Saturday, March 28, 2009

Earth Hour (well almost)


I tried to get my family to commemorate Earth Hour today. If Changi airport can turn off non-essential lights for one hour from 8.30pm to 9.30pm, so could we, I thought.

And since I wanted to turn off everything except the fans, had to work out what to do in that one hour and decided that we would have a later dinner than normal, by candlelight. I made a shepherd's pie and a simple salad, with a pear cake courtesy of Chocolate & Zucchini for dessert. She makes the cake for tea, I reserved it for dinner just so I had something to round off the meal (lengthen it out a little more).

Well, my mother had a good time arranging the candles on the dining room table and we brought the food out just in time for lights' out. Peeking outside the house, however, it was only too apparent that the majority of the neighbourhood were blithely going about their normal household routine as opposed to helping save the planet. The family ate dinner; my sister told us how her husband, currently in Sydney, realised that he was the only one not observing Earth Hour as all around him, buildings were dark. We finished eating quite quickly, well within the hour. Washed up by candlelight and the light from the house next door.

After tidying up - there was nothing much to do. No TV, no internet surfing available. The family sat around, restlessly. We have lost the gentle art of conversation. My father went to his room and a thin slit of line was seen below his door. Finally, 9.31pm came and the lights went on.

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