Hi,
In today's society we are totally dependent on electricity both in the street and in our homes.
In our homes we are surrounded by electrical appliances everywhere such as TV, microwave oven, refrigerator, water heater, computer, telephone.
And if we go out of our houses, it is the same thing. Our streets are always illuminated by the sun during the day, but at night by streetlamps.
And even to manage traffic, we have traffic lights that need electricity.
At a glance, I would say that I would not be able to live without electricity, but I am going to tell you how it would be possible to live without electricity for at least a good season and what changes I would make to live without electricity at home.
Adapt my way of cooking, hygiene and leisure.
As I mentioned before, in our homes, we have multiple elements that need electricity to work and make our lives easier.
The electrical elements in my house that make my life easier are the elements oriented to cooking or preserving food, elements related to having hot water and elements that allow me to work and have leisure at home and that I detail below.
- Microwave oven
- Refrigerator
- Water heater
- TV
- Computer
- Telephone
Cooking and preserving food without electricity
The microwave oven is one of the elements that I use the most in my daily life to heat my food.
But to prepare food I usually cook it in a butane gas cooker, so electricity doesn't affect me much at this point.
And when I have to heat the food, I will take a saucepan and heat the food in the heat of the gas stove.
The refrigerator; however, is a very important element to have food stored and available so that I don't have to go to the store every day.
But I remember one week when it was out of order that I was able to get by just fine doing the shopping when I wanted to make a dish by having it close to a supermarket.
Additionally, if the period when I had no electricity was in spring or summer, my big pantry is the garden with its tomatoes, potatoes and peppers, onions and more vegetables that I grow.
So the problem of not having electricity to cook and feed myself would be easy to solve.
Hygiene
In my house, even though the water heater runs on gas, it needs an electrical outlet to produce an electric spark to ignite the water heater.
Here I would find myself replacing the spark plug with a battery-operated one that I previously used, or else resorting to bathing, as was done in the old days in houses where there was no hot water.
This option consisted in heating pots of water to take them to the bathtub and in this way to take a bath.
The other option, which is not to take a bath, I don't think I should contemplate it. But I know when I talk to people who did not have hot water, that their baths were done on a weekly basis with a daily hygiene of arms, armpits and face with a basin of warm water.
Work and Leisure
The point where I see the greatest impact of electricity is in my work. Without the computer I would have to readopt myself to the commercial management of offers as it was done in the old days.
Writing quotations on a typewriter or by hand.
Sending the quotation by post
Communicating with the customer in person.
Sometimes, I realize that we lose this personalized treatment and I consider it appropriate to send the offer by email, but going to visit the customer and explain the offer in person.
Customers value this personal treatment that technology has partly displaced. In what is considered leisure, I don't think I would suffer for not having a TV, telephone or computer, except for not being able to be connected to Hive.
But I also know that I would change my habits and spend more time reading and doing activities outside the home, such as fishing or enjoying the scenery in the mountains.
In short, without electricity I would be able to contemplate real life away from screens more.
