Powerless: the invisible foundations of modern life

Powerless: the invisible foundations of modern life As I write this, the electricity supply to my home is switched off. Every few seconds, the house alarm lets out an apologetic beep. The electrician is outside, upgrading the communications module on my smart meter and installing an EV charging point. To do that, the house has to be without power for about 45 minutes. It shouldn’t make much difference. But I feel strangely trapped. I can’t head to a café because the electrician still needs access to the house. I can’t even take the dog for a walk in case I’m needed at home. So I stay put, waiting for the power to come back. Disconnected It’s surprising how quickly a home office stops being an office. I work from home most of the time, and I’ve invested a fair amount of effort into making that work well. Reliable broadband. A solid UniFi network. A NAS. Multiple screens. Everything quietly doing its job in the background. Until someone turns the electricity off. The Wi-Fi disappears.…