Suzy Says

For once, the lack of posting lately wasn’t because of SuzySloth™, but because I was truly powerless to write (or at least post).

On Sunday, the power was out nearly all day. It was also out yesterday, and when it came back on, I hurried to get the laundry and dishes done and take a shower while I could. I guess if the power was out for a longer time period, I’d end up boiling water from the buckets on the back porch on my gas stove and doing these chores Little House on the Prairie style (like many books, much more fun to read about than experience in real life. The Long Winter springs to mind).

When the power is out here, there’s an eerie silence. I know I should be enjoying the sound of the rain and wind, Nature’s symphony, and all that crap, but to quote Katharine Hepburn in “The African Queen”, “Nature, Mr. Alnutt, is what we are put in this world to rise above.” Notice that even cave men had caves to avoid living outside, and that progressive generations have gotten as far away from Ma Nature and her evil sense of humor as possible. So when the power goes out, all I want is a return of heat and light and civilization, the sooner the better.

Sunday was a weird day anyway, because I woke up with an attack of vertigo. Clyde was smothering me as usual, and in pushing him off my face, I turned my head quickly. The room spun around me as if I’d spent the night drinking with Keith Richards in Tijuana instead of having the usual assortment of bad dreams and nightmares which make me question my sanity once I wake up.

I sat up carefully, and waited for the room to stop dancing around. It did, and I carefully made my way downstairs. I felt too weird to drink coffee, so that may well have contributed to the lightheadedness for the rest of the day. I spent most of the day in bed with three sweaters on, flipping through the latest Vogue and Pamflet and reading Ann Beattie’s New Yorker Stories while wishing the power would come back on and trying not to get too creeped out by the silence and darkness.

Eventually, it turned out that the dizziness only appears when I am lying down and turn over, or put my head down too much, as when wrapping my head in a towel after a shower. Megan thinks it may well be the head congestion caused by my ever-present allergies making my inner ear wonky, so I’ve been taking non drowsy Sudafed for the past couple of days and hoping for the best.