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Homework W/E 11/1/15 - The Night The Lights Went Out

Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2015 2:11 pm
by Shelley Hansen
The Night the Lights Went Out

I tell a tale of summer, of a hot and humid day -
as afternoon drew on it seemed a storm was on the way.
Across the far horizon, telltale thunderheads loomed high,
then darkened into ominous and spread across the sky.

The native birds retreated as a gusty wind picked up,
a whimpering was heard next door from one quite frightened pup!
The jagged flashes split the clouds with blinding bursts of light
as whipcrack claps of thunder ushered evening into night.

The power line did not survive the sudden flush of rain -
the lights first flickered, then went out - and did not shine again.
It caught the household by surprise! They hadn't stopped to think
about the electricity - now vanished in a blink!

Young Jimmy's laptop screen went black as he stared into space,
and Sally's phone had not been charged - a positive disgrace!
"I need to text my bestie - it's ten minutes since we spoke!"
Sal wailed as Jimmy growled, "I think my combat game is broke!"

Then Father said to Mother, "There's one positive in this -
for once you'll have to give those silly soapie shows a miss!"
But Mum just smiled and said, "You needn't think that you have won -
I might be wrong, but isn't this your footy night, old son??"

"Ring up," said Dad, "Quick! See if they can tell you what's gone wrong."
So Mum phoned up to ask if they could estimate "how long".
"We-are-a-ware-of-out-ages," (said voice-recorded tone)
"Fault-find-ing-is-in-pro-gress-res-tor-ation-is-un-known."

They still relate the story of the night the lights went out -
it ranks among the household's greatest traumas, there's no doubt!
And when they speak of that dark time, their voices tend to baulk -
when they were forced to sit around in candlelight ... and TALK!!! :o

(c) Shelley Hansen 2015

Re: Homework W/E 11/1/15 - The Night The Lights Went Out

Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2015 2:27 pm
by David Campbell
Gadzooks, Shelley! Talk? How olde worlde! :D

Cheers
David

Re: Homework W/E 11/1/15 - The Night The Lights Went Out

Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2015 2:41 pm
by Shelley Hansen
Thou speakest truth, o Sage One! For our younger friends, it's known as "ye olde conversation"! Can be found in history books! :lol:

I saw a report on TV about the latest "Techo" show in LA, USA. Apparently the household gadgets are now so advanced that your fridge will realise it's out of milk, send a message to your "smart watch" which will tell your car to pull up at the shop! When you put the watch on in the morning, it can also send a message to your car, which will let itself out of your automated garage, start itself up and wait with motor running in your driveway!

Scary stuff :shock:

Cheers, Shelley

Re: Homework W/E 11/1/15 - The Night The Lights Went Out

Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2015 3:01 pm
by Neville Briggs
Good work Shelley. We have the same sort of weather frequently in our neck of the woods, it comes with hail too !!

One miniscule point , I don't think that you need to use inverted commas around ominous, poetic licence doesn't need it I reckon :) ( I could be wrong )

Re: Homework W/E 11/1/15 - The Night The Lights Went Out

Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2015 3:01 pm
by Heather
That's a fun poem Shelley. :)


Heather :)

Re: Homework W/E 11/1/15 - The Night The Lights Went Out

Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2015 3:16 pm
by Shelley Hansen
Mmm - Neville, ominous is an adjective, but in this context I was giving it some of the characteristics of a noun (though it remains an adjective with an unstated noun). The inverted commas in that particular situation is an old rule I remember from my school days, so I suppose it's probably well and truly obsolete now (like colons and blunderbusses and stuff!) It would probably be better to make it bold italic to emphasise it. Thanks for the pickup - I've edited it now.

Cheers, Shelley

Re: Homework W/E 11/1/15 - The Night The Lights Went Out

Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2015 4:10 pm
by Maureen K Clifford
Could have been worse - they might have sent text messages :) but no - the phone wasn't charged. Conversation is a dying art though for sure in some families - we don't realize how reliant we are on the modern conveniences until they have a hissy fit - that's for sure. I like your poem Shelley and very apt with the whacko weather we are receiving right now.

Re: Homework W/E 11/1/15 - The Night The Lights Went Out

Posted: Wed Jan 07, 2015 7:21 pm
by Neville Briggs
That's what I meant Shelley, I thought that our poetry licence ;) allows us to make nouns out of adjectives. I don't think there is a need to indicate anything. :)

The old rules told us we couldn't split infinitives , until StarTrek were to boldly go, or end sentences with a preposition until Winston Churchill said , that was something up with which he would not put. :lol:

Re: Homework W/E 11/1/15 - The Night The Lights Went Out

Posted: Thu Jan 08, 2015 9:27 am
by David Campbell
Yak Attack

An Aussie teen
without a screen?
All talk, no text,
so what comes next?
It has been shown
that no iPhone
and no iPad
will send them mad!

Cheers
David

Re: Homework W/E 11/1/15 - The Night The Lights Went Out

Posted: Thu Jan 08, 2015 3:47 pm
by Catherine Lee
POWER OUTAGE

We had a power outage at our house this morning and my PC, laptop, TV, DVD, iPad & new surround sound music system were all shut down.

Then I discovered that my iPhone battery was flat and to top it off it was snowing outside, so I couldn't play golf.

I went into the kitchen to make coffee and then I remembered that this also needs power, so I sat and talked with my wife for a few hours...

She seems like a nice person.

:roll: