No light, no life?

in #mywartimediary11 days ago (edited)

The situation with electricity is very difficult now everywhere in Ukraine. We have electricity about 12 hours a day. I used to talk to my daughter on the phone every day but now we are rarely in touch because when they have no electricity they have no internet and mobile coverage is also very poor.

Yesterday I visited a beauty salon but I couldn't pay by card as usual because the light went off. I am an old client so they just tell me to pay on my next visit and I appreciate it. But today I come and pay my bill. Don't like the feeling of having depts.

I also decided to go shopping while I have a few days off. I badly need new pants. The last time I bought pants was ... 4 or 5 years ago. Shopping is a process that requires a right mood, so my small vacation is a good time for that. The area where the shopping mall is was turned off ghe light when I arrive.

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Despite of that, shops are opened, some have an autonomous power source but the majority works "in shadow". It was a funny experience - searching in semi-dark room, trying on in the fitting room with the light of a flashlight on a mobile phone.

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But I found my pair finally. I hope so. Because I couldn't pay for it - no light. Even if I would have enough cash they must give me a check, it needs the power. I left my phone number so they can reach me out when electricity returns. Meanwhile, I ordered a glass of fresh juice while waiting. With fingers crossed for the air raid don't start because the shopping mall is totally closed during air raids.

In winter 2022, when the situation with the electricity was about the same, my plan B was the office that our company rents in a building that have autonomous power and uninterrupted internet. The term of the rent is running out and they aren't going to extend the agreement. This finally pushed us to buy an EcoFlow. Many of my aquitances and colleagues came to it 2 years ago. It costs about $590 so you can understand why I postponed it. My company promised to refund (unknown) part of the cost, but with it or without, my choice is small.

Good news this small box arrived yesterday.

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We tested it and it seems it can support not only the router, laptop and mobile phone working but also the fridge. Now I am a little more prepared for today's challenges.

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Cheers,

@zirochka

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I have also been looking at the Ecoflow line of products. They are quite pricey but will give some comforts when electricity goes out. I'm happy that now you will have communications and cold storage!

We investigated the market of simar devices. Ecoflow is a bit more expensive but it is really reliable, and it recharge quite fast which is also impotrant for my situation.

Thanks for your comment!

It's so frustrating, we lived like this for quite about 2 years, thanks to government corruption. I used to joke last year that Ukraine, in a war, has more electricity than us and that shows just how pathetic our situation had become. Even now, some areas get load rotation and our power was off for 4 days about 10 days ago. Ecoflow is considered a good product although it's too expensive for me, I have batteries for most things and your banks should start providing battery operated terminals for their clients as they do here. I hope your situation improves soon, it's crippling to work like this

we lived like this for quite about 2 years, thanks to government corruption

I had no clue! What a shame ((( I hope you can overcome it and improve somehow. Corruption is one of the main challenges in our world. We inherited a lot of corruption from the USSR, but since the beginning of the war, our society has stopped tolerating it. But to fight it not as easy as one may think.

Many small businesses have bought generators. But these are usually those who have a separate room. In a large shopping mall where there are many small shops, not everyone can connect the generator. A battery-powered terminal is a good idea though!

It's been bad on and off since 2008 and our society slowly adapted to life with batteries and everything important is now battery operated. We have also made a major transition to solar power, everyone who can afford the installation has done so. I also switched to cooking on gas long ago. The problem with generators, especially petrol ones, is how much they cost to run, it cripples business.

The past 2 1/2 years have been worst, where we had 8-12h of power cuts per day, similar to what you are experiencing. We are now in a situation where the state-run electricity company has been able to keep the lights on continuously for 3 months but some areas are still having rotational blackouts due to old and dilapidated infrastructure, where I live has its fair share of infrastructure problems but there is starting to be light at the end of this tunnel.

It's interesting watching Ukrainian society transform, I hope the same for my country. The ruling party that was in power for 30 years has finally lost it's majority but nobody know what will happen next.

I wish your situation will improve soon. But what was the cause, what happened in 2008? Don't you have enough power plants generating electricity or is there a problem with delivery/distribution? What do you use to generate electricity? You seem to have a large supply of coal if I'm not mistaken. We use it for generation. Although many of them are completely destroyed now ((

Our power stations do run on coal but that's not the problem.

Electrical planners told the government in the 90s that due to population and economic growth and the limited lifespan of any power station, the country would have insufficient generation capacity by 2008 and that new power stations needed to be commissioned. They were ignored... In 2008, capacity did run out and then new power stations were commissioned, expected to be fully online in 2016.

Around 2009 a highly corrupt faction took control of the ruling party and state-owned electricity generation was the focus of their looting. The existing infrastructure wasn't maintained and the new power plants were actively sabotaged, so that our looters could do an amazingly corrupt nuclear power generation deal with Russia that would have bankrupted the country. ((Our ruling party also has long ties to USSR due to the cold war which caused many hot wars in Africa and somehow they think that Putin's Russia cares for them))
Finally, society woke up and started to fight back. The corrupt faction was partially removed and then the task was to fix it. Of course there was still plenty of sabotage and it has taken much longer than it should have. A large part of the reason why the ruling party lost power in May but where we go next is not clear.

Hopefully your rebuilding process in Ukraine goes for greener energy generation but it is going to be a long road. We also need to get away from coal in my country

Now I see... We have so much in common. Hold on there, it might be a long way but the society has to be active and keep an eye on whome they elected.

Ukraine has now a unique chance to build new instead of repairing old, in many branches of economy. But especially in energy generating and infrastructure. Hope our goverment don't mess it up.

Thank you so much for this conversation, @nikv !

!HUG
!LUV

Dear @nikv, you just got hugged.
I sent 1.0 HUG on behalf of @zirochka.
(1/3)

We hope for the best!

!HUG

!LUV

!BEER 😅

BTW, I found out that our more innovative banks do have batery-powered terminals. 😊

Dear @zirochka, you just got hugged.
I sent 1.0 HUG on behalf of @nikv.
(1/2)

That seems like such a good solution to the problems (which you really should not be facing). Hopefully it will give you a piece of mind now. Take care as always

I still hope I will not use it much. And also look forward for some refund from the company 😀

But still, it is a good feeling I have my plan B.

!BEER


Hey @zirochka, here is a little bit of BEER from @pixresteemer for you. Enjoy it!

Learn how to earn FREE BEER each day by staking your BEER.

This is a reminder not to take everything for granted. I get upset when power is gone for 10 minutes, which happens once a year maybe, when something mayor happens. Then there are areas in the world, when electricity is a luxury. I hope this madness ends soon and I'm glad you got a device to help you. 🤗😘

Cheers 🤗

Hello. Thanks for sharing experiences like this. I really appreciate this platform. It is similar about how much I learned from people posting about the situation in Venezuela. It (the news) is more authentic coming from people posting about there everyday experiences.

Quite so!

Thanks for stopping by, @sjarvie5 🤗

!LOL
!ALIVE

So sad that many people already forgot about the war while you guys in Ukraine are still living in this nightmare, experiencing crazy things and situations like those you described in your everyday life. Shopping in a dark mall during a power outage. Sounds so weird. I´m sorry the long awaited return to normalcy hasn´t still arrived for you guys :( But good that you now have your own source of electricity at least, that will surely come in handy.

Hugs and greetings from Czechia!

@tipu curate 7

So sad that many people already forgot about the war while you guys in Ukraine are still living in this nightmare

It's true. People is looking for news, and our war is no longer new (( I have no expectation about when it ends anymore, just hope that this day will come sooner or later. We must be able to hold out to this day.

Thank you so much for your support, dear friend 💙💛

PIZZA!

$PIZZA slices delivered:
@nikv(1/5) tipped @zirochka

I follow a few people on Youtube who live in their campervans full time. Ecoflow tend to give the vanlifers a free powerbank in return for a product review on their channel. It's a pity they don't give people of Ukraine some. You are more deserving.

In your country, they need to attract new customers. In Ukraine, they know people will buy their products because they are forced to 😕

I know, it's not fair.