issue #4 Rolling Blackouts

Lights out in Lviv

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The street in front of our apartment building on the night of November 15th. Except for the auto headlights all other lights are out. It was a surreal sight.

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The Lviv power infrastructure was hit by Russian missiles again on November 15th. Since then we’ve endured daily sporadic blackouts lasting from 4-12 hours at a time. The main energy company Ukrenergo tries to schedule the outages, but it still seems to be mostly random. (Actually the power usually seems to go out right as I begin cooking or writing!)

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The old city center on the night of November 15th. A few businesses had generators running. Most people were walking the usually busy streets by the light of their phone flashlights.

Make no mistake, living without power for a few hours is a small quandary compared to what many Ukrainians in the east and south are enduring right now with bombs falling constantly in their cities. But winter arrived early this year, and here in Lviv we’ve had snow and subzero temperatures for the last ten days or so. Needless to say it has made for some dark, cold evenings. I can’t imagine what the utility workers in Ukraine are going through. Rebuilding the plants again and again, only to have the Russians continually destroy their hard work. They are heroes.

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When I started this writing project I was overflowing with ideas and planned to share at least once per week. There are so many stories I want to tell, and so many topics I want to explore. Both for my readers to enjoy, and as a way to help me articulate my thoughts and preserve my memories by writing them down. Unfortunately right now with the constant uncertainly about light and heat I’m struggling to stay focused and creative. But I’ll do my best to keep this going when I can…

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We’ve been stocking up on candles, and we actually found a beautiful vintage oil lamp that helps to illuminate the dark evenings. Not sure what I was thinking in this moment, but I’m guessing it had to do with wondering when the lights will come back on!

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I massively appreciate appreciate every subscription and kind comment about what I’ve published so far. There’s something about sharing expanded (beyond what I can do on Instagram, etc) stories and photos that I’m really enjoying. In a way it feel like an old fashioned blog - just the other day I was reminiscing about Tumblr… Does anyone still use that?

Thanks for bearing with me friends. I’ve got some exciting stories in the pipeline that I can’t wait to share. Let’s hope the power stays on!

These beautiful murals have been popping up all over the city since the Russian invasion began. I don’t know who the artist is, but I’m going to try to find out out!

Слава України!!!