MY THOUGHTS EXACTLY is the column from Esperance Express senior journalist Lauren Vardy.
A redhead in body and spirit, Lauren has a curious passion for cats, tea and long walks on the beach.
Proud to be infected with the travel bug and overwhelming wanderlust, an ideal year for her would be to travel from place to place and become immersed in each culture.
Through her column, Lauren muses on the things everybody thinks but often keeps to themselves.
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MIDWAY through a sentence that would be key to sending off last Friday's edition, the computer made a slightly sad whistle and shut down as power in Esperance was removed for a brief period.
The event, short as it was, managed to remind me of the reliance we have on technology and power today.
Naturally, with everything working so well 99 per cent of the time, the problem only rears its head in the most unusual of circumstances - like a power outage.
It's worth a chuckle really, the almost synchronised "Oh, no!" that every person in the office utters as each electronic device took a short 30-minute nap.
I'm sure we weren't alone. It was only minutes before the town's social media community had taken their shared concerns online via battery operated mobile devices.
Problems ranging from half-cooked toast, haircuts that couldn't quite be finished and the more positive inability to do the vacuuming were heartily discussed.
But there's a quite unusual sinking feeling associated with being left in the dark, quite literally.
Not only has the computer stopped working, but the office phone has also taken a break.
We can't photocopy anything and the shredder is post-mortem, stopped for a reason other than being clogged with paper.
All of this is fine if you have a mobile at hand and - like me - insist on detailing phone numbers and appointments in hard copy as well as online - but many don't.
Everything grinds to a rather astonishing halt. With more and more business tools being digitised, computer-based or completely on the internet, we run the risk of having nothing when and if the power goes out.
The point is, 50 years ago, I think society could have easily survived and overcome a lapse in electricity, even for a long period of time.
No doubt it was inconvenient, but the basics of daily life (and the basics of our economy!) weren't dependent on electricity being reliable and abundant.
Maybe it's time that we all unplugged for a while.
What do you think? How long could you go without being plugged in? Post your comments below.
