Last night Paul and I met up with my cousins Amy and Trisha, and Trisha's husband Jonnie in front of the Walmart in Olean to go iceskating. When we arrived in Olean everything was black. No street lights. No stop lights. No store lights. Except we didn't realize it right away (my comment toward no stop light where there ought to have been one: "Why are they taking that stop light out??? There's enough traffic that goes through there!"). We felt like something was out of place, but couldn't quite put our finger on what it was until we arrived at the plaza where all the big stores are located, and not one of them was lit up. It was then that we noticed the no street lights etc. We got out and talked to a Walmart clerk who told us that someone had seen a flash of light at the power plant and so they figured that a transformer had blown. Electricity was out throughout all of Olean and the neighboring town of Portville. hahaha What a night! Thankfully we managed to find my cousins and decided to drive to the rink to see if there was any possibility of skating that night. There were some generator-run lights on here and there, but no such luck for the rink lights. No skating for the night. :( Jonnie suggested driving over to Wellsville (which was certain to have electricity) and visiting the new art center or getting a bite to eat at Texas Hot (which is also reputed to have excellent coffee). So off we went. We had a great time talking over french fries, hot drinks, apple pies, and of course the infamous "Texas Hot", and as our food was disappearing and conversation was winding down the lights flickered and went off. grins We laughed. Each table was given a flashlight while a waitress went to look for candles, and about 15 minutes later (right after the waitress found the candles), the lights flickered again and came back on. What a night. :) Then we had our nice waitress take a picture of us. Slightly blurry, but it works.
Paul, me, Amy, Trisha, Jonnie
No comments:
Post a Comment