It’s going ­down

I was going to write up on my recent journey from Broken Hill to Vanuatu and back. Maybe I will later. It was quite exciting for me. However, after a couple of weeks of constant travelling I got home last night to a power outage. As you may already know I live in the Australian Governments logistical-problem-child-town of Broken Hill.

There was an intense storm last week which left the whole district without power. The power company responsible, Transgrid, swung into action and after flying up and down 100s of miles of power-lines found the twisted wreckage of 7 pylons amidst crackling powelines. Power was briefly restored using a back-up diesel generator.

A day of power gave the town enough time to shop like it was the end of times. They stripped the supermarkets bare.

Broken Hill people know not to trust the status quo and live in perpetual preparedness for armageddon. I know locals who still have enough toilet paper stored from 2019 to last them well into the next decade.

The last message from Transgrid I got before switching off my phone told me the power would be out until the following afternoon. The town last night was awash with cars hooning around like it was the end of times. Crowds of young people, under threat of depleting power indicators and disconnection from Tik-Tok, Snapchat or whatever they use of late, headed to Argent Street. The collective doubts of our connected future held sway.

During the night I worried about the content of the fridge/freezer spoiling. I briefly switched my phone back on and found a cheap generator at Bunnings in Mildura. They had sold out. I tried a few other places and, if not sold out, the price was crazy. I switched my phone off and lay in the moonlight listening to the cars doing donuts around town.

The next morning I dropped Re to work and took Winnie-dog for a walk. On the way home I went to get fuel. I was directed to the only petrol station with back-up generators in town. As I got closer the traffic became more intense and aggressive than I had seen before in Broken Hill. Then I saw the queue. I had not realised we had so many cars in Broken Hill. I saw one bloke in the queue with about 10 20 litre fuel cannisters in the back of his ute. They encircled the fuel station for several blocks. Nup, not doing that. I drove home empty.

Broken Hill is running on petrol and diesel right now. The people are burning through it faster than ever and hoarding anything and everything they can get their hands on. Is this how the world will end?