I’m sure some of you are aware that a large portion of Vancouver was without power tonight. I was caught in the blackout as well. I had just left work around 8:40pm and was waiting for the bus at 4th and Fir. All of a sudden the street lights went out as did the lights in the surrounding buildings. The only lights were from the headlights of passing vehicles.
I knew my bus was coming at 8:47pm but I forgot if it was an electric trolley or a diesel. I also forgot if the trolleys were on a separate electrical source than the business/residential customers. Not wanting to risk it, I decided to hoof it up to the bigger bus stop on Granville and 5th. I knew that stop had diesels for sure and maybe walking just one block up would be the difference. As I walked into that little park by the foot of the bridge, I could see that it was lights out for several blocks in every direction. Downtown was still twinkling though. To reach the right stop, I had to cross Granville, so I decided to use the underpass. That was not to be. As I got to the underpass, it was pitch black and I was afraid there might be giant spiders in there. It was clear navigating the underpass was not an option. I started to walk up Granville on the wrong side of where I needed to be. All of Granville was dark, except strangely enough, the Starbucks was still serving up coffee in their lit up store. I was waiting for a chance to cross the four lanes of Granville in the dark. There wasn’t a break in traffic, so I thought I’d have a better chance to cross higher up the street.
I got to the intersection at 6th where I waited with a cyclist. We both watched waves and waves of cars go by us.
“This is gonna be fun.”
As he nodded, the traffic stopped as they suddenly obeyed the four way stop rule to let a vehicle cross Granville. We sprinted across along with the car. A trolley had just passed us and was still waiting across the street as I got there. I ran aboard to find that the trolley still had power.
The bus trundled across the darkened bridge, leaving behind what I thought for certain was the beginning of the zombie invasion. The lights were bright and alive as soon as we got downtown. I’m not even sure the patrons of the Cecil even were aware of what was going on outside. Though, I guess you could say that about Cecil patrons at any time.