Lights Out

The lights went out while I was shopping yesterday. The county was under a wind warning so it wasnt surprising. Other than not expecting to be in the dark.

It was just a little scary as I was at the way back of the store. Not only was it pitch black, I am not as familiar with it as the grocery section. Also the grocery has through aisles but not the merchandise part. I realized what a bad design this was just then.

I had a quick succession of thoughts:
"Eff"
"How do I get out?"
"Do I take or leave the cart?"(yes, I decided, because it would run into things before I would.)
"Why is it so quiet?"
"Don't panic"
"Where is my phone?"
"I want to tell Kevin about this"

I was completely surprised by how dark it was and for how long. I guess I assumed there would be emergency lighting but there wasn't. It took a minute for the generator to kick on then even then it didn't quite reach where I was. Again: back of the store.

Then the lights flickered on, went out, flickered on, the generator came on again, then finally the lights stayed on.

I was surprised at how rattled I was. I'm usually calm in an emergency but this freaked me out a bit. I grabbed a pair of levis for Kevin and hurried to the cashier. While I was checking out, the lights flickered again. I could not get out of there quickly enough.

So I can cross that off of my list of things to experience.