Night is starting to fall.
Significant arguments in the middle east threaten oil supplies led to a shortage. Industrial action and strikes are threatening to shut down many industries, and only a few days after my last entry, a nationalist group managed to shut down train lines that supply coal to power stations.
It has been difficult, to say the least, to write when you are not sure how long the power will stay on. It has started a small boom in solar panels, although people never quite realise that a single, small panel will not power their house. A small panel will barely keep a battery charged when people insist on using computers, relying on large fridges, airconditioning, and all mod-cons. Even medium sized televisions make a dent. And, customers being customers, they get aggressive when you point out that, to get the most from their system, they need to spend money on getting low-power things (like LED lights) and, worse than that, need to do some mathematics to work out what they can operate.
Having lived for almost two years without television, it has been little more than a space occupier anyway, although going without the internet has caused a few withdrawals... With limited power, we make do with what is available, and our own entertainment in the mean-time. Power is limited during the day, enough to keep commerce and industry going, and even only available in fits and starts in the evening.
The government has taken several days to get the electrical system back into some sort of shape, but it has ramifications. Using the disruptions as an excuse, rumour has it that round-ups of certain disliked people have occurred.
Which leads to a question...
Some one with training in chemistry, engineering, alternative technologies, bootstrap tech, as well as an academic interest in weaponary, explosives, and the like, yet not employed in such industries. If they were to fall afoul of the new "investigations", would context vindicate or convict them?
Of course, this is a purely academic question.