Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Randomly came across this... - You don't have it so bad after all. - Also, two eyewitnesses; the commentator and the commenter.

Source: Notes From Abroad

Power Perspective

I read an article recently about power interruptions in Maryland. People were complaining that over a six month period, the power had flickered off for ten seconds or so -- more than half a dozen times. Other outages lasted a few minutes or an hour.

If only we experienced those outages in Timor!

Power interruptions are a daily occurrence. Today, the power went off around lunch time -- it's now 7:30pm and it's still off.  Yesterday, the power was off for five hours -- the day before -- 4 hours -- and so on and so on.

No one seems to know why the power goes out so often.

It used to be better. It only went off on Sundays for about five hours. Now, it's daily.

But we're lucky here in Dili compared to those living in the districts. Their power is on from 6pm until midnight -- every day.

Let's hear it for backup generators!

1 comments:


Storm'n Norm'n said...
I used to live in Belpasso, Sicily back in '78. The owner of the condo we rented would turn the heat on when it got pretty cold in the winter...at 7 PM til 10 PM...the remainder of the time had to be spent wrapped in blankets or clothed like you were outside. Another thing that I experienced while living on that Island is that marble floors radiate cold like you would not believe...especially when there's no insulation below. Lucky that the winters are very short...even though it was more than halfway up Mount Etna...the volcano, but that's another story. Norm
__________________________


Witness

I saw a little boy dragged by a taxi this morning.

It is not easy to write about -- I didn't actually see the taxi hit the child -- what I witnessed or heard, first,  was a muffled, scraping sound -- then I saw something stuck under the car -- being dragged on the asphalt. Then, I heard frantic shouts from someone in a red shirt running toward the car.

At first, I thought it was a piece of cardboard under the car -- then it appeared to be a dog. The car didn't immediately stop and once it did -- the boy's body lay in the middle of the street. He wasn't moving. The taxi driver reluctantly stopped some 10 yards up the road. I say reluctantly because he kept slowing down and then finally stopped.

A man, presumably the father or a relative, in the red shirt, ran screaming and crying into the street and hugged the boy's body -- other witnesses stopped traffic -- and several people approached the driver -- who didn't immediately get out of the car.Still others ran to help the child.

It happened just after sunup this morning -- and there were a number of others who witnessed this horrible tragedy and came running to offer help.

I still find it difficult to believe and process what I witnessed -- all in a matter of seconds.

I don't know the details of what happened -- for instance -- how fast the taxi was moving -- although when I noticed it -- the car was moving slowly. I also don't know if the child was crossing the street or playing in the street.  I did see the taxi driver's face -- just after the boy's body cleared the under-part of the car -- and from his expression -- he appeared not to know what he'd hit.

I don't know if the child survived -- although his little body appeared lifeless.

1 comments:


Storm'n Norm'n said...
I once witnessed a jeep hitting a child..saw the entire incident! It was downtown Saigon around 1970 or '71. While walking with three Air Force officers one of them exclaimed, "That kid! He's going to get hit!" And at an instant, I turned to witness the horrible event. A Vietnamese military jeep struck the young lad with the passenger side of the vehicle...the bumber hit somewhere in the hip or waist area knocking the child down into a prone (face down) position. Instinctively the child raised his head has the right front wheel ran over his chest thus slamming the the head into the pavement. The rear wheel repeated the roll-over before the jeep came to a stop. An adult rushed to grasp the child in her arms but as we could judge from our distance the child was already dead. All these years and I still remember the details...forgot them for awhile until you reminded me with this post. This is the first time I've been to your blog and I got here by starting at my blog and simply clicking 'Next Blog' at the top of the page. Norm

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