For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for November 01, 2020

what is this “normal” of which Elly was speaking?

The lights are on again. Back in the cage you go, baby!

What’s so great about normal?

What this comic strip is missing is one character to represent the viewpoint that the family was better off without electricity. Without that character, the reader is on their own and would have to draw the conclusion that the Pattersons do not actually like that “no electricity” closeness.

For those who like comparing the colouring work of 1991 with the colouring work of 2020, here is the 1991 version:

https://fborfw.com/strip_fix/strips/91/fb911103.jpg

By the way, I think the 1991 colouring is pretty good.

A pretty nice use of irony, even though it’s clearly Lynn doing her “stuck in the ’50s” thing again, all old-timey and about how people are worse off with all this technology and stuff.

sad trombone*** mwa mwa mwaaaaaaaaa….!

We bought and make good use of a generator for such emergencies. But, we only plug in the frig, freezer, and water heater. Everything else can wait. We get a fire going in the fireplace, and enjoy campfire cooking and each other’s company for the duration of the outage. It’s the one time our son will leave his room and join us in the livingroom for a little interaction. :D

Let’s take a moment to remember the hardy souls who go out in the worst of weather to restore electric service. I worked beside them off and on (he he – not really an electricity pun!) and was always impressed. They groused about how the company treated the union electricians, bit when power was out it was a sacred calling. I remember driving a crew around in a snow cat in the middle of the night. We found and they fixed a broken cross-arm, called for a mate to close in the switch, and saw every light come on in a remote house at 01:30. That is when I understood why we did it. For a brief moment we were minor gods with the power to summon light and heat.

When my lights go out I just sleep. I want to conserve as much phone battery as possible

Sigh. So true.

I’m more impressed by how much fun they were able to have with the power out.

But the kids will remember “..that time the lights went out and we ate by candlelight & we didn’t have to take a bath ’cause there was no water so we just played games & told stories?!”

how timely – Southern USA is reeling from Hurricane/Tropical Storm Zeta. Over 2 million were without power in its immediate aftermath. Trees fell like dominoes. Reading by candlelight is possible but not very fun. Hard to get light on the page (In panel the words would be all in shadow).

“..There is no normal Life, Wyatt, there’s just Life…”

NORML!

Mmm I love a good power outage. I leave them off (don’t start the generator) if I have a just a few hours til Hubby gets home. Peace!

Try without ele. for three or more days to really appreciate “normal”.

We get maybe one or two power outages a year. They tend to last less than two hours. The best thing to do during that time is just vegetate. But it’s a pain resetting all those non-battery-powered clocks.

When my kids were little we lost electricity for a few hours. We had a floor picnic, played games, told round-robin stories, had a blast. When the lights came back on my then pre-school son jumped up and flipped them out again. He’s always been a smart kid.

I don’t know. I still like “normal”. I mean while the old stuff looks sweet, we have been striving for normal for decades. It’s where we want to be.

It’s okay to have different kinds of normal.

There is a big difference between losing electricity for a few hours versus for several days. It sucks.

She used lightning to cook the popcorn? Impressive!

At least for a while a family, not their own way.

Reading this today with our power out. Spot on.

Ah, Doing dishes my candlelight.

They have electricity in Canada? Wow! Always figured the Pattersons use candles and relieve themselves in the Enjos’ backyard, alongside Farley?

On a British reality show a famly lived like it was 1886 for 6 weeks. They were fully adjusted and when it was over they rethought how they would return to our electronic communications age. They liked how much closer a family they had become during the time living without the devices.

I love the image of Farley listening to the bedtime story.

I can almost hear the noise winding back up like a needle on a stationary vinyl speeding up.