{"id":26844,"date":"2024-12-22T13:32:25","date_gmt":"2024-12-22T18:32:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=26844"},"modified":"2024-12-22T13:33:37","modified_gmt":"2024-12-22T18:33:37","slug":"epiosode1198-imagination-in-the-dark-of-winter-time-when-all-aroiund-is-still","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=26844","title":{"rendered":"EPIOSODE1,198; imagination: IN THE DARK OF WINTER TIME WHEN ALL AROIUND IS STILL"},"content":{"rendered":"
IN THE DARK OF WINTER TIME WHEN ALL AROUND IS STILL:  IMAGINATION TAKES OVER<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
alan skeoch<\/div>\n
December 22, 2024<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
UN-ELECTRICITY TIME<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
There was a time when there was no electricity and when night fell on moonless nights total<\/div>\n
dark descended like a shroud.  With darkness came fear.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Why not test that statement.  Turn off the lights tonight\u2026all of them.  In the dark your furnace will<\/div>\n
no longer pump warm air and your house heat will fade away.       Your house will take you<\/div>\n
on a trip back in time.  How far back will depend upon your imagination.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
SUCH A TRIP\u2026IMAGINATION<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
My next episode will take you on such a trip.  Back to 1945 were an aged couple, Edward and<\/div>\n
Louisa Freeman, are spending a Christmas night in near darkness in a gothic red brick<\/div>\n
farm house on the fifth line of Wellington County.   A house with no electricity, no indoor plumbing,<\/div>\n
no central heating, no telephone.   Not much heat as the cast iron wood stove cools.  <\/div>\n
Some light perhaps from the flickering light of a candle or a coal oil finger lamp<\/div>\n
lantern.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Bed time.  Two little boys are visiting.  City boys 6 and 7 year old.  Grandma has advanced Parkinsons’<\/div>\n
disease which makes her hands tremble and shadows move across the dark rooms enforcing the<\/div>\n
sense of terror.  So grandma sings an old song. \u201cToo tired to climb the stairs just like you used to<\/div>\n
do\u2026but you\u2019ve put away your fife and drum and now head for the land of nod\u201d.   Grandma knows<\/div>\n
the fear that comes with nightfall.  She knows that the icicles hanging inside the rooms could<\/div>\n
easily turn to fire should her shaking hands fail her grip.  But the boys need the security of light.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Mom follows and all three\u20262 boys and their mother\u2026<\/div>\n
 roll into bed where grandma has placed hot bricks wrapped in newspaper<\/div>\n
to warm the blankets.  Mom\u2019s body and the bricks make the feather bed a welcome living<\/div>\n
space.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Grandma and the lamp move away.  The shadows go with her.  Downstairs she sleeps beside a pot bellied<\/div>\n
stove.  Grandma on one side grandpa on the other.   The lamp is extinguished and her singing stops<\/div>\n
replaced by new sounds not heard before.  The wind outside whistles as it searches for nooks<\/div>\n
and crannies in the old house.   Along with the moaning a winter snowstorm’s<\/div>\n
 flakes of snow pile one upon the other on  the window ledges.  Inside the house<\/div>\n
the moisture provided by the present of humans body heat is converted to water<\/div>\n
and then to ice.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
The year is 1945.   People lived this way for most of human existence\u2026for thousands of<\/div>\n
years before electricity.   Does the darkness scare you?  What happens when you need<\/div>\n
to go to the bathroom (i.e. the toilet\u2026i.e. Number 1 or number two).?  The back house<\/div>\n
(i.e. the toilet) is outside the house.  <\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Remember that before you turn off the lights.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
I bet few of you can imagine living this way.  But most of human existence has <\/div>\n
been un-electric.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
alan<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

IN THE DARK OF WINTER TIME WHEN ALL AROUND IS STILL:  IMAGINATION TAKES OVER alan skeoch December 22, 2024 UN-ELECTRICITY TIME There was a time when there was no electricity and when night fell on moonless nights total dark descended like a shroud.  With darkness came fear. Why not test that statement.  Turn off the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26844","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26844","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=26844"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26844\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=26844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=26844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=26844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}