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EFTPOS OUTAGE
It had been a very pleasant Friday evening and the small group of friends who’d been celebrating Ted McMahon’s forty-sixth birthday at one of the best restaurants in the city were now saying their farewells as they headed for the door, Ted’s wife Janine having told them that the party had already been paid for and there was no need for them to reach for their wallets. It was typical of the McMahons, which family was known to be generous to a fault, though to be fair their many friends were also inclined to donate substantial sums towards good causes, and whilst there were no protests there were promises to return the hospitality “the next time around.”
The waiter hadn’t yet returned to the table with the credit card that Janine had given him, though when she looked towards the front desk there were quite a few people gathered there and she simply assumed the concierge was very busy. Whilst she and Ted were regulars at the restaurant and had never been worried about the integrity of the staff it was never good to have a credit card out of one’s wallet or purse for longer than was necessary so she decided to pick it up herself on the way out rather than sit until the waiter returned. As she stood Ted lifted her evening wrap from the back of the chair where she had placed it and draped it across her shoulders before they made their way to the desk where they found that there was a problem with her credit card.
In fact, it was not just with her card, but with all the cards that had been presented from nine o’clock onward. Frantic calls by the restaurant’s manager to the bank’s after-hours hot-line revealed that, unlikely as it was and almost impossible to believe, the bank’s entire computer systems had gone down.
Fortunately for those customers that wanted to pay with plastic the restaurant did have one of the old manual imprint machines and a large stack of forms, both items that the manager, along with many other smart business people, had decided to hang onto for just such an event. It was a bit slower than swiping a card or tapping it on an electronic reader however people were at least able to pay for their meals and be on their way.
Janine actually had enough cash with her to pay the bill but decided to hang on to it and wait until it was her turn to have her card’s details imprinted on the paper form. As she waited, Ted, who was actually the manager of one of the bank’s suburban branches, pulled out his mobile ‘phone and made a call to the computer centre at the bank’s head office. It took several attempts before he got through, which wasn’t all that surprising given the circumstances, however the information he got from the people working there wasn’t any more enlightening than what the restaurant manager had gotten from the after-hours hot-line: To all intents the computer system was down and as yet nobody had been able to figure out why.
Ted recalled that the last time such an event had happened was when fibre optic cables had been cut by a construction crew working on a building in Chatswood, and that had knocked out internet, ADSL services, many banking EFTPOS machines and a broad range of other users. It had taken some time to repair the damage and although there was a rumour of it having been sabotage by a disgruntled ex-employee of Telstra no evidence of such had been produced. He was hopeful that the systems going off-line was not as bad as that particular incident had been, and that the problem would be sorted out quite quickly.
As it turned out, the systems of all the major banks plus many smaller banks and Credit Unions had also gone down, although by noon next day they were all back on line and functioning normally. Thorough checks were made throughout the following week to find out if the various systems affected had been hacked in some way or if there had been a disruption to the power supplies, however nothing untoward was found. Those in charge were left scratching their heads for several days however by the end of the week, when there had been no further disruptions, the event was relegated to an unexplained anomaly akin to the Bermuda Triangle and two weeks later was all but forgotten.
That is, it was forgotten until a Friday night one month later when a failure of the computer systems controlling the state’s electricity grid blacked out the entire city of Sydney and its surrounding suburbs. When the system suddenly righted itself eighteen hours later and the lights came back on those in charge were left in the dark as to how it had happened, although despite there being no evidence the feeling this time was that it had been the result of a hacking attack.
Not surprisingly the media was making the best of it, with accusations being flung at suspected hackers both at home and as far away as North Korea, China and Russia. Even the United States’ CIA came in for a drubbing although that was mostly from the Tin-Foil-Hat Brigade, some of whom also claimed there was an extra- terrestrial aspect that needed to be considered. Of course exactly how that would be determined was beside the point as the proponents of the E.T. theory were not to be denied the opportunity to throw away more of the few remaining marbles they may have possessed.
The sudden loss of power had disrupted just about everything in the city and whilst hospitals, nursing homes, radio and television stations and some vital services were able to switch to backup generators, railways and traffic signals were knocked out bringing further chaos to the darkened city. Service stations, apart from a few that had emergency generators were unable to pump fuel and this resulted in many cars being driven until their tanks were empty then parked, locked up and left abandoned whilst their drivers tried to find their way home or to wherever they’d been going. Buses continued to run however their schedules were thrown way out due to having to travel slowly through darkened streets and many just stopped at the end of their runs. Crimes of opportunity soared, though fortunately all were of a comparatively minor nature rather than a major heist.
For the most part, Six-pack Simon, Mr and Mrs Clueless and even the more affluent Soppie-Clotts and their families fully expected the government to take care of any problems that might arise from such attacks in the future, whilst more prudent people decided that it would probably be a very good idea to top up their already well-stocked pantries and stores… without attracting undue attention of course. True, the government had on several occasions advised people to always have at least three days of food and essential supplies put aside for emergencies, but that advice was rarely listened to and less often heeded.
Many of their friends would probably have been more than a little surprised had they known the McMahons were included among those that were prepared quite a lot more than just having on hand the 36-pack of rolls of toilet paper that had been on special at the local supermarket the week before. In fact Janine had not only heeded the advice of the Red Cross to have two weeks of water, food and essential supplies put aside but had upped the ante by an extra two weeks and gone to the extent of putting together simple Grab-Bags for herself, her husband and each of their two children.
Whilst personally doubting they’d be needed Ted had been quite supportive of her efforts, especially when seeing how much enjoyment she got from being able to save quite a bit of money by buying food items in bulk, though he did have a quiet chuckle to himself after finding half a dozen Jerry cans of fuel she’d stashed in the garden shed. Fuel, she told their teenage son Geoff who had a set of wheels in the form of an old Hyundai Excel, that was to be used only for extreme emergencies… which did not include taking his girlfriend Jessica to the Blue Mountains or even to any of the local beaches when he had no cash to fill his car’s tank.
To his credit Geoff did purchase and fill two Jerry cans for himself, one of which he kept in the trunk of the car along with the Grab-Bag that Janine had provided him with; something that she was extremely pleased to hear about. Deciding that it was an easy way to keep on the good side of his mother he also added a case of bottled water and a few other ‘Escape to the Country’ items, laughingly telling her that it was just a precaution in case she suddenly decided to throw him out of the house… Not that that was likely as they were a very close-knit family.
Ted didn’t have any option other than to carry his Grab-Bag in his car: Janine had told him to, and due to the Happy wife = Happy life principle that he followed there was no argument. Their daughter Anne wasn’t quite old enough to have a driver’s licence and even though she’d learned to drive a car she didn’t own one yet so kept her Grab-Bag in the coat closet adjacent to the front door of the house.
Over the next three months there were no major disruptions to power, internet or telephone services and the only blip on the radar came when Janine was using her lap-top one morning: She discovered that her forty second Birthday, which was on the Wednesday of the next week, coincided with a long-range forecast advising that the day would fall in the middle of some extremely bad weather that was predicted to last five or six days.
Perhaps not surprisingly her first thoughts were to check that she had enough supplies to see the storm out, not so much because she was worried about the local stores running out but because she just hated having to go out anywhere when it was very wet and windy. The shopping list she wrote during the check didn’t have a lot on it but she decided to add a bit more of most everything and bring the preps to a level where the family could hunker down for two months rather than the one month she already had.
Not as much as many of the preppers she read about on-line she thought, and whilst her present efforts were certainly nothing to be sneezed at she placed a writing pad on the kitchen bench and made a long list of items that would need to be purchased if any type of disaster threatened, and of course being an avid fan of prepper’s sites she also kept a watch for any of those events that might be about to occur.
During her check the sight of a pack of spare batteries for the flashlights that were placed strategically throughout the house made he think of power supplies in general: It could be quite a problem if the grid was down for any great length of time, as had happened a couple of times in the past, and she decided to do something about that.
“I’ve decided what I want for my Birthday,” she told the family over dinner that night. “I know you’ll all probably think I’m absolutely crazy and will want to give me something I don’t really need, but Ted, I want a portable generator.”
The family sat with mouths open and stared at her in shocked silence for a minute before Ted suddenly burst out laughing.
“OK Sweetheart, if that’s what you really want I’ll get you one. Better still, we can go shopping for one together this weekend. That will be my present to you, and Geoff and Annie can give you the things you don’t really need. Though speaking of generators: What’s for desert?”
Janine spent nearly two hours that night searching internet sites for inverter generators and reading reviews about those that were most recommended by campers, off-roaders and trades people, and by the time she logged off and shut down her lap-top had gained much more than just a basic understanding of what she thought was needed for their house. It would not need to be a huge machine but during emergencies would still have to have the capacity to power the most important appliances she used, such as the fridge, the freezer and the washing machine, plus provide a reasonable amount of lighting. It wasn’t all that important but if the washing machine could be run so could the dishwasher: She simply wouldn’t use them both at the same time. She finally decided that either a Honda or a Yamaha 2000Watt inverter-generator would be best and though she knew Ted would want to have a look at what Bunnings had to offer she also knew they didn’t stock either of those units.
Saturday afternoon Ted and Janine returned home from their shopping with a Yamaha EF300iS inverter generator, which was a little bit bigger and a lot more expensive than the one she’d originally decided on, but Ted felt that the electric start option was far better than having to pull a cord to get it running. It also had a larger fuel tank and could run uninterrupted for twelve plus hours.
“I can’t believe mum really wanted a generator for her birthday,” Geoff said to his sister that evening. “Do you think she’s being reading too many of those online prepper stories?”
Anne laughed. “Well, she does enjoy reading them that’s for sure, but I think asking for the generator for her birthday was a really smart move.”
“Why’s that?” Geoff asked, noting the slight emphasis that Annie had placed on the birthday bit.”
“Are you kidding? Mum knows that dad will consider the generator to be as important to the house as the big rainwater tank he had installed last year, and she knows that come Wednesday he’ll be giving her a nice present regardless.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right. That’s being a bit sneaky though isn’t it?”
“Not as sneaky as you giving Jessica that surfboard last Christmas when you thought she’d wouldn’t be able to ride it and you’d get to use it. You’ve got no idea how much the gang laughed when she showed you she could handle a plank way better than you could. Anyway, mum only gave dad a reason to buy something he’s probably wanted to buy for himself anyway.”
“Well, mum could have bought him a generator for his birthday.”
“Which is how far away? Next year! And a big storm’s predicted to come when? Next week! Mum’s a lot smarter than you give her credit for, Geoff.”
Came Wednesday and Janine did receive a nice present from Ted in the form of a pair of emerald earrings and a matching brooch, the giving and receiving of which was made memorable by being done by lighting powered by their new generator. This had not been organised for any romantic reason however as the previous morning the electricity grid had been knocked out by the forecast storm that had been raging since Monday afternoon, much to the delight of Annie as it proved just how right she’d been when telling her brother that their mum really was smart.
Ted had run extension cords through the house then used several four-outlet power boards to supply the appliances plus all the bedside lamps that had been pressed into service for lighting the kitchen, dining and lounge rooms. After tangling his feet in the cords a few times he suggested to Janine that maybe they should contact the electrician who’d done work for them before and find out if he could set up the generator to supply the house through the main switchboard.
“Well of course he could,” Janine told him. “It’d need a changeover switch that would prevent power going back out to the grid if it was down, so that anybody working on the lines wouldn’t be electrocuted, but other than that it’s apparently a fairly straight-forward job.”
“That makes sense. Did you learn about that when you were searching the net for generators?”
“No. It was in a couple of the prepper stories I’ve read. You know I find them entertaining but you’d be surprised at the amount of good information that can be found in them, plus there’s also a lot to learn from the advice many forum members post. They’re not all Doomsday Preppers, Ted.”
“I should hope not: One episode of that show was more than enough for me.”
“We watched that episode together if you remember. It’s unfortunate that the people in it were so focused on guns and defense that all the other preparations they were making seemed to be trivial in comparison. I watched quite a few that concentrated a lot on being self-sufficient, which from my point of view is a more down-to-earth approach, though if we lived in the U.S. we’d undoubtedly also be armed to the teeth. I lived in North Carolina as a student for over three years and whilst I probably have a better understanding than you do of the gun culture that exists over there, I agree with your opinion that Australia is quite different in that respect. That said, I’m glad that we’re both reasonably familiar with rifles.”
“Yes, but it’s been many years since either of us fired one though, hasn’t it?”
“Not since before Geoffrey was born… And speak of the devil,” said Janine as their son walked into the room and caught the tail-end of their conversation.
“Dad, did I just hear you say you and mum used to go shooting?" he asked in an awed voice.
“We sure did,” Janine put in before Ted could reply. “We weren’t into it in a really big way by any means, but we did enjoy going with friends on shoots occasionally, though your dad was a rotten shot as I recall.”
“I was not!” exclaimed Ted indignantly. “In fact, I took down far more game than you ever did.”
“Not surprising since you used a more powerful centre-fire rifle with optics as opposed to my little .22 Ruger with open sights,” said Janine, who recalling what must have been an inside joke added “And one goat does not in any way equal ten rabbits!”
“So what did you guys do with your rifles? Did you hand them in when they were having the buy-back after the Port Arthur Massacre?” Geoff asked.
“No, your grandfather wouldn’t have a bar of us giving them up and he has them locked away along with his own in his gun safe… which I don’t think he’s opened for ten years,” replied Ted. “Though knowing dad he’s probably lost the key to it anyway.”
“Not likely,” said Janine. “You know he’s very responsible when it comes to firearms and he sure wouldn’t risk losing his license by not being able to let the police inspect his rifles if they needed to.”
“We’re supposed to be visiting him and grandma the weekend after next. Can I ask him to show the rifles to me?” Geoff asked.
“I don’t see why not. If you’re interested he might even take you to the range so you can try firing one. I’m not sure what the rules about unlicensed shooters doing that are these days but undoubtedly granddad will know.”
With the wild storm well into its fourth day, mains power still out and most businesses, including supermarkets and restaurants having closed their doors people were confining themselves to their homes, many bemoaning the fact that they had very little to nothing in the way of food to carry them through to the weekend when conditions were expected to improve.
There wasn’t much for Ted to do at the bank either and he took advantage of some down-time to do a few little jobs around the house and spend some time reading stories on several web-sites that Janine forwarded to his lap-top. To his surprise he found that whilst many of the yarns were, to his way of thinking at least, a bit far-fetched at times they were also, as Janine had said, entertaining and did in fact contain quite a lot of information and good advice. Janine had to smile when she noticed that he’d placed a small writing pad beside his lap-top and had begun making notes, and she was quite hopeful that he might in time become a dedicated prepper.
When Saturday dawned bright and clear the roads quickly filled with cars full of hungry people heading for supermarkets, convenience stores and fast-food restaurants only to find that, despite the sunshine, in most cases power had yet to be fully restored. It was strange, Janine said, that people didn’t seem able to grasp the fact that the same wild weather that had kept them house-bound for so long had also slowed repair work on the grid, and she felt sorry for the hard-working teams that were doing their utmost to restore power.
Most of the larger supermarkets had brought in generators, mainly to supply power to keep refrigerators and freezers running so that their contents wouldn’t spoil and have to be discarded, and those that were able to trade were packed with people who in many cases had to park their vehicles several blocks away. The McMahons weren’t to be found within coo-ee of any such places of course as thanks to Janine’s foresightedness the family had more than enough stock to enable them to wait until everything returned to normal.
Inside the supermarkets the lighting, air conditioning and background music seemed to have persuaded people that everything had returned to normal, thus not surprisingly the majority of shopping trolleys being pushed towards waiting cars were filled to overflowing with items that people would normally purchase. Meaning that very few contained much more than was required to replace what they’d consumed over the last five days and feed them for the next three, and much of which could only be classed as junk food. If a trolley could be seen to be loaded with staples such as beans, rice, flour or basic ingredients required for cooking from scratch it would be odds-on that it was being pushed by an older person from a generation that understood what tough times could really mean.
Three days later full power was restored to the suburb where the McMahons lived and life went back to its normal routine, with one notable exception: As often as not evenings would find Ted glued to his lap-top, note-pad at hand as he slowly worked his way through the many PAW stories posted on the net.
It was in the early spring when friends were over for a barbecue that Janine discovered Ted had become more of a prepper than she’d thought possible. Talk had turned to perceived changes in the weather patterns normally experienced, with all agreeing that the raging storm that had affected the area several months before had been a wake-up call in regard to being prepared for emergencies and that the wives present had now followed Janine’s advice to keep a full pantry.
When asked by one of the husbands how their family had fared during the storm Ted admitted that due entirely to Janine’s efforts they hadn’t suffered in any way, and added that since that time they’d become even more prepared for emergencies than they had been then. Eyes opened wide in amazement when he went on to explain how Janine had asked for a generator for her birthday, and how having one had allowed them to enjoy most of the benefits of an electrified society despite the grid being down.
“I don’t think that storm was an event that won’t be seen for another fifty or even a hundred years as the media suggested,” continued Ted. “In fact I believe we’ll be seeing even more violent storms on a regular basis in the future, and I for one intend to make sure we’ll be prepared.”
“It’s more likely that Janine will make sure that you’ll be prepared,” laughed another wife. “Janine, those lists you handed out to us recommending things we need to do to be ready for future emergencies were quite extensive and at first I thought they were a bit over-the-top, but after re-reading them a couple of times and thinking about what you wrote I’m inclined to agree with you.”
“I read them too,” her husband said, “and I think you’re probably right. Ted, how much did your generator set you back?”
“A bit over three grand. Expensive I know, and here are much cheaper units around of course but Janine was insistent that she didn’t want a Chinese built knock-off. Not that all the Chinese made units are bad, and in fact I’ve heard that some are actually quite good, especially if they’re maintained properly.”
“Yeah, but that’s still a lot of money for something that you’ll probably only use once in a blue moon isn’t it?”
Ted laughed. “Ben, if I’d offered that generator to you for four grand after three days without power you wouldn’t have been able to get your cheque book out fast enough. And my bet is it’s going to get quite a bit of use in future.”
“Yeah, well, considering the way the weather’s going I guess maybe you’re right. I might have to look at getting one myself. Where did you buy it?”
Not knowing that Janine had been a prepper for some time their friends had simply assumed that the purchase of the generator and the fact that she and Ted had put aside supplies for emergencies - without revealing precisely how just much of course - was due to the EFTPOS outage, the grid-down situations that had occurred a few months before and the weather forecast that Janine had taken seriously. However hearing a little more about what she had been up to was enough for them to open a new topic of conversation and begin a serious discussion on the merits of being prepared, even to the extent of taking First-Aid courses, which was something none of them had given much thought to before.
The upshot of the conversation was that the husbands who had come to the barbecue would check out generators and see if they could obtain a discount by ordering three of them together whilst the wives would take Janine and the lists of supplies she recommended on a shopping expedition, with the same idea of a discount in mind. Janine was more than happy to oblige as she felt that having her friends prepared would lessen the need to use her family’s supplies to help them if worse came to worst… Not that she’d ever deny them help of course.
It had taken a number of trips to several different supermarkets over three weekends before the wives were able to purchase all the items on Janine’s lists however they had a lot of fun doing it. Buying from bulk food warehouses had been considered but after finding that better deals could often be had at regular supermarkets, and without having to have an ABN or paying a sizable joining fee, the idea was dropped. Along with helping with the choice of items that she recommended should be put away Janine also gave them advice about having to rotate their foodstuffs, particularly canned or frozen goods, and also using dried chick peas, beans, lentils and suchlike.
To push the point of using dried goods the ladies and their husbands were invited to try both a lasagna and a meat-loaf that she’d prepared, and they were all astounded to find that the two delicious dishes had been prepared with no meat at all; that ingredient having been replaced with lentils. Feeling that she was on a roll Janine challenged the wives to take turns preparing meals made from scratch using only items that they had in their preps then present them to the group for taste testing, and was pleased when they all accepted.
The husbands were quite happy to reveal and brag to Ted that their efforts to acquire portable inverter generators had resulted in each of them, plus another friend who wanted one, now owning a unit that had cost only a quarter of what he’d doled out for his machine. They’d actually gotten a good deal he admitted after looking over one of the 3.5KW GenTrax machines that were, according to many online reviews he’d read, reliable and well regarded. Following his advice they had each also purchased two Jerry cans for high octane fuel, unleaded not being the best to run small engines on, a large can of four-stroke oil plus a spare spark-plug and an air filter.
Thinking back to the notes he’d made during his online prep research he next suggested that they build sound-proof enclosures for them, explaining that while it might not seem too intrusive any sound their running generators made could result in requests bordering on demands from neighbours to supply them with power. On that note he also advised them to keep their machines, and in fact all their preps, secured and out of sight of casual visitors, and not mention anything about them to anybody.
The wives were also included in this and whilst they all made a few jokes about their becoming Doomsday Preppers all were quick to understand how easy it would be for hungry people to become desperate and agreed that the only people to be in-the-know would be each other, and also that if any one of them needed help in any way they could also rely on each other. Two of the couples who also had children would ensure that they too would be told never to reveal anything to their friends… unless they wanted their pocket money stopped.
“You know Ted, I really wasn’t expecting things to go the way they’re going now,” said Janine that night. “Without their knowing anything about Mutual Assistance Groups it seems as if we and our friends have now formed one.”
“Yes love, I was just thinking the same thing. About those shopping lists you gave our friends: I found some more really interesting stuff regarding essential supplies on the web and I’m going to print out a few pages you can hand out to them. I’ll use the printer at work as it’s faster than ours is, plus of course we won’t be up for the toner and paper which the bank has plenty of. Do you have any info you’d like printed off?”
“I do actually. I was thinking of making a hard-copy file of some of the things I’ve found anyway, so we might as well combine what we each want to put into it. By the way, when you were talking to the guys about building soundproof enclosures for the generators I realised that we really need a dedicated space for our preps; preferably one that is reasonably well insulated from hot summers. Any chance we could build a small room at the back of the garage?”
“That’s an excellent idea, especially as the garage is under the main roof and we only use a little over half of it. Our second fridge and the freezer are in there anyway so we could enclose them too.”
“How do you think we should build it? I was thinking perhaps a two by four stud frame with Gyprock cladding each side and plenty of insulation in between shouldn’t be too difficult.”
“Hmm… That’d work, but I think Hebel insulated blocks might be better and they’d be just as easy if not easier to put up. We could probably do it ourselves over a weekend though we’d have to ask Alex to put in lights and power points.”
“Sounds like a plan. I think Geoff would be able to help us, unless you decide to do it on a weekend when your father wants to take him to the range.”
“Yeah, I can’t get over how quickly he took to shooting after dad took him to the range the first time,” Ted chuckled. “Annie too if it comes to that. I’m glad dad’s providing the ammunition: From the number of rounds they claim to use each time it’d probably end up costing us a small fortune.”
“I guess we’re lucky they can use yours and mine instead of us having to buy rifles for them. Speaking of expenses: I think we’re also going to have to start looking for a cheap little car for Annie pretty soon: There’s no way she could afford to buy one by herself.”
“That’s sort of covered already I think: Geoff’s going to give her his Hyundai and buy a station wagon from one of his mates. At least that’s what he told me. He reckons he needs a bigger car that will hold his and Jessica’s surfboards as well as their camping gear, plus they often take her father’s big Engels 12Volt fridge which is a lot better than an esky. Her family’s right into camping and when I was talking to her about the gear they had I found that her father was the fourth person who got in on the deal when our friends bought their generators.”
“That’s interesting. I know we’ve met them a couple of times before but as Jessica and Geoff are very close and seem to be getting closer it might be a good idea to get to know her parents better. Her father must know at least one of our group so how about we invite them over when we have our next barbecue?”
“Good idea. You might even be able to find out what their attitude towards prepping is,” said Ted with a smiling sidelong look at his wife knowing that was most likely what she had in mind when she suggested the barbecue invitation.
“You know me all too well,” Janine replied with a grin.
© To be continued....
It had been a very pleasant Friday evening and the small group of friends who’d been celebrating Ted McMahon’s forty-sixth birthday at one of the best restaurants in the city were now saying their farewells as they headed for the door, Ted’s wife Janine having told them that the party had already been paid for and there was no need for them to reach for their wallets. It was typical of the McMahons, which family was known to be generous to a fault, though to be fair their many friends were also inclined to donate substantial sums towards good causes, and whilst there were no protests there were promises to return the hospitality “the next time around.”
The waiter hadn’t yet returned to the table with the credit card that Janine had given him, though when she looked towards the front desk there were quite a few people gathered there and she simply assumed the concierge was very busy. Whilst she and Ted were regulars at the restaurant and had never been worried about the integrity of the staff it was never good to have a credit card out of one’s wallet or purse for longer than was necessary so she decided to pick it up herself on the way out rather than sit until the waiter returned. As she stood Ted lifted her evening wrap from the back of the chair where she had placed it and draped it across her shoulders before they made their way to the desk where they found that there was a problem with her credit card.
In fact, it was not just with her card, but with all the cards that had been presented from nine o’clock onward. Frantic calls by the restaurant’s manager to the bank’s after-hours hot-line revealed that, unlikely as it was and almost impossible to believe, the bank’s entire computer systems had gone down.
Fortunately for those customers that wanted to pay with plastic the restaurant did have one of the old manual imprint machines and a large stack of forms, both items that the manager, along with many other smart business people, had decided to hang onto for just such an event. It was a bit slower than swiping a card or tapping it on an electronic reader however people were at least able to pay for their meals and be on their way.
Janine actually had enough cash with her to pay the bill but decided to hang on to it and wait until it was her turn to have her card’s details imprinted on the paper form. As she waited, Ted, who was actually the manager of one of the bank’s suburban branches, pulled out his mobile ‘phone and made a call to the computer centre at the bank’s head office. It took several attempts before he got through, which wasn’t all that surprising given the circumstances, however the information he got from the people working there wasn’t any more enlightening than what the restaurant manager had gotten from the after-hours hot-line: To all intents the computer system was down and as yet nobody had been able to figure out why.
Ted recalled that the last time such an event had happened was when fibre optic cables had been cut by a construction crew working on a building in Chatswood, and that had knocked out internet, ADSL services, many banking EFTPOS machines and a broad range of other users. It had taken some time to repair the damage and although there was a rumour of it having been sabotage by a disgruntled ex-employee of Telstra no evidence of such had been produced. He was hopeful that the systems going off-line was not as bad as that particular incident had been, and that the problem would be sorted out quite quickly.
As it turned out, the systems of all the major banks plus many smaller banks and Credit Unions had also gone down, although by noon next day they were all back on line and functioning normally. Thorough checks were made throughout the following week to find out if the various systems affected had been hacked in some way or if there had been a disruption to the power supplies, however nothing untoward was found. Those in charge were left scratching their heads for several days however by the end of the week, when there had been no further disruptions, the event was relegated to an unexplained anomaly akin to the Bermuda Triangle and two weeks later was all but forgotten.
That is, it was forgotten until a Friday night one month later when a failure of the computer systems controlling the state’s electricity grid blacked out the entire city of Sydney and its surrounding suburbs. When the system suddenly righted itself eighteen hours later and the lights came back on those in charge were left in the dark as to how it had happened, although despite there being no evidence the feeling this time was that it had been the result of a hacking attack.
Not surprisingly the media was making the best of it, with accusations being flung at suspected hackers both at home and as far away as North Korea, China and Russia. Even the United States’ CIA came in for a drubbing although that was mostly from the Tin-Foil-Hat Brigade, some of whom also claimed there was an extra- terrestrial aspect that needed to be considered. Of course exactly how that would be determined was beside the point as the proponents of the E.T. theory were not to be denied the opportunity to throw away more of the few remaining marbles they may have possessed.
The sudden loss of power had disrupted just about everything in the city and whilst hospitals, nursing homes, radio and television stations and some vital services were able to switch to backup generators, railways and traffic signals were knocked out bringing further chaos to the darkened city. Service stations, apart from a few that had emergency generators were unable to pump fuel and this resulted in many cars being driven until their tanks were empty then parked, locked up and left abandoned whilst their drivers tried to find their way home or to wherever they’d been going. Buses continued to run however their schedules were thrown way out due to having to travel slowly through darkened streets and many just stopped at the end of their runs. Crimes of opportunity soared, though fortunately all were of a comparatively minor nature rather than a major heist.
For the most part, Six-pack Simon, Mr and Mrs Clueless and even the more affluent Soppie-Clotts and their families fully expected the government to take care of any problems that might arise from such attacks in the future, whilst more prudent people decided that it would probably be a very good idea to top up their already well-stocked pantries and stores… without attracting undue attention of course. True, the government had on several occasions advised people to always have at least three days of food and essential supplies put aside for emergencies, but that advice was rarely listened to and less often heeded.
Many of their friends would probably have been more than a little surprised had they known the McMahons were included among those that were prepared quite a lot more than just having on hand the 36-pack of rolls of toilet paper that had been on special at the local supermarket the week before. In fact Janine had not only heeded the advice of the Red Cross to have two weeks of water, food and essential supplies put aside but had upped the ante by an extra two weeks and gone to the extent of putting together simple Grab-Bags for herself, her husband and each of their two children.
Whilst personally doubting they’d be needed Ted had been quite supportive of her efforts, especially when seeing how much enjoyment she got from being able to save quite a bit of money by buying food items in bulk, though he did have a quiet chuckle to himself after finding half a dozen Jerry cans of fuel she’d stashed in the garden shed. Fuel, she told their teenage son Geoff who had a set of wheels in the form of an old Hyundai Excel, that was to be used only for extreme emergencies… which did not include taking his girlfriend Jessica to the Blue Mountains or even to any of the local beaches when he had no cash to fill his car’s tank.
To his credit Geoff did purchase and fill two Jerry cans for himself, one of which he kept in the trunk of the car along with the Grab-Bag that Janine had provided him with; something that she was extremely pleased to hear about. Deciding that it was an easy way to keep on the good side of his mother he also added a case of bottled water and a few other ‘Escape to the Country’ items, laughingly telling her that it was just a precaution in case she suddenly decided to throw him out of the house… Not that that was likely as they were a very close-knit family.
Ted didn’t have any option other than to carry his Grab-Bag in his car: Janine had told him to, and due to the Happy wife = Happy life principle that he followed there was no argument. Their daughter Anne wasn’t quite old enough to have a driver’s licence and even though she’d learned to drive a car she didn’t own one yet so kept her Grab-Bag in the coat closet adjacent to the front door of the house.
Over the next three months there were no major disruptions to power, internet or telephone services and the only blip on the radar came when Janine was using her lap-top one morning: She discovered that her forty second Birthday, which was on the Wednesday of the next week, coincided with a long-range forecast advising that the day would fall in the middle of some extremely bad weather that was predicted to last five or six days.
Perhaps not surprisingly her first thoughts were to check that she had enough supplies to see the storm out, not so much because she was worried about the local stores running out but because she just hated having to go out anywhere when it was very wet and windy. The shopping list she wrote during the check didn’t have a lot on it but she decided to add a bit more of most everything and bring the preps to a level where the family could hunker down for two months rather than the one month she already had.
Not as much as many of the preppers she read about on-line she thought, and whilst her present efforts were certainly nothing to be sneezed at she placed a writing pad on the kitchen bench and made a long list of items that would need to be purchased if any type of disaster threatened, and of course being an avid fan of prepper’s sites she also kept a watch for any of those events that might be about to occur.
During her check the sight of a pack of spare batteries for the flashlights that were placed strategically throughout the house made he think of power supplies in general: It could be quite a problem if the grid was down for any great length of time, as had happened a couple of times in the past, and she decided to do something about that.
“I’ve decided what I want for my Birthday,” she told the family over dinner that night. “I know you’ll all probably think I’m absolutely crazy and will want to give me something I don’t really need, but Ted, I want a portable generator.”
The family sat with mouths open and stared at her in shocked silence for a minute before Ted suddenly burst out laughing.
“OK Sweetheart, if that’s what you really want I’ll get you one. Better still, we can go shopping for one together this weekend. That will be my present to you, and Geoff and Annie can give you the things you don’t really need. Though speaking of generators: What’s for desert?”
Janine spent nearly two hours that night searching internet sites for inverter generators and reading reviews about those that were most recommended by campers, off-roaders and trades people, and by the time she logged off and shut down her lap-top had gained much more than just a basic understanding of what she thought was needed for their house. It would not need to be a huge machine but during emergencies would still have to have the capacity to power the most important appliances she used, such as the fridge, the freezer and the washing machine, plus provide a reasonable amount of lighting. It wasn’t all that important but if the washing machine could be run so could the dishwasher: She simply wouldn’t use them both at the same time. She finally decided that either a Honda or a Yamaha 2000Watt inverter-generator would be best and though she knew Ted would want to have a look at what Bunnings had to offer she also knew they didn’t stock either of those units.
Saturday afternoon Ted and Janine returned home from their shopping with a Yamaha EF300iS inverter generator, which was a little bit bigger and a lot more expensive than the one she’d originally decided on, but Ted felt that the electric start option was far better than having to pull a cord to get it running. It also had a larger fuel tank and could run uninterrupted for twelve plus hours.
“I can’t believe mum really wanted a generator for her birthday,” Geoff said to his sister that evening. “Do you think she’s being reading too many of those online prepper stories?”
Anne laughed. “Well, she does enjoy reading them that’s for sure, but I think asking for the generator for her birthday was a really smart move.”
“Why’s that?” Geoff asked, noting the slight emphasis that Annie had placed on the birthday bit.”
“Are you kidding? Mum knows that dad will consider the generator to be as important to the house as the big rainwater tank he had installed last year, and she knows that come Wednesday he’ll be giving her a nice present regardless.”
“Yeah, you’re probably right. That’s being a bit sneaky though isn’t it?”
“Not as sneaky as you giving Jessica that surfboard last Christmas when you thought she’d wouldn’t be able to ride it and you’d get to use it. You’ve got no idea how much the gang laughed when she showed you she could handle a plank way better than you could. Anyway, mum only gave dad a reason to buy something he’s probably wanted to buy for himself anyway.”
“Well, mum could have bought him a generator for his birthday.”
“Which is how far away? Next year! And a big storm’s predicted to come when? Next week! Mum’s a lot smarter than you give her credit for, Geoff.”
Came Wednesday and Janine did receive a nice present from Ted in the form of a pair of emerald earrings and a matching brooch, the giving and receiving of which was made memorable by being done by lighting powered by their new generator. This had not been organised for any romantic reason however as the previous morning the electricity grid had been knocked out by the forecast storm that had been raging since Monday afternoon, much to the delight of Annie as it proved just how right she’d been when telling her brother that their mum really was smart.
Ted had run extension cords through the house then used several four-outlet power boards to supply the appliances plus all the bedside lamps that had been pressed into service for lighting the kitchen, dining and lounge rooms. After tangling his feet in the cords a few times he suggested to Janine that maybe they should contact the electrician who’d done work for them before and find out if he could set up the generator to supply the house through the main switchboard.
“Well of course he could,” Janine told him. “It’d need a changeover switch that would prevent power going back out to the grid if it was down, so that anybody working on the lines wouldn’t be electrocuted, but other than that it’s apparently a fairly straight-forward job.”
“That makes sense. Did you learn about that when you were searching the net for generators?”
“No. It was in a couple of the prepper stories I’ve read. You know I find them entertaining but you’d be surprised at the amount of good information that can be found in them, plus there’s also a lot to learn from the advice many forum members post. They’re not all Doomsday Preppers, Ted.”
“I should hope not: One episode of that show was more than enough for me.”
“We watched that episode together if you remember. It’s unfortunate that the people in it were so focused on guns and defense that all the other preparations they were making seemed to be trivial in comparison. I watched quite a few that concentrated a lot on being self-sufficient, which from my point of view is a more down-to-earth approach, though if we lived in the U.S. we’d undoubtedly also be armed to the teeth. I lived in North Carolina as a student for over three years and whilst I probably have a better understanding than you do of the gun culture that exists over there, I agree with your opinion that Australia is quite different in that respect. That said, I’m glad that we’re both reasonably familiar with rifles.”
“Yes, but it’s been many years since either of us fired one though, hasn’t it?”
“Not since before Geoffrey was born… And speak of the devil,” said Janine as their son walked into the room and caught the tail-end of their conversation.
“Dad, did I just hear you say you and mum used to go shooting?" he asked in an awed voice.
“We sure did,” Janine put in before Ted could reply. “We weren’t into it in a really big way by any means, but we did enjoy going with friends on shoots occasionally, though your dad was a rotten shot as I recall.”
“I was not!” exclaimed Ted indignantly. “In fact, I took down far more game than you ever did.”
“Not surprising since you used a more powerful centre-fire rifle with optics as opposed to my little .22 Ruger with open sights,” said Janine, who recalling what must have been an inside joke added “And one goat does not in any way equal ten rabbits!”
“So what did you guys do with your rifles? Did you hand them in when they were having the buy-back after the Port Arthur Massacre?” Geoff asked.
“No, your grandfather wouldn’t have a bar of us giving them up and he has them locked away along with his own in his gun safe… which I don’t think he’s opened for ten years,” replied Ted. “Though knowing dad he’s probably lost the key to it anyway.”
“Not likely,” said Janine. “You know he’s very responsible when it comes to firearms and he sure wouldn’t risk losing his license by not being able to let the police inspect his rifles if they needed to.”
“We’re supposed to be visiting him and grandma the weekend after next. Can I ask him to show the rifles to me?” Geoff asked.
“I don’t see why not. If you’re interested he might even take you to the range so you can try firing one. I’m not sure what the rules about unlicensed shooters doing that are these days but undoubtedly granddad will know.”
With the wild storm well into its fourth day, mains power still out and most businesses, including supermarkets and restaurants having closed their doors people were confining themselves to their homes, many bemoaning the fact that they had very little to nothing in the way of food to carry them through to the weekend when conditions were expected to improve.
There wasn’t much for Ted to do at the bank either and he took advantage of some down-time to do a few little jobs around the house and spend some time reading stories on several web-sites that Janine forwarded to his lap-top. To his surprise he found that whilst many of the yarns were, to his way of thinking at least, a bit far-fetched at times they were also, as Janine had said, entertaining and did in fact contain quite a lot of information and good advice. Janine had to smile when she noticed that he’d placed a small writing pad beside his lap-top and had begun making notes, and she was quite hopeful that he might in time become a dedicated prepper.
When Saturday dawned bright and clear the roads quickly filled with cars full of hungry people heading for supermarkets, convenience stores and fast-food restaurants only to find that, despite the sunshine, in most cases power had yet to be fully restored. It was strange, Janine said, that people didn’t seem able to grasp the fact that the same wild weather that had kept them house-bound for so long had also slowed repair work on the grid, and she felt sorry for the hard-working teams that were doing their utmost to restore power.
Most of the larger supermarkets had brought in generators, mainly to supply power to keep refrigerators and freezers running so that their contents wouldn’t spoil and have to be discarded, and those that were able to trade were packed with people who in many cases had to park their vehicles several blocks away. The McMahons weren’t to be found within coo-ee of any such places of course as thanks to Janine’s foresightedness the family had more than enough stock to enable them to wait until everything returned to normal.
Inside the supermarkets the lighting, air conditioning and background music seemed to have persuaded people that everything had returned to normal, thus not surprisingly the majority of shopping trolleys being pushed towards waiting cars were filled to overflowing with items that people would normally purchase. Meaning that very few contained much more than was required to replace what they’d consumed over the last five days and feed them for the next three, and much of which could only be classed as junk food. If a trolley could be seen to be loaded with staples such as beans, rice, flour or basic ingredients required for cooking from scratch it would be odds-on that it was being pushed by an older person from a generation that understood what tough times could really mean.
Three days later full power was restored to the suburb where the McMahons lived and life went back to its normal routine, with one notable exception: As often as not evenings would find Ted glued to his lap-top, note-pad at hand as he slowly worked his way through the many PAW stories posted on the net.
It was in the early spring when friends were over for a barbecue that Janine discovered Ted had become more of a prepper than she’d thought possible. Talk had turned to perceived changes in the weather patterns normally experienced, with all agreeing that the raging storm that had affected the area several months before had been a wake-up call in regard to being prepared for emergencies and that the wives present had now followed Janine’s advice to keep a full pantry.
When asked by one of the husbands how their family had fared during the storm Ted admitted that due entirely to Janine’s efforts they hadn’t suffered in any way, and added that since that time they’d become even more prepared for emergencies than they had been then. Eyes opened wide in amazement when he went on to explain how Janine had asked for a generator for her birthday, and how having one had allowed them to enjoy most of the benefits of an electrified society despite the grid being down.
“I don’t think that storm was an event that won’t be seen for another fifty or even a hundred years as the media suggested,” continued Ted. “In fact I believe we’ll be seeing even more violent storms on a regular basis in the future, and I for one intend to make sure we’ll be prepared.”
“It’s more likely that Janine will make sure that you’ll be prepared,” laughed another wife. “Janine, those lists you handed out to us recommending things we need to do to be ready for future emergencies were quite extensive and at first I thought they were a bit over-the-top, but after re-reading them a couple of times and thinking about what you wrote I’m inclined to agree with you.”
“I read them too,” her husband said, “and I think you’re probably right. Ted, how much did your generator set you back?”
“A bit over three grand. Expensive I know, and here are much cheaper units around of course but Janine was insistent that she didn’t want a Chinese built knock-off. Not that all the Chinese made units are bad, and in fact I’ve heard that some are actually quite good, especially if they’re maintained properly.”
“Yeah, but that’s still a lot of money for something that you’ll probably only use once in a blue moon isn’t it?”
Ted laughed. “Ben, if I’d offered that generator to you for four grand after three days without power you wouldn’t have been able to get your cheque book out fast enough. And my bet is it’s going to get quite a bit of use in future.”
“Yeah, well, considering the way the weather’s going I guess maybe you’re right. I might have to look at getting one myself. Where did you buy it?”
Not knowing that Janine had been a prepper for some time their friends had simply assumed that the purchase of the generator and the fact that she and Ted had put aside supplies for emergencies - without revealing precisely how just much of course - was due to the EFTPOS outage, the grid-down situations that had occurred a few months before and the weather forecast that Janine had taken seriously. However hearing a little more about what she had been up to was enough for them to open a new topic of conversation and begin a serious discussion on the merits of being prepared, even to the extent of taking First-Aid courses, which was something none of them had given much thought to before.
The upshot of the conversation was that the husbands who had come to the barbecue would check out generators and see if they could obtain a discount by ordering three of them together whilst the wives would take Janine and the lists of supplies she recommended on a shopping expedition, with the same idea of a discount in mind. Janine was more than happy to oblige as she felt that having her friends prepared would lessen the need to use her family’s supplies to help them if worse came to worst… Not that she’d ever deny them help of course.
It had taken a number of trips to several different supermarkets over three weekends before the wives were able to purchase all the items on Janine’s lists however they had a lot of fun doing it. Buying from bulk food warehouses had been considered but after finding that better deals could often be had at regular supermarkets, and without having to have an ABN or paying a sizable joining fee, the idea was dropped. Along with helping with the choice of items that she recommended should be put away Janine also gave them advice about having to rotate their foodstuffs, particularly canned or frozen goods, and also using dried chick peas, beans, lentils and suchlike.
To push the point of using dried goods the ladies and their husbands were invited to try both a lasagna and a meat-loaf that she’d prepared, and they were all astounded to find that the two delicious dishes had been prepared with no meat at all; that ingredient having been replaced with lentils. Feeling that she was on a roll Janine challenged the wives to take turns preparing meals made from scratch using only items that they had in their preps then present them to the group for taste testing, and was pleased when they all accepted.
The husbands were quite happy to reveal and brag to Ted that their efforts to acquire portable inverter generators had resulted in each of them, plus another friend who wanted one, now owning a unit that had cost only a quarter of what he’d doled out for his machine. They’d actually gotten a good deal he admitted after looking over one of the 3.5KW GenTrax machines that were, according to many online reviews he’d read, reliable and well regarded. Following his advice they had each also purchased two Jerry cans for high octane fuel, unleaded not being the best to run small engines on, a large can of four-stroke oil plus a spare spark-plug and an air filter.
Thinking back to the notes he’d made during his online prep research he next suggested that they build sound-proof enclosures for them, explaining that while it might not seem too intrusive any sound their running generators made could result in requests bordering on demands from neighbours to supply them with power. On that note he also advised them to keep their machines, and in fact all their preps, secured and out of sight of casual visitors, and not mention anything about them to anybody.
The wives were also included in this and whilst they all made a few jokes about their becoming Doomsday Preppers all were quick to understand how easy it would be for hungry people to become desperate and agreed that the only people to be in-the-know would be each other, and also that if any one of them needed help in any way they could also rely on each other. Two of the couples who also had children would ensure that they too would be told never to reveal anything to their friends… unless they wanted their pocket money stopped.
“You know Ted, I really wasn’t expecting things to go the way they’re going now,” said Janine that night. “Without their knowing anything about Mutual Assistance Groups it seems as if we and our friends have now formed one.”
“Yes love, I was just thinking the same thing. About those shopping lists you gave our friends: I found some more really interesting stuff regarding essential supplies on the web and I’m going to print out a few pages you can hand out to them. I’ll use the printer at work as it’s faster than ours is, plus of course we won’t be up for the toner and paper which the bank has plenty of. Do you have any info you’d like printed off?”
“I do actually. I was thinking of making a hard-copy file of some of the things I’ve found anyway, so we might as well combine what we each want to put into it. By the way, when you were talking to the guys about building soundproof enclosures for the generators I realised that we really need a dedicated space for our preps; preferably one that is reasonably well insulated from hot summers. Any chance we could build a small room at the back of the garage?”
“That’s an excellent idea, especially as the garage is under the main roof and we only use a little over half of it. Our second fridge and the freezer are in there anyway so we could enclose them too.”
“How do you think we should build it? I was thinking perhaps a two by four stud frame with Gyprock cladding each side and plenty of insulation in between shouldn’t be too difficult.”
“Hmm… That’d work, but I think Hebel insulated blocks might be better and they’d be just as easy if not easier to put up. We could probably do it ourselves over a weekend though we’d have to ask Alex to put in lights and power points.”
“Sounds like a plan. I think Geoff would be able to help us, unless you decide to do it on a weekend when your father wants to take him to the range.”
“Yeah, I can’t get over how quickly he took to shooting after dad took him to the range the first time,” Ted chuckled. “Annie too if it comes to that. I’m glad dad’s providing the ammunition: From the number of rounds they claim to use each time it’d probably end up costing us a small fortune.”
“I guess we’re lucky they can use yours and mine instead of us having to buy rifles for them. Speaking of expenses: I think we’re also going to have to start looking for a cheap little car for Annie pretty soon: There’s no way she could afford to buy one by herself.”
“That’s sort of covered already I think: Geoff’s going to give her his Hyundai and buy a station wagon from one of his mates. At least that’s what he told me. He reckons he needs a bigger car that will hold his and Jessica’s surfboards as well as their camping gear, plus they often take her father’s big Engels 12Volt fridge which is a lot better than an esky. Her family’s right into camping and when I was talking to her about the gear they had I found that her father was the fourth person who got in on the deal when our friends bought their generators.”
“That’s interesting. I know we’ve met them a couple of times before but as Jessica and Geoff are very close and seem to be getting closer it might be a good idea to get to know her parents better. Her father must know at least one of our group so how about we invite them over when we have our next barbecue?”
“Good idea. You might even be able to find out what their attitude towards prepping is,” said Ted with a smiling sidelong look at his wife knowing that was most likely what she had in mind when she suggested the barbecue invitation.
“You know me all too well,” Janine replied with a grin.
© To be continued....
