Back in 1978, we New Englanders had what became known as "The Blizzard of '78". It was rather horrific by New England standards. Snow covering cars. Power outages. All that stuff. Legend has it my father hooked up with a neighbor up the street to take a sled down to the supermarket and back to get supplies.
I have a feeling that the event left a permanent scare on the baby boomers here. Because whenever a "severe storm" or likewise is supposed to hit, people crowd the supermarkets, as if they had to prepare for living indoors for the next 2 years. Recently, we got one of those scares. And as usual, not nearly as horrific as the panic was making it out to be.
Still, I was prepared. I had food. I had candles. I new how to keep myself entertained without AC power (in addition to a charged iPod, I had lots and lots of these rectangular paper things called "books"). And I had flashlights, or as they're called in the UK, "torches". Alas, there was no power outage.
It did however make me wonder how much injury I'd be causing myself if my power went out and I had to literally stumble across so many things in the dark. In all fairness though, I know how where I keep my flashlights so that I can find my flashlights in the dark. Let's take a look at what I have.
It looks like a Pepsi bottle, doesn't it? Like the glass kind that nobody in the U.S. actually drinks out of any more? Yeah, but it is a flashlight believe it or not. Twist the top and the light shines through the bottom. I got this as a cheap "stocking stuffer" Xmas gift about 8 or 9 years ago. What can I say, it works. Hard to get rid of something that does. Although I tested it on the night of the big snow scare, and found that it didn't work. Opening it up revealed two batteries on either side of a white cake of battery acid. I replaced the batteries. Works fine. Problem solved.
Now we move on to the blue one. It's one of those disposable ones. The button even glows in the dark. But boy, does the flashlight's lighting suck. Still, it's bright enough to be practical. Looks like I've found the flashlight to stick in the car.
Also, not pictured in the photo is a little twist-on light that I keep on top of the fridge, near the fuse box. Takes 2 "AA" batteries. Years ago I dropped it and the casing cracked, so it would no longer twist on. However, duct tape came to the rescue, and it still works. Maybe THIS is the one I should stick in the car, and toss the blue one.
And finally, we get to the one you see me holding in the photo. I bought this at a local drug store. It was with all the other "As Seen on TV!" gadgets. Holy crap, is this little thing bright! It lights up the area like Fenway Park. Suppose to have 100,000 hours of usage too. Hell, I should probably just buy one more of these and ditch the others.