Some weeks ago, the lights went out all over Malta since both major power stations lost power. Electricity was restored within a few hours but in the meantime there must have been some inconveniences. This was not the first time that Malta experienced a blackout and it will probably not be the last.
At the time the lights went out, it was still dark outside and I was getting ready to go to the airport to catch a flight. I had to walk down five storeys with a large piece of luggage, a computer bag, a garbage bag and another bag with miscellaneous perishable items from the fridge. Obviously I could not do the usual last-minute check that all the lights were turned off in the apartment.
On my way down the stairs my mobile rang. It was my friend who was due to take me to the airport. He said he was going to be late since he had broken his nose coming out of the shower, forgetting that he had closed the bathroom door which he could not see in the dark.
Still with a smile, remembering my friend's face with a plaster on his nose, I settled down in my seat ready for take off. At the roar of the engines I could not help but recall the last time I was in another blackout with much greater nuisance and discomfort.
In the summer of 1977 I was living in Manhattan and one evening after work, after I had settled down in my apartment, high on the 20th floor overlooking the East River and further east to Queens and Long Island, I heard a roar that shook the building and an instant later witnessed a most spectacular scene - the lights first dimming then going out completely in my apartment and within seconds in the rest of New York City and Queens.
Unlike in the earlier blackout of 1965, this one left not only New York City but the whole of the northeast of the United States up to Ontario Canada without electricity for up to 12 hours and it was followed by chaos and terror in New York City.
The 1965 power failure, caused by a human error, inspired Doris Day's film: Where Were You When the Lights Went Out? This blackout became legendary for the liberties that were taken in New York City that night when it 'flipped its fuse' to become a real fun city. Like Day in the movie, an unusual number of women in New York City had babies nine months from the day of the blackout.
The blackout of 1977 was very different. It came in the midst of a financial crisis and high unemployment and the peak of the summer heat. This did not help matters and, soon after 9 p.m., mobs burned and ransacked businesses and terrorised the city. About 4,500 people were arrested and damage was estimated at $61 million.
The power was restored only after 24 hours. My wife at the time had just left New York University and was lucky not to be in the subway, from where 4,000 people were evacuated. But once making her way to the apartment, she had to walk up 20 floors in the dark.
The next day no one went to work and we had to go down and up 20 floors two or three times that day to bring water from the fire station and buy some necessities. The city soon recovered from the troubles brought about by the blackout but it left a more evident scar than the earlier 1965 incident.
A more extensive blackout in 2003 left New York City in the dark again. This was due to a surge in increased demand, in the middle of summer, that could not be met. This also affected 10 million people in Ontario, Canada, and 45 million people in eight states of the US. Again New York City was saved from any riots.
We can never be sure when another blackout will occur in Malta. It is important to discover what really triggered the recent blackout, if for no other reason than to ensure there will be no recurrence.
Plans by the government to increase power capacity in Malta and to connect to the grid in Sicily are moves in the right direction, although as seen from what happened in New York City, it is not possible to ensure that power sources never fail. Sometimes acts of God and human errors mitigate against this.
In Malta one sure way to minimise general blackouts in the future is to accelerate the development of other sources of renewable energy to supplement our complete dependence on imported oil.