the most of a bad situation. 

If this happens, we're all dead. - click on pic for source

- That month Mars was making it's closest approach to Earth in a gazillion years and sparked the beginning of those stupid 'Mars will be as big as the moon' stories across the internet. I remember standing outside the bar, giving impromptu astronomy lessons to anyone who wanted to know what that giant red star was beside the moon and was that what caused the blackout? I was Sir Bedevere in a village of people who wanted to burn the witch. Really. (Link to the scene of which I'm referring to below because any excuse to post Monty Python is a good one.)

And that's really it folks. We had our camp stoves hauled out and made an awesome meal of Korean barbeque and some leftovers, my friend had a gas stove in her house and her neighbours came over to finish cooking their evening dinners. People had neighbourhood barbeques. I would expect nothing different. Thankfully, our Canadian shone through that day.