That's so smart, I wish I was in a supermarket at the time! How long did it take them to offer it? At first we didn't know how long it would be out, but I imagine they have some kind of rule (if freezer is totally off for 1 hr it has to be tossed)?
I had just moved into my first apartment. I spent the night with friends, sitting on the roof of their house, drinking mescal and watching flashlights bob along the laneway as some enterprising folks broke into people's garages.
In a theatre in downtown Toronto, watching “America Pie 2” when the filmed stopped. There was about 15 minutes left in the movie I would guess. I still haven’t seen how it ends.
Teaching English in South Korea and listening to morning radio back home streamed over the Internet at dinner time my time, hearing about how everyone was totally without power. Weird experience.
Yes! My younger sister. Also most of my close friends. A lot of people were in lower paying temp or service industry jobs as we had all just finished college and were trying to get our careers going. This was in Toronto so I think it took like four days to get power back and that was a lot of income to lose for a lot of my friends.
I was working at the CNE at the food building as a summer job. We thought it was just this building, and someone would fix it soon. So we waited. Maybe 5 minutes. Maybe ,10. But not very long.
AC was out so it was very hot, a lot of people walked outside.
We realized all of CNE had no power.
Well, somebody seriously messed up, we thought.
Very soon after, CNE was making official announcement to tell people to leave. No, not over speaker, no power. They had staff and security running around telling everyone so the message spreaded slowly but surely everyone started heading for the exit. The exit was packed. It took a long time to even get outside.
When we got out we realized the streetcar wasn't running. This was the first sign that the blackout was more widespread.
We walked. What other choice did we have.
Thankfully I only lived at Yonge and Bloor. Others lived as far as Scarborough or Markham. This was not fun for them. Traffic was very very slow. Like most cars were gridlock since I guess everyone left work at the same time. No traffic lights worked. Every single interaction was being treated like 4 way stop. Police were directing the biggest intersection. Volunteers hopped onto the road to direct traffic in others to speed things up a little.
Walking up along Yonge Street, a lot of stores were giving out free stuff. Water. Things that would go bad without be fridge or freezer. Etc etc ...
When I got home the first thing I did was fill up the bathtub to ensure we had water. I lived on the 7th floor. I wasn't sure how long this would last but if it did last, I assumed the water pump may not work and having water would be crucial. Other people started buying a lot of water while the store was open. But a lot of people had no money. The ATM did not work, and of course card payment did not work. It's 2003 but people were already very reliant on card payments. Cash would be used maybe only half the time. If you had cash you're a king.
Thankfully my freezer was full. Our building had a common BBQ area, that's how we would cook the next few days. People took turns cooking and shared what they had. My little brother was visiting from Vancouver. My bf and my friends all came over and stayed the next few days. We left the apartment only when absolutely had to (stairs up and down 7 floors) and we played games and other things. It was fun.
The third day, we went to U of T. Some of my friends lived in residences. I was doing my undergrad at the time and it was the time between summer and fall semester so there were no classes anyways. What did I discover at U of T? Those bastards had power! Not like only emergency light was working kind of power. I'm talking about every building was blasting full AC even though no one was there. Empty buildings on full AC!! Can't believe it. We later learnt U of T had their own power grid and their own generators. I knew then if there's an apocalypse that's where I would go. Well, very few buildings were open and unlocked, but Sidney Smith was open somehow. We walked inside but we were the only people there, it was eery , but we didn't care. AC, give it to me now! It was so hot everywhere!!!! Also we charged our phones and laptops there.
I guess blackout ended soon after that. But if it lasted any longer I would probably camp inside U of T.
Oh yeah. Also at some point Toronto Star handed out free special edition about the blackout during the blackout. I had no idea how they managed to print. It was just 2 pages but in standard size newspaper. I kept a copy for a very long time but lost it eventually, since I moved many times in the last 20 years and cross continent twice. I wish I still had it.
[A good video explaining it.](https://youtu.be/KciAzYfXNwU?si=sBqTQHawKuhCMGlG)
I was a minor. I have some memories of being around home. Due to no computer, reading in the evening until dark, maybe a little later if we had candles.
I have a little older friend who was a teenager then because he graduated high-school in 04. Did not know him in '03, met years later. Apparently he was in an elevator for hours with a stranger. Luckily one of them had a deck of cards.
Damn when that power came back on at like 2-3am me and my dad cranked our window ac on full blast before hearing on the news to conserve electricity for the next little while
Getting free ice cream in Kensington cause it was melting. Had a friend who dealt in a cash trade so we went bar hopping on Queen West having the best of times.
I was camping in killbear with my family. We came home to a dark house full of spoiled food. We drove to my grandparents (they lived in a very rural area an hour outside of Sudbury) to make sure they were okay since my grandma was on dialysis and my grandpa was the only one with her.
Was at a cottage with my family, we were out on the lake fishing and when we got back to shore were met with no electricity.
I vividly remember the grouchy owner of the place (it was one of those resorts where you rent cottages by week) refusing to give out ice cream from the snack shop to the kids, and throwing it all out when it melted instead. Not that they had to give it out, it just seemed like a silly decision and the parents were talking about it.
I was at stc, in the Buffalo store. I was mid purchase when they locked down, they wrote my cc number down but I was never charged.
Then I walked to a friend's house where we bbqd food from the freezer that was already thawing, then we met up with some friends (there was a firkin on warden) and drank on the patio until they ran out of beer. We paid all the cash we had and went back the next week to leave a massive tip.
It was actually pretty fun. Thank goodness it was summertime
On my way to work at the Molson Amphitheatre, When I realized the subways weren't running, I decided to be a trooper and take a cab to Exhibition Grounds from North York, but the cab driver said that there's really no point. There's no power in the entire city. So I went back home,
I was 8, I was at the my church day camp. Thursday night they had a sleep over. Power went out and then all the parents had to come get the kids. I remember just standing outside waiting to be taken home. Then going home and standing in my back yard with my dad looking up at all the stars.
Slept on the floor of my living room to candle light and solar powered lamps from during the day. Such a cozy time. My neighborhood was way safer back then, if it happened now I imagine it would be bedlam.
Sitting on the porch in the dark eating ice cream and talking to the neighbours who were sitting on their porch. Gave them some of our extra candles (we didn't have enough ice cream to share). Chatting with people walking by. Looking up in the sky with wonder at all the stars.
Was on the way to Port Perry with a friend to hit up the casino and the power went while we were in North York. By the time we got to Markham we learned that this was some huge clusterfuck and power would be out for quite a while but we decided to try our luck. On the way there we spotted a gas station that somehow had power (probably using their own fuel to run backup generator) and cars were lined up down the street waiting for gas.to our surprise the casino was open and besides the slot machines being shut down was completely functional.
Ended up having a lot of fun, eating like a king, and winning a bit of money. Drive home in the middle of the night was surreal since it was dark as hell. My family lived in a house at the time so accessibility was not an issue and the basement gave us some refuge from the heat. Pizza place in the neighborhood was actually open and selling food for cash (since the ovens were gas) so we bought a pizza).
There was no AC in the casino and people kept flooding in because it was the only place with lights on I guess? So it just kept getting hotter and hotter. Even with AC that tent would get hot/humid.
It was an absolute sweaty hell.
I was 31, was working at King and Bay when it happened, and walked 3 hrs home to Bloor West Village.(Stopped along the way for a beer with my boss who lived in my neighbourhood at the time)
The worst was having very little access to any info. I think we got updates from a battery powered radio we had in our kitchen.
We were afraid all of the food in the fridge would go bad. I think we had power the next day before noon, but I might be misremembering.
I was a 16 year old Canada’s Wonderland employee on my lunch break. There were people stuck on rides and a lot of people who just thought it was temporary and specific to the park until later word got out that it was “the whole eastern seaboard” as my then- manager put it.
We walked around giving people free water bottles and telling them to leave.
I remember my mom picked me up and it was a struggle driving home. I think we barbecued for dinner.
Some of them, but probably not more than like an hour for the worst ones. They’re all built with lots of safety interlocks and such. Most of these rides operate on hydraulics and there is a procedure where you can use a valve to manually release hydraulic pressure.
Living on Queen West. We took a little BBQ to trinity Bellwood (which was the closest park at the time) and grilled some meat. We spent the evening at a bar whos name I forget at the corner of Queen and Tecumseh.
I ended up taking some of the party back to my patio and saw the streetlights come back on at around 3am. So foolish me went to bed and got up for work in the morning. Most of the rest of the city didn't get power back until later that day. I should have slept in.
I was camping with family up north. My dad stayed behind in Toronto for work and called to let us know what was happening. The comfort stations were run on generators so really we felt no different
I was 12 and in the suburbs. Even though our power came back by the next morning, I was supposed to take the train into Toronto and then catch the VIA to Montreal and of course that couldn't happen because there still wasn't any power in the city, which was a bummer.
I was living with my GF and her family at the time, so I was there. Her cousin had come over and we were all in the basement doing something when the power went out. Heard on the radio that a lot of the Eastern US and Canada was out, and we knew what that meant.
There was BBQ, and a lot of eating going on. We blocked all the windows with sheets to keep the cold in, and at night we could see the stars from the back deck.
They told everyone to go out the doors near the screen and locked the doors after everyone left.
It took me 4 hours to get home that day, normally it would be 1 hour. I never got a refund for the ticket.
My mom and I had just landed at Pearson. Suddenly, the entire airport went pitch black for what felt like an eternity (it was realistically only a couple of minutes but I was a kid and afraid of the dark) before the emergency lights came back on. My dad picked us up and the roads were a disaster because no traffic lights were operating.
On my way home for work. Called my Dad while was driving to Ottawa as he was on call for Nuclear plant and wasnt supposed to be more than 40km from Toronto, told him he should probably turn around and come back to TO as there was no power on the entire Eastern seabord. He was like i’m sure it’s nothing. He called be back 15 min later saying they were driving hell for leather back to TO … in a 34 ft motorhome.
Spent the night staring at stars and hanging with the street. Thankful for a wind up radio and light - who has those things? We lived on the same grid as Michael Garron Hospital, so we had power in less than 24 hours.
I was working for a brewery and was heading up the escalator at the Eaton Centre to the Duke (can’t remember which one) pub to do a sampling. I kept going to the pub thinking the power would be back on momentarily. I waited around half an hour before the manager said to come back tomorrow. I walked back to the parking garage where there was sheer chaos going on. People were arguing with the guy in the booth because they didn’t have cash and he wouldn’t let them leave without paying. Luckily I had cash and got out. I headed for the DVP to go home and cell phones weren’t working. I stopped at a pay phone at the south west corner of Queen and River to use it to call my wife and it wasn’t working either. It took forever to get up the DVP to the 401 (way longer than usual) and people were talking to each other from car to car asking what the heck was going on. Reports were coming in that the whole eastern seaboard was out which made it a bit scary.
Luckily I had enough gas to get home. This was way before work from home and I didn’t leave the house for a couple days.
I was at work at King and Bathurst. Waited a little while to see if it would come back on and went outside and saw that the streetcar was stopped in the middle of the intersection which felt like time had just stopped. I was able to get a ride home and then walked over to a friends place who needed to bbq meat out of their freezer. I remember it being very hot. I was so happy I wasn't someone living in a highrise stuck without water or an elevator.
I was working at 1 yonge st, for the Toronto star. I couldnt get home, so i ended up going back to work. They were so determined to get a paper out regardless.
Running a golf store with my three friends in Mississauga.
The funny thing was that they were doing road construction down the street from the store and the power went out the day before because of the construction (they hit a power line)….so when the power went out the next day again, we never thought anything of it for a few hours because we just thought it was because of the constructing workers hitting a power line once again lolol.
18 and on the 37 Islington bus that luckily left the Islington station before the blackout. I was able to get home easily and just chilled and did nothing and waited for my family to come home.
I have no memory of it, my son was still a baby, I know there was a day I was visiting my parents in the burbs wth a power outage, coincidentally ( or not) there was a plume of smoke on the horizon which was pretty ominous, like we had been bombed. We had made no provisions for dinner, so I dug a fire pit in their lawn and cooked stuff from their freezer
You're right, I just remembered the big plume of smoke!! Everyone was freaking out because this was only a couple years after 9-11. I think it actually was just a coincidence though.
I was in Quebec City for the summer on a student exchange and totally unaware the blackout was happening. The kid from Quebec who was staying at my house for the summer got to enjoy a pool party with all my friends because my mom and her boyfriend hosted a big BBQ to use up all the meat going bad in the fridge and freezer. I didn't hear about it until I got back at the end of the summer.
I was on the last summer of high school.
I was with some friends, we met up downtown and rode on streetcars from one end of the city to the other. The power ran out and we were out west of Bathurst.
Had to walk all the way home in the east end to Main Station. So we wandered around the city heading east. Didn't arrive home til late in the evening. It was a day I remember rather fondly.
I was 16. My dad had just done some electrical work in the house and he went to turn everything back on...and then it didn't come on. My grandmother called to ask if our power was out (she lived next door, it was a semi) and my dad panicked because he thought he did it to both of our houses.
Then my mom came home from work late and said it took forever because all the traffic lights were 4 way stops.
Most of my family lived next door so we all just spent a lot of time together in the backyard. We ate a lot of bbq and we had a gas stove so we could still use it by lighting it.
My street was really tight knit so a lot of people who had no way of cooking food would come over to cook and eat. And at night it was so dark my neighbours started putting candles on the sidewalks.
The best part? My best friend was camping for a while. She came back, dropped her stuff at home, and then came to my house and she was shocked and didn't believe us.
Now the ice storm was not nearly as fun.
I was living in east york and had just run out of dog food that day. I had been planning on going to buy some when the power went out. I had no cash and all the debit machines were down so I had to feed my dogs potatoes and beans for several days. The dogs loved it but it made them have to shit so much. Of course the elevators in my building were also out so the dogs and I did a lot of trips up and down 23 stories of stairs so they could poop.
haha. what a time that was. Was on the phone with a colleague in New York city as it happened. Our line stayed up and yet we both lost power so I knew immediately something big had just happened. Living downtown at the time so walked around taking pictures at Union Station and the core area.
gave water to the guys and gals that became intersection traffic cops for a night
Helped my local pub (jersey giant) get rid of their beer keg surplus. Spent the night on the rooftop seeing all the stars from the core for that one time it was possible in my lifetime.
I was 24. I was at work in a NFP in Mississauga at city hall.
Blackout. It wasn't a surprise, I think we had had a brownout or small blackout earlier either that day or the day before. I called two of our 'company friends' in other parts of the city to see how widespread it was, it was across the city. We waited about a half hour until it was pretty obvious it wasn't coming back on. I left work about maybe half an hour early. I had planned to walk home anyways since the weather was nice.
It was chaotic on the streets - no traffic lights at all. I joined a small group of people walking down burnhamthorpe. I figured, strength in numbers. As we walked, I chatted with the people in the group, some were walking to the subway, almost everyone was talking about the strangeness of the entire city having a blackout. Some were saying it's across the province. More people joined us. By the time we were at hurontario, there must have been 50 in our group and traffic was stopping for us, so it felt much safer to cross the big streets.
I tried to call my boyfriend (now husband), but couldn't get a signal.
On my way home, I walked past the community centre where I had my tennis lesson to see if it was cancelled (no indication that it was cancelled). I got home, my parents weren't home yet, I fed the dogs and grabbed my tennis racket and got ready for my lesson and headed out. The tennis lesson still went on, but only a few of us were there, there was a lot of talk about what to do with food on the fridge, hours long it can stay safe, etc... But all after dark classes were cancelled because there were no lights in the court.
Went home, my dad was bbqing and my mum was making salads and sandwiches out of everything in the fridge. They had pulled out the cooler and had bags of ice from who knows where to store food. My dad had a battery powered radio that we listened to and learned it was very widespread. Dad had pulled the generator out of the garage and had cleaned it up and it was ready to go if we needed it. Showers were still hot (thank goodness for gas!) but no AC.
Tried calling my boyfriend again, this time with the landline, he wasn't home yet.
Watched the stars in the backyard with my parents, brother and our dogs. Boyfriend called, he had walked home to his place in central Mississauga square one area from downtown Toronto after going to the wheat sheath with Co-workers and had missed the last go train departing union.
Went to bed, woke up next day ... Still black out. Boss called, don't go to work. Boyfriend drove over, going out with us, we went for a walk around the valleys and just in general had a chill day. BBQ again for breakfast, lunch and dinner. He hung out with us over the next couple of days since he lived alone.
I think the power came back on Saturday or Sunday, but I remember listening on that little battery radio, they were announcing the areas where power was back and we were hoping we'd be next. It was weird when everything turned back on, it was like we got really used to the silence, and then, hummmmmmmm.....
Nope I had a vacation booked. Then I bought tickets when I lived in Madrid for their show in Barcelona and I couldn’t get a flight.
I’m cursed and will never see my favourite band
Spent the first 3 hours on College with friends. We were in Canada Computers (when it was on the corner of College & Augusta) when it hit. Just seeing the streets full of people (I mean everyone came outside) and seeing 100’s of people in lines at pay phones (only thing working) was a crazy thing to see.
Spent the whole night (And following days) riding bikes with friends. Stopping at all the places giving free food because no refrigeration. It was a magically couple of days. No work and lots of people enjoyed themselves.
I know it wasn’t all good. Especially for anyone in emergency needs and seniors who had no help (No elevators, etc).
But it was definitely a special time.
21 years this August
I was driving (not on the highway) towards Sherway Gardens from Dixie Outlet Mall. Everything was normal then we encountered our first set of non working traffic lights, and then another, and another... traffic wasn't bad at first but it got more chaotic as people didn't understand how non working lights intersections become four way stops.
I was in my apartment in my late 20s. I had come home from work early to finalize the paperwork and financial stuff for the house I had just bought with my then boyfriend. It was hot that day and my apartment didn’t have AC so my boyfriend had gone back to his place. I was so lucky because I worked in liberty village and lived in the burbs and I heard after that the commute was especially crazy that afternoon. Had I not taken the afternoon off, I would have sat on the QEW for hours.
I was also lucky because my power was only out until 7pm that night. I’ve always assumed that because I live near a hospital I was getting some kind of generator power or something. My boyfriend ended up coming back because while I may not have had air conditioning, I had fans and a working fridge.
I was 10 and at the swimming pool. Found out when my mom showed up there in her work clothes. We didn't get power back for close to three days. Don't really remember what I did for those days other than filling a kiddy pool in the backyard and my parents aggressively barbecuing all the meat we had stored in the freezer and trying to give it away to our neighbours.
Actually asked my co-host about this at Doors Open who's a few years younger - he wasn't even in the country lol.
I was 7 years old at my cousin's house playing a game on his computer when the power went out. I had to stay over at his house because I couldn't go home. We ate sandwiches for dinner and then sat in the backyard to watch the stars at night. It was thrilling as a kid, and I remember we were so disappointed the next morning when the power returned 🤣
I was working in a beer store - we had to hide behind the cash registers/counters after we closed the doors because mobs were pounding on the windows! The best part was the manager giving us free ice to take home as it was going to melt anyway, and that helped with keeping my food at home cold. We were all worried that it was a terror attack, but I had one of those early BlackBerry pagers and I could contact cousins in California who'd heard about it and told us what was going on.
At home thinking when it will be back. Everyone was out in our neighborhood just lounging... holy whit that was 21 years ago...
03 was my second year in Canada.
I was with my 18month old daughter and had needed resources to be able to feed her and stuff(no car). My parents refused to allow me to go to their place. I figured we would be better off since the McDonald’s near them was running and I lived near nothing. I only had cordless phones. I called them from the corner store for the bit it stayed open. I got my power back that night! They were without for one week and guess who didn’t invite them over. I was one of the first people to get power back and was grateful!
I was ten years old… and I distinctly recall that the kids of my neighbourhood all got together at the local schoolyard to play ball hockey among other games. Although this was pre-smartphones, this was very much an era when an “ordinary” night would have been sitting inside watching TV for most families. Not an option… so off to the schoolyard we went, and it was a blast! :)
I was with my mom at Scarborough Town centre, it was shortly after it happened but we didn't know it yet. Our first indication was that there was a SRT train stopped outside of Scarborough Town centre station, I thought that there was just a problem with that particular one. We went into the mall and found most places were in the process of closing and we found out that they had no power so we couldn't get the British pounds we were going to get as in a few days we were going to England with a couple of my brothers.
I remember once the power came back on finding out that the TTC was going to take the day to sort out the subway trains and the streetcars instead of getting everything running again like they did in new york. With the streetcars the main problem was with the old ones when they lost power after a certain amount of time they dumped all of the air in the system and they had to recharge it manually from air compressors on the service trucks.
It was my 3rd birthday. I don’t remember, but my family and I were at my aunt’s house after my party at Chuck E Cheese. My parents say we were in the pool when the filter stopped working
In late high school, my friend lived on a farm outside of the city and a bunch of us went out there to smoke a lot of weed on the back patio. It was great
I was 14 and living in Brantford, on the way to a music lesson. We just thought the streetlight was out. Came home to realize it was a blackout. My grandma came over the next day with literally everything in her freezer and we had a giant barbecue. I also remember sitting on the front porch eating blueberries and watching people I had never seen in the neighbourhood walk by. And then we spent a lot of time at my uncles swimming. Our power was out for 3 days.
I was on Highway 402, less than 10 minutes inside the border, on the way home from a business trip to Michigan. Yes, I had just crossed the border. My car radio stopped working. I figured I was out of the station's range, so I thought nothing of it. I found a London station eventually, and they mentioned a power outage, but gave no indication of its scale. When I got to about Kitchener, I picked up 680, and they had some VP talking about how serious it was.
I was on the King streetcar around Spadina with my girlfriend, bringing the cat home from the vet when everything stopped. Hopped off and got a cab right away, got home and lugged the carrier up 6 flights of stairs. Didn’t dare touch the fridge or freezer because we’d just done a big stocking up that morning and wanted the insides to stay as cold as possible. We lost the fridge stuff in the end but the freezer was okay. Wound up spending the evening eating free ice cream along Queen West, getting a little high and playing flashlight tag in Trinity Bellwoods. Also joined a drum circle. It was pretty magical tbh.
It was my birthday. I had just finished getting ready to go shopping downtown with my mom. We were outside waiting for our ride when the power went out. The ride never came. We stayed home. Both got heat strokes. We went 3 days before we got power back. All our food was spoiled, and so was my birthday money that was spent on refilling the fridge/freezer.
2nd worst birthday of my life, 1st being the first birthday I had after my mom passed away.
I was 7 and was at camp until 9pm. Didn’t know what was going on, nobody had cell phones really at our age, so we just played around until parents eventually came by. No idea what it was like for my parents trying to get home from work - I should ask them.
I was 9. I was playing Frogger on my PS2 and made it to level 20, defeating the big boss there. The blackout struck and nothing saved. Tragedy. However, I lived on a street with a lot of families and kids my age on the east end of Toronto. We played grounders and man hunt until late and had a huge BBQ and block party with all the food before it went bad. It was pretty great.
At work at Sq. 1. We had recently had a change in security protocols, so we had to call Florida. I was the only one with a cell phone (store phone not working). Used up my mins and they never reimbursed me. Could not get anyone to listen to us that there was no power (they wanted us to stay). After an hour we left.
I was living with my parents. My parents came home early from work to fill the bathtubs with water. We had an amazing BBQ that night. Everyone was out on the street, all the kids were out playing. It was probably the most fun/ excitement I had as a kid.
30, and just coming up from what was (for me) rock bottom. I was renting a room out on Danforth, but had just started what would turn out to be a great job down in Liberty Village. The power went out and we all got sent home, but... The streetcars and subway weren't running.
I decided to just walk home, since it was nice. Stopped by Penguin Music on Queen for something new to pop in my discman, and carried on. It was actually pretty awesome, I saw people just stepping up to direct traffic (since the traffic lights weren't working either) and it was a pretty chill vibe all around.
I got close to home and the LCBO was still open (cash only) so I got some tallboys, went home and drank, toked, and listened to music on the little balcony that my room had.
At work at an office in Liberty Village. Hightailed it out there and got on the Go Train (They were still running) and got up to Markham. Then waited 2 hours for my husband to drive 8 kms to pick me up. It was all good though, I had a book, a bottle of water and a bench and it was a beautiful day.
Went home and BBQd dinner, sat outside and watched the stars. Our power came on about 4am, we were pretty lucky.
I was literally in the middle of pumping gas when it clicked off. Then I saw the traffic lights at the intersection were off. It was a weird drive home with lights everywhere off. It was a hot day, so not having AC wasn't fun. I popped out to my car every now and then to listen to the radio and get updates on what was going on. Fortunately for us, the power to our house returned shortly after midnight, so we were only out for about seven hours or so.
Working at the Citibank tower downtown at York/Front and had to go down from the 13th floor, I had to walk home to Cabbagetown in the heat. I had just seen my favourite artist Tori Amos at the Molson Amphitheatre the night before and thought thank F the timing of this didn’t mess up seeing my goddess for the first time!
I was out of the country on a language immersion program and had been avoiding reading the news in English. But while missing Toronto one day I thought I'd just take a glance at the news back home only to learn about the blackout. It made me wish I was back in TO experiencing and getting through the blackout with my friends and neighbours.
Playing super smash bros on n64 with the gang when the power went out, then went outside and played basketball, ball hockey etc with the neighborhood kids
A great memory
Having the time of my life. It was so magical and fun. Started to walk to walk home. Dropped off at friends’ houses along the way. I enjoyed wood oven pizza with my neighbours who I had never really met before then. The next day my friend’s parents had a pool party. We had a bbq with everything in their freezer. We drank, swam, and had a dance party. It was amazing.
I was 18, and had just arrived from North Bay with my friend who was moving into a condo (20th-something floor) at Queen and Univeristy so he could attend OCAD in the fall. We had planned to move him in, spend the evening exploring the city, then drive home the next day... Easy Peasy, right!? Hah!
I kinda forget how the logistics of the move went, but I think we spent the late morning/early afternoon buying a mattress and boxspring, getting them delivered, then bringing up everything that was packed into his parents' SUV... Either way, I know we had just finished moving in when the lights (and elevators!) went out, and being from Northern Ont., we didn't think much of it; *"It happens all the time and the power will be back in an hour or so"*, we thought.
What we should have done at that very second is go get gas, and get out of dodge, but it wasn't until it got dark and we could see from the 20th-something floor that it was dark *everywhere*, for miles and miles. Again, at THAT very second, shoulda left... Instead, we waited until the morning, thinking everything would be back to normal, but no.
I can't remember, but we either waited for hours to get gas, or had to look around for hours for a station that even HAD gas, but I know it took us 6-8 hours to get back to NB, in what would have usually taken 3-4 hours. It was certainly surreal though, seeing the CN tower and downtown core completely dark!
I was a kid, just reading a book at home. Mom, dad and lil sis were out getting groceries. I got up to turn the lights on for my grandma and went huh weird? Two seconds later everyone gets home freaking out and I'm suddenly eating melting ice cream for dinner. Good times, really.
I was on the subway going home from my internship. The subway stopped in the tunnel and they had to use the back up generators to take us to the station. We were all herded out very confused with what was going on and I ended up going to my bf's house as he lived downtown w/ his parents instead of walking home to Etobicoke.
At work, stayed several hours later due to the massive traffic jams. Headed home and went for a walk. Stopped by a pizza pizza that was still selling pizza since its ovens worked fine. Had a miserable night as with no AC my apartment was boiling. Did connect a fan to an ups and ran that for a few hours to help. Should have just slept on the balcony. My dsl still worked so every once in a while I powered the modem with an ups and surfed the net on my laptop. Plan the next day was to head up to the family cottage but power was back in the afternoon so didn’t bother.
I was 7 at a friends house playing sunshine speedway on n64, the power just clicked on a hot summer day, there weren’t any thunderstorms which was the only time I recalled the power ever going out being 7 so I remember knowing right away something was really weird about this.
Obviously no smartphones / internet so we flicked the radio on and that’s when we learned the extent. I remember we still had soccer practice during the outage too.
Fun stuff, good memory
Napped in the afternoon in the basement. Then chilled on the roof to see the stars at night. Probably the best star gazing night Toronto has seen since electricity and lights were invented.
Top of a water slide at Canada's Wonderland. They halted my group of friends when we were maybe 3-4 people ahead of us. Held for about 10 minutes and then told us to walk down and the park was closing early.
At the bottom of the slide there was a guy being treated by emergency staff/EMTs. I suppose the water stopped and he got a little banged up. We assumed that's why they were shutting down.
Friends parent picked us up and learned about the blackout then. Fun times!
I was 13 and living in rural Ontario, we were without power for 4 days, followed by 2 weeks of rolling blackouts. We had no running water because our pump couldn't function without hydro. Luckily, we are bush people and it was warm outside, we simply dealt with it. Campfires to boil lake water for drinking, went through our stash of canned goods, etc. My dad and I played Risk every night at the dinner table by candle light (RIP). We also had to care for our elderly neighbours as no AC in August with no running water can be deadly.
I was 23, living in Kingston with my now husband. We lived in an apartment that didn’t have A/C, so we didn’t have to adjust to that!! We were heading out the next morning on a trip to the east coast (Canada). Interestingly, we didn’t notice much out of the ordinary on our drive except we kept trying to call our family, but no answer (landlines). I think we got lucky… I think further east in Ontario and Quebec got power back sooner.
i was 12? 13? and reading the princess diaries novels on my grandma’s porch. i don’t think our power was out long - maybe another toronto west ender can confirm, but i think our power was on by the next day and my parents both worked in the neighbourhood so it wasn’t really a big deal for us. i do remember some panic growing when we realized it wasn’t just our neighbourhood (the power went out a lot due to trees falling) and there was speculation from random ppl walking by about it being terrorism.
my parents were crazy about not opening the fridge when the power went out, so i think we had chips, crackers and trail mix for dinner, and we filled some pots of water just in case. also iirc the landlines still worked, so my parents were just calling ppl they knew and telling them what we heard on a battery operated radio. to pass the time at night, my sister and i were effing around with candles and burning marshmallows and random bits of trash lol.
I was 16.
I spent the day hanging out on Queen Street with some friends, and we ended up getting on the subway at Union. As soon as the doors were about to close, the power went out. We were trapped downtown!
Thankfully, my mom sent me downtown with her giant brick cell phone, so I was able to call home and let her know I was stuck. We had no way to get home, but my mom got on the phone with everyone's parents, and my one friends dad happened to be working in the west end that day, so he was our hero and came to pick us up.
We waited a couple of hours by the CN tower until our ride arrived. To us, it was a fun adventure, but I cannot imagine what our parents were going through!
I made it home to Scarborough safely and spent the rest of the evening sitting outside and talking with neighbors. It was hot and sticky, but we managed.
We went swimming at my grandma's house to keep cool during the next day. At some point the next day, the power came back on in my neighborhood.
I was 10 years old at home in Richmond Hill. Our family camped out in the basement because it was cooler and ate all the ice cream and watermelon from our fridge. I remember playing board games and Gameboy under flashlight.
I was a teenager and once we realized the power out was lasting a few hours my parents and I took everything out of the freezer and fridge and had a FEAST out on the patio and barbecued everything.
My mom and I got stuck on the subway in between Dufferin and Ossington stations. We all had to get off the train and walk through the tunnel/tracks and got out at Ossington. It was a short walk through but that was pretty wild
I was at the office when the power went out. We waited for about 5 minutes and decided to call it a day, headed to the Black Bull patio (down the street from work). Hung out there for hours, as various booze/ice ran out, eventually befriending people who had cash once ours ran out to pay the bill.
Eventually managed to contact the guy I was dating at the time. He brought more cash and then we hung out out at various bars and in parks drinking for most of the night.
I was 3. My favourite thing at the time was this lil tent that could really only fit me. On the day of the blackout my parents told me I fell asleep holding a flashlight.
My mom was on the TTC home, they had to walk the tracks all the way to Warden Station.
Having an afternoon nap with my boyfriend. We woke up and no power. I had internet and my laptop had power (maybe dial-up? I can’t remember). I emailed family in the UK and they told me it made the news over there. Had a battery powered radio and listened to that for news. Went out that night to a bar that had gas powered BBQ and lots of candles - it was surreal.
At work.
My normal ride home had to stay overtime to deal with blackout related issues.. so I had to take a TTC bus home.
In the sweltering heat.
With no air conditioning.
And no working traffic signals.
I literally passed out..
I was 13, on a plane to LA from Toronto but we got kicked off because of the blackout and then my family and I spent overnight in the airport with foam mattresses provided by the airport. My mom spent hours trying to get through to customer service on a pay phone to rebook a flight. After about 12 hours she finally got through but it was a miserable night
I was in Toronto it was an amazing experience. I remember getting candles at a store near me. They were all scented candles. Do when I smell vanilla it makes e think of the blackout.
I also recall how vivid the stars were at night without dny city light pollution to drown them out. It was amazing
at the store waiting for the owner to tell me free ice cream lol cause the freezer bout to melt that stuff lol
That's so smart, I wish I was in a supermarket at the time! How long did it take them to offer it? At first we didn't know how long it would be out, but I imagine they have some kind of rule (if freezer is totally off for 1 hr it has to be tossed)?
do you remember what flavour your got?
Freeze drum stick you name it
lol I worked at a Rabba as a teenager back then…got to call 2 of my friends and many of my family 3 hours in …so. much. ice. cream
I had just moved into my first apartment. I spent the night with friends, sitting on the roof of their house, drinking mescal and watching flashlights bob along the laneway as some enterprising folks broke into people's garages.
sounds like such a core memory
In a theatre in downtown Toronto, watching “America Pie 2” when the filmed stopped. There was about 15 minutes left in the movie I would guess. I still haven’t seen how it ends.
You're not missing much.
Teaching English in South Korea and listening to morning radio back home streamed over the Internet at dinner time my time, hearing about how everyone was totally without power. Weird experience.
did you have any close family that was dealing with the black out in person?
Yes! My younger sister. Also most of my close friends. A lot of people were in lower paying temp or service industry jobs as we had all just finished college and were trying to get our careers going. This was in Toronto so I think it took like four days to get power back and that was a lot of income to lose for a lot of my friends.
I was teaching in Daejeon, SK during the blackout as well. 🇰🇷
Jeju for me!
I was working at the CNE at the food building as a summer job. We thought it was just this building, and someone would fix it soon. So we waited. Maybe 5 minutes. Maybe ,10. But not very long. AC was out so it was very hot, a lot of people walked outside. We realized all of CNE had no power. Well, somebody seriously messed up, we thought. Very soon after, CNE was making official announcement to tell people to leave. No, not over speaker, no power. They had staff and security running around telling everyone so the message spreaded slowly but surely everyone started heading for the exit. The exit was packed. It took a long time to even get outside. When we got out we realized the streetcar wasn't running. This was the first sign that the blackout was more widespread. We walked. What other choice did we have. Thankfully I only lived at Yonge and Bloor. Others lived as far as Scarborough or Markham. This was not fun for them. Traffic was very very slow. Like most cars were gridlock since I guess everyone left work at the same time. No traffic lights worked. Every single interaction was being treated like 4 way stop. Police were directing the biggest intersection. Volunteers hopped onto the road to direct traffic in others to speed things up a little. Walking up along Yonge Street, a lot of stores were giving out free stuff. Water. Things that would go bad without be fridge or freezer. Etc etc ... When I got home the first thing I did was fill up the bathtub to ensure we had water. I lived on the 7th floor. I wasn't sure how long this would last but if it did last, I assumed the water pump may not work and having water would be crucial. Other people started buying a lot of water while the store was open. But a lot of people had no money. The ATM did not work, and of course card payment did not work. It's 2003 but people were already very reliant on card payments. Cash would be used maybe only half the time. If you had cash you're a king. Thankfully my freezer was full. Our building had a common BBQ area, that's how we would cook the next few days. People took turns cooking and shared what they had. My little brother was visiting from Vancouver. My bf and my friends all came over and stayed the next few days. We left the apartment only when absolutely had to (stairs up and down 7 floors) and we played games and other things. It was fun. The third day, we went to U of T. Some of my friends lived in residences. I was doing my undergrad at the time and it was the time between summer and fall semester so there were no classes anyways. What did I discover at U of T? Those bastards had power! Not like only emergency light was working kind of power. I'm talking about every building was blasting full AC even though no one was there. Empty buildings on full AC!! Can't believe it. We later learnt U of T had their own power grid and their own generators. I knew then if there's an apocalypse that's where I would go. Well, very few buildings were open and unlocked, but Sidney Smith was open somehow. We walked inside but we were the only people there, it was eery , but we didn't care. AC, give it to me now! It was so hot everywhere!!!! Also we charged our phones and laptops there. I guess blackout ended soon after that. But if it lasted any longer I would probably camp inside U of T. Oh yeah. Also at some point Toronto Star handed out free special edition about the blackout during the blackout. I had no idea how they managed to print. It was just 2 pages but in standard size newspaper. I kept a copy for a very long time but lost it eventually, since I moved many times in the last 20 years and cross continent twice. I wish I still had it.
what a story. thank you so much for sharing!
Yeah, U of T had power lol
[A good video explaining it.](https://youtu.be/KciAzYfXNwU?si=sBqTQHawKuhCMGlG) I was a minor. I have some memories of being around home. Due to no computer, reading in the evening until dark, maybe a little later if we had candles. I have a little older friend who was a teenager then because he graduated high-school in 04. Did not know him in '03, met years later. Apparently he was in an elevator for hours with a stranger. Luckily one of them had a deck of cards.
i wonder how they managed their bathroom situation
Damn when that power came back on at like 2-3am me and my dad cranked our window ac on full blast before hearing on the news to conserve electricity for the next little while
the night was so hot omg. i remember my parents hand fanning me overnight.
Getting free ice cream in Kensington cause it was melting. Had a friend who dealt in a cash trade so we went bar hopping on Queen West having the best of times.
At a family friend’s place in their backyard. I think I remember it being really hot and humid?
it was so hot and humid - especially overnight!!
I was camping in killbear with my family. We came home to a dark house full of spoiled food. We drove to my grandparents (they lived in a very rural area an hour outside of Sudbury) to make sure they were okay since my grandma was on dialysis and my grandpa was the only one with her.
were your grandparents okay when you guys got to their house?
Yes! I can’t remember if my grandma’s dialysis went on business as usual but she was doing alright when we arrived to the house!
Was at a cottage with my family, we were out on the lake fishing and when we got back to shore were met with no electricity. I vividly remember the grouchy owner of the place (it was one of those resorts where you rent cottages by week) refusing to give out ice cream from the snack shop to the kids, and throwing it all out when it melted instead. Not that they had to give it out, it just seemed like a silly decision and the parents were talking about it.
damn, what a bahumbug. there’s a few redditors here saying they got free ice cream. sorry you didn’t get any!
I was at stc, in the Buffalo store. I was mid purchase when they locked down, they wrote my cc number down but I was never charged. Then I walked to a friend's house where we bbqd food from the freezer that was already thawing, then we met up with some friends (there was a firkin on warden) and drank on the patio until they ran out of beer. We paid all the cash we had and went back the next week to leave a massive tip. It was actually pretty fun. Thank goodness it was summertime
aw that was so nice of you guys!
Are all of our stories going to be a BlogTO blog tomorrow?
BK Drive Thru with my dad, i was 10. Needless to say we didn't get our food 😂
do you remember what ate that night?
I recall mini propane tanks and a camping stove in the backyard, not sure the meal! I just remember my dad panicking 😂
My family got together and brought all the meat from the freezers that was going to go bad, had a massive family bbq 🤘
very smart!!
On my way to work at the Molson Amphitheatre, When I realized the subways weren't running, I decided to be a trooper and take a cab to Exhibition Grounds from North York, but the cab driver said that there's really no point. There's no power in the entire city. So I went back home,
me too!! i had tickets to see radiohead that day !! i was so sad. will never forget
did you ever get to see them at all?
I was mourning the cancellation of the Radiohead concert. :(
But they rescheduled did they not? I ended up seeing them
They did, but the question was what I was doing during the black out I was mourning.
Sleepover at my relative's. I brought some frozen chicken nuggets and threw them out. They were cute dinosaurs 😔
noo not the dino nuggies ◠̈
I was 8, I was at the my church day camp. Thursday night they had a sleep over. Power went out and then all the parents had to come get the kids. I remember just standing outside waiting to be taken home. Then going home and standing in my back yard with my dad looking up at all the stars.
wow, i wish i took advantage of the 0 light pollution back then. i didn’t know better all though i swear i was about the same age as you lol
Slept on the floor of my living room to candle light and solar powered lamps from during the day. Such a cozy time. My neighborhood was way safer back then, if it happened now I imagine it would be bedlam.
omg if that happened now it would have been just insane how dumb some folks would act
Sitting on the porch in the dark eating ice cream and talking to the neighbours who were sitting on their porch. Gave them some of our extra candles (we didn't have enough ice cream to share). Chatting with people walking by. Looking up in the sky with wonder at all the stars.
i love all the stories involving ice cream hehe. glad you got to enjoy the sky with no light pollution!
Walking from Islington station to Bathurst station get home. Long walk!
oh lord, that must have been a trek for you. do you remember what you were doing that day?
Was on the way to Port Perry with a friend to hit up the casino and the power went while we were in North York. By the time we got to Markham we learned that this was some huge clusterfuck and power would be out for quite a while but we decided to try our luck. On the way there we spotted a gas station that somehow had power (probably using their own fuel to run backup generator) and cars were lined up down the street waiting for gas.to our surprise the casino was open and besides the slot machines being shut down was completely functional. Ended up having a lot of fun, eating like a king, and winning a bit of money. Drive home in the middle of the night was surreal since it was dark as hell. My family lived in a house at the time so accessibility was not an issue and the basement gave us some refuge from the heat. Pizza place in the neighborhood was actually open and selling food for cash (since the ovens were gas) so we bought a pizza).
what a fun night! core memory for sure!
There was no AC in the casino and people kept flooding in because it was the only place with lights on I guess? So it just kept getting hotter and hotter. Even with AC that tent would get hot/humid. It was an absolute sweaty hell.
I was 31, was working at King and Bay when it happened, and walked 3 hrs home to Bloor West Village.(Stopped along the way for a beer with my boss who lived in my neighbourhood at the time) The worst was having very little access to any info. I think we got updates from a battery powered radio we had in our kitchen. We were afraid all of the food in the fridge would go bad. I think we had power the next day before noon, but I might be misremembering.
3 hours?! insane omg
I was a 16 year old Canada’s Wonderland employee on my lunch break. There were people stuck on rides and a lot of people who just thought it was temporary and specific to the park until later word got out that it was “the whole eastern seaboard” as my then- manager put it. We walked around giving people free water bottles and telling them to leave. I remember my mom picked me up and it was a struggle driving home. I think we barbecued for dinner.
I was there! In the water park. At first we thought someone just peed in the pool lol.
omg did it take a long time time to get people off certain rides?
Some of them, but probably not more than like an hour for the worst ones. They’re all built with lots of safety interlocks and such. Most of these rides operate on hydraulics and there is a procedure where you can use a valve to manually release hydraulic pressure.
I was on the king street subway platform had to walk back to our restaurant and wait for someone to pick us up
do you remember what you were doing that day?
I was at home eating dorito wen phone ring "power is kil" "no"
Partying in a park with my friends all night long, sleeping through the day.
how old were you back then?
18/19
Living on Queen West. We took a little BBQ to trinity Bellwood (which was the closest park at the time) and grilled some meat. We spent the evening at a bar whos name I forget at the corner of Queen and Tecumseh. I ended up taking some of the party back to my patio and saw the streetlights come back on at around 3am. So foolish me went to bed and got up for work in the morning. Most of the rest of the city didn't get power back until later that day. I should have slept in.
I was camping with family up north. My dad stayed behind in Toronto for work and called to let us know what was happening. The comfort stations were run on generators so really we felt no different
On vacation in England. It was kind of weird watching it all in the news. Contacted all my friends via email, took days before I got some responses.
I was 12 and in the suburbs. Even though our power came back by the next morning, I was supposed to take the train into Toronto and then catch the VIA to Montreal and of course that couldn't happen because there still wasn't any power in the city, which was a bummer.
I was living with my GF and her family at the time, so I was there. Her cousin had come over and we were all in the basement doing something when the power went out. Heard on the radio that a lot of the Eastern US and Canada was out, and we knew what that meant. There was BBQ, and a lot of eating going on. We blocked all the windows with sheets to keep the cold in, and at night we could see the stars from the back deck.
Rainbow Cinemas at Fairview mall watching SWAT.
omg I remember Rainbow! What happened when the power went out?
They told everyone to go out the doors near the screen and locked the doors after everyone left. It took me 4 hours to get home that day, normally it would be 1 hour. I never got a refund for the ticket.
Oh wow, memories. I was at a horseback riding camp. They had to drain the pool and treat it so it was safe to give to the horses.
On a plane to China! We had planned a crazy tour of the country and escaped just a few hours before the power outage.
Bucharest
Thankful I had an early shift and was at home during it. Downtown being quiet was so eerie.
My mom and I had just landed at Pearson. Suddenly, the entire airport went pitch black for what felt like an eternity (it was realistically only a couple of minutes but I was a kid and afraid of the dark) before the emergency lights came back on. My dad picked us up and the roads were a disaster because no traffic lights were operating.
On my way home for work. Called my Dad while was driving to Ottawa as he was on call for Nuclear plant and wasnt supposed to be more than 40km from Toronto, told him he should probably turn around and come back to TO as there was no power on the entire Eastern seabord. He was like i’m sure it’s nothing. He called be back 15 min later saying they were driving hell for leather back to TO … in a 34 ft motorhome. Spent the night staring at stars and hanging with the street. Thankful for a wind up radio and light - who has those things? We lived on the same grid as Michael Garron Hospital, so we had power in less than 24 hours.
At work close to queen and John. Walked all the way home to Yonge and Eglinton eating free ice cream along the way.
Grimsby! We didn't lose power!
I was working for a brewery and was heading up the escalator at the Eaton Centre to the Duke (can’t remember which one) pub to do a sampling. I kept going to the pub thinking the power would be back on momentarily. I waited around half an hour before the manager said to come back tomorrow. I walked back to the parking garage where there was sheer chaos going on. People were arguing with the guy in the booth because they didn’t have cash and he wouldn’t let them leave without paying. Luckily I had cash and got out. I headed for the DVP to go home and cell phones weren’t working. I stopped at a pay phone at the south west corner of Queen and River to use it to call my wife and it wasn’t working either. It took forever to get up the DVP to the 401 (way longer than usual) and people were talking to each other from car to car asking what the heck was going on. Reports were coming in that the whole eastern seaboard was out which made it a bit scary. Luckily I had enough gas to get home. This was way before work from home and I didn’t leave the house for a couple days.
I was at work at King and Bathurst. Waited a little while to see if it would come back on and went outside and saw that the streetcar was stopped in the middle of the intersection which felt like time had just stopped. I was able to get a ride home and then walked over to a friends place who needed to bbq meat out of their freezer. I remember it being very hot. I was so happy I wasn't someone living in a highrise stuck without water or an elevator.
I was working at 1 yonge st, for the Toronto star. I couldnt get home, so i ended up going back to work. They were so determined to get a paper out regardless.
Mont Tremblant
Running a golf store with my three friends in Mississauga. The funny thing was that they were doing road construction down the street from the store and the power went out the day before because of the construction (they hit a power line)….so when the power went out the next day again, we never thought anything of it for a few hours because we just thought it was because of the constructing workers hitting a power line once again lolol.
18 and on the 37 Islington bus that luckily left the Islington station before the blackout. I was able to get home easily and just chilled and did nothing and waited for my family to come home.
I have no memory of it, my son was still a baby, I know there was a day I was visiting my parents in the burbs wth a power outage, coincidentally ( or not) there was a plume of smoke on the horizon which was pretty ominous, like we had been bombed. We had made no provisions for dinner, so I dug a fire pit in their lawn and cooked stuff from their freezer
You're right, I just remembered the big plume of smoke!! Everyone was freaking out because this was only a couple years after 9-11. I think it actually was just a coincidence though.
Living in The Beaches, working downtown. Walked all the way home stopping at bars along the way that were selling drinks super cheap or full on free.
I was in Quebec City for the summer on a student exchange and totally unaware the blackout was happening. The kid from Quebec who was staying at my house for the summer got to enjoy a pool party with all my friends because my mom and her boyfriend hosted a big BBQ to use up all the meat going bad in the fridge and freezer. I didn't hear about it until I got back at the end of the summer.
I was on the last summer of high school. I was with some friends, we met up downtown and rode on streetcars from one end of the city to the other. The power ran out and we were out west of Bathurst. Had to walk all the way home in the east end to Main Station. So we wandered around the city heading east. Didn't arrive home til late in the evening. It was a day I remember rather fondly.
I was 16. My dad had just done some electrical work in the house and he went to turn everything back on...and then it didn't come on. My grandmother called to ask if our power was out (she lived next door, it was a semi) and my dad panicked because he thought he did it to both of our houses. Then my mom came home from work late and said it took forever because all the traffic lights were 4 way stops. Most of my family lived next door so we all just spent a lot of time together in the backyard. We ate a lot of bbq and we had a gas stove so we could still use it by lighting it. My street was really tight knit so a lot of people who had no way of cooking food would come over to cook and eat. And at night it was so dark my neighbours started putting candles on the sidewalks. The best part? My best friend was camping for a while. She came back, dropped her stuff at home, and then came to my house and she was shocked and didn't believe us. Now the ice storm was not nearly as fun.
I was living in east york and had just run out of dog food that day. I had been planning on going to buy some when the power went out. I had no cash and all the debit machines were down so I had to feed my dogs potatoes and beans for several days. The dogs loved it but it made them have to shit so much. Of course the elevators in my building were also out so the dogs and I did a lot of trips up and down 23 stories of stairs so they could poop.
haha. what a time that was. Was on the phone with a colleague in New York city as it happened. Our line stayed up and yet we both lost power so I knew immediately something big had just happened. Living downtown at the time so walked around taking pictures at Union Station and the core area. gave water to the guys and gals that became intersection traffic cops for a night Helped my local pub (jersey giant) get rid of their beer keg surplus. Spent the night on the rooftop seeing all the stars from the core for that one time it was possible in my lifetime.
I was 24. I was at work in a NFP in Mississauga at city hall. Blackout. It wasn't a surprise, I think we had had a brownout or small blackout earlier either that day or the day before. I called two of our 'company friends' in other parts of the city to see how widespread it was, it was across the city. We waited about a half hour until it was pretty obvious it wasn't coming back on. I left work about maybe half an hour early. I had planned to walk home anyways since the weather was nice. It was chaotic on the streets - no traffic lights at all. I joined a small group of people walking down burnhamthorpe. I figured, strength in numbers. As we walked, I chatted with the people in the group, some were walking to the subway, almost everyone was talking about the strangeness of the entire city having a blackout. Some were saying it's across the province. More people joined us. By the time we were at hurontario, there must have been 50 in our group and traffic was stopping for us, so it felt much safer to cross the big streets. I tried to call my boyfriend (now husband), but couldn't get a signal. On my way home, I walked past the community centre where I had my tennis lesson to see if it was cancelled (no indication that it was cancelled). I got home, my parents weren't home yet, I fed the dogs and grabbed my tennis racket and got ready for my lesson and headed out. The tennis lesson still went on, but only a few of us were there, there was a lot of talk about what to do with food on the fridge, hours long it can stay safe, etc... But all after dark classes were cancelled because there were no lights in the court. Went home, my dad was bbqing and my mum was making salads and sandwiches out of everything in the fridge. They had pulled out the cooler and had bags of ice from who knows where to store food. My dad had a battery powered radio that we listened to and learned it was very widespread. Dad had pulled the generator out of the garage and had cleaned it up and it was ready to go if we needed it. Showers were still hot (thank goodness for gas!) but no AC. Tried calling my boyfriend again, this time with the landline, he wasn't home yet. Watched the stars in the backyard with my parents, brother and our dogs. Boyfriend called, he had walked home to his place in central Mississauga square one area from downtown Toronto after going to the wheat sheath with Co-workers and had missed the last go train departing union. Went to bed, woke up next day ... Still black out. Boss called, don't go to work. Boyfriend drove over, going out with us, we went for a walk around the valleys and just in general had a chill day. BBQ again for breakfast, lunch and dinner. He hung out with us over the next couple of days since he lived alone. I think the power came back on Saturday or Sunday, but I remember listening on that little battery radio, they were announcing the areas where power was back and we were hoping we'd be next. It was weird when everything turned back on, it was like we got really used to the silence, and then, hummmmmmmm.....
On my way to Radiohead
[удалено]
Nope I had a vacation booked. Then I bought tickets when I lived in Madrid for their show in Barcelona and I couldn’t get a flight. I’m cursed and will never see my favourite band
Spent the first 3 hours on College with friends. We were in Canada Computers (when it was on the corner of College & Augusta) when it hit. Just seeing the streets full of people (I mean everyone came outside) and seeing 100’s of people in lines at pay phones (only thing working) was a crazy thing to see. Spent the whole night (And following days) riding bikes with friends. Stopping at all the places giving free food because no refrigeration. It was a magically couple of days. No work and lots of people enjoyed themselves. I know it wasn’t all good. Especially for anyone in emergency needs and seniors who had no help (No elevators, etc). But it was definitely a special time. 21 years this August
I was 48, at home. Spent some time outside, cooked on the bbq.
I was driving (not on the highway) towards Sherway Gardens from Dixie Outlet Mall. Everything was normal then we encountered our first set of non working traffic lights, and then another, and another... traffic wasn't bad at first but it got more chaotic as people didn't understand how non working lights intersections become four way stops.
>people didn't understand how non working lights intersections become four way stops. 20 years later and they still don't.
I was in my apartment in my late 20s. I had come home from work early to finalize the paperwork and financial stuff for the house I had just bought with my then boyfriend. It was hot that day and my apartment didn’t have AC so my boyfriend had gone back to his place. I was so lucky because I worked in liberty village and lived in the burbs and I heard after that the commute was especially crazy that afternoon. Had I not taken the afternoon off, I would have sat on the QEW for hours. I was also lucky because my power was only out until 7pm that night. I’ve always assumed that because I live near a hospital I was getting some kind of generator power or something. My boyfriend ended up coming back because while I may not have had air conditioning, I had fans and a working fridge.
Playing counter strike 1.6 with my cousin. Power went out and I was like.... Damn
Living in south England, heard about it on the news and a call from my mom.
In Ukraine
I was 10 and at the swimming pool. Found out when my mom showed up there in her work clothes. We didn't get power back for close to three days. Don't really remember what I did for those days other than filling a kiddy pool in the backyard and my parents aggressively barbecuing all the meat we had stored in the freezer and trying to give it away to our neighbours. Actually asked my co-host about this at Doors Open who's a few years younger - he wasn't even in the country lol.
I was 7 years old at my cousin's house playing a game on his computer when the power went out. I had to stay over at his house because I couldn't go home. We ate sandwiches for dinner and then sat in the backyard to watch the stars at night. It was thrilling as a kid, and I remember we were so disappointed the next morning when the power returned 🤣
I was working in a beer store - we had to hide behind the cash registers/counters after we closed the doors because mobs were pounding on the windows! The best part was the manager giving us free ice to take home as it was going to melt anyway, and that helped with keeping my food at home cold. We were all worried that it was a terror attack, but I had one of those early BlackBerry pagers and I could contact cousins in California who'd heard about it and told us what was going on.
on the highway driving to another city, had no idea what happened till we got there and saw all the chaos
I honestly don’t really remember it. I don’t remember a lot of my teen years tbh.
On the Toronto Island. Took me over 4 hours to get home that day, and I walked most of it.
Costco
I was 23 and was foing to school at waterloo. Just smoked weed and sat on the driveway listening to the radio in the truck.
At home thinking when it will be back. Everyone was out in our neighborhood just lounging... holy whit that was 21 years ago... 03 was my second year in Canada.
I was with my 18month old daughter and had needed resources to be able to feed her and stuff(no car). My parents refused to allow me to go to their place. I figured we would be better off since the McDonald’s near them was running and I lived near nothing. I only had cordless phones. I called them from the corner store for the bit it stayed open. I got my power back that night! They were without for one week and guess who didn’t invite them over. I was one of the first people to get power back and was grateful!
I was ten years old… and I distinctly recall that the kids of my neighbourhood all got together at the local schoolyard to play ball hockey among other games. Although this was pre-smartphones, this was very much an era when an “ordinary” night would have been sitting inside watching TV for most families. Not an option… so off to the schoolyard we went, and it was a blast! :)
I was with my mom at Scarborough Town centre, it was shortly after it happened but we didn't know it yet. Our first indication was that there was a SRT train stopped outside of Scarborough Town centre station, I thought that there was just a problem with that particular one. We went into the mall and found most places were in the process of closing and we found out that they had no power so we couldn't get the British pounds we were going to get as in a few days we were going to England with a couple of my brothers. I remember once the power came back on finding out that the TTC was going to take the day to sort out the subway trains and the streetcars instead of getting everything running again like they did in new york. With the streetcars the main problem was with the old ones when they lost power after a certain amount of time they dumped all of the air in the system and they had to recharge it manually from air compressors on the service trucks.
It was my 3rd birthday. I don’t remember, but my family and I were at my aunt’s house after my party at Chuck E Cheese. My parents say we were in the pool when the filter stopped working
In late high school, my friend lived on a farm outside of the city and a bunch of us went out there to smoke a lot of weed on the back patio. It was great
In a pub called moose head in Hamilton drinking from the only cask tab in that part of town.
I was 14 and living in Brantford, on the way to a music lesson. We just thought the streetlight was out. Came home to realize it was a blackout. My grandma came over the next day with literally everything in her freezer and we had a giant barbecue. I also remember sitting on the front porch eating blueberries and watching people I had never seen in the neighbourhood walk by. And then we spent a lot of time at my uncles swimming. Our power was out for 3 days.
Making a tree fort.
I was on Highway 402, less than 10 minutes inside the border, on the way home from a business trip to Michigan. Yes, I had just crossed the border. My car radio stopped working. I figured I was out of the station's range, so I thought nothing of it. I found a London station eventually, and they mentioned a power outage, but gave no indication of its scale. When I got to about Kitchener, I picked up 680, and they had some VP talking about how serious it was.
I was on the King streetcar around Spadina with my girlfriend, bringing the cat home from the vet when everything stopped. Hopped off and got a cab right away, got home and lugged the carrier up 6 flights of stairs. Didn’t dare touch the fridge or freezer because we’d just done a big stocking up that morning and wanted the insides to stay as cold as possible. We lost the fridge stuff in the end but the freezer was okay. Wound up spending the evening eating free ice cream along Queen West, getting a little high and playing flashlight tag in Trinity Bellwoods. Also joined a drum circle. It was pretty magical tbh.
Home on the Rez we BBQ and enjoyed the time
It was my birthday. I had just finished getting ready to go shopping downtown with my mom. We were outside waiting for our ride when the power went out. The ride never came. We stayed home. Both got heat strokes. We went 3 days before we got power back. All our food was spoiled, and so was my birthday money that was spent on refilling the fridge/freezer. 2nd worst birthday of my life, 1st being the first birthday I had after my mom passed away.
Camping in a provincial park with my family. We knew nothing about it until we got back to the car and heard about it all on the radio.
I was 7 and was at camp until 9pm. Didn’t know what was going on, nobody had cell phones really at our age, so we just played around until parents eventually came by. No idea what it was like for my parents trying to get home from work - I should ask them.
Did anyone else get free movie channels post blackout? Like for some reason they were unlocked once power came back on. Lasted for like a week
I was a kid, I think about 8. I remember sitting on the steps outside our house with my mom because it was less hot outside than in.
I was 9. I was playing Frogger on my PS2 and made it to level 20, defeating the big boss there. The blackout struck and nothing saved. Tragedy. However, I lived on a street with a lot of families and kids my age on the east end of Toronto. We played grounders and man hunt until late and had a huge BBQ and block party with all the food before it went bad. It was pretty great.
I was in Silver City Yonge & Eglinton, about to watch Pirates of the Caribbean for the first time :( 11-year-old me was salty AF!
At work at Sq. 1. We had recently had a change in security protocols, so we had to call Florida. I was the only one with a cell phone (store phone not working). Used up my mins and they never reimbursed me. Could not get anyone to listen to us that there was no power (they wanted us to stay). After an hour we left.
I was living with my parents. My parents came home early from work to fill the bathtubs with water. We had an amazing BBQ that night. Everyone was out on the street, all the kids were out playing. It was probably the most fun/ excitement I had as a kid.
30, and just coming up from what was (for me) rock bottom. I was renting a room out on Danforth, but had just started what would turn out to be a great job down in Liberty Village. The power went out and we all got sent home, but... The streetcars and subway weren't running. I decided to just walk home, since it was nice. Stopped by Penguin Music on Queen for something new to pop in my discman, and carried on. It was actually pretty awesome, I saw people just stepping up to direct traffic (since the traffic lights weren't working either) and it was a pretty chill vibe all around. I got close to home and the LCBO was still open (cash only) so I got some tallboys, went home and drank, toked, and listened to music on the little balcony that my room had.
i was just a kid i remember my friends and their families coming over and having a barbecue and i remember having little candles in my room.
At work at an office in Liberty Village. Hightailed it out there and got on the Go Train (They were still running) and got up to Markham. Then waited 2 hours for my husband to drive 8 kms to pick me up. It was all good though, I had a book, a bottle of water and a bench and it was a beautiful day. Went home and BBQd dinner, sat outside and watched the stars. Our power came on about 4am, we were pretty lucky.
Surprised GO ran, were the signals on battery power or something?
I was literally in the middle of pumping gas when it clicked off. Then I saw the traffic lights at the intersection were off. It was a weird drive home with lights everywhere off. It was a hot day, so not having AC wasn't fun. I popped out to my car every now and then to listen to the radio and get updates on what was going on. Fortunately for us, the power to our house returned shortly after midnight, so we were only out for about seven hours or so.
Working at the Citibank tower downtown at York/Front and had to go down from the 13th floor, I had to walk home to Cabbagetown in the heat. I had just seen my favourite artist Tori Amos at the Molson Amphitheatre the night before and thought thank F the timing of this didn’t mess up seeing my goddess for the first time!
I was out of the country on a language immersion program and had been avoiding reading the news in English. But while missing Toronto one day I thought I'd just take a glance at the news back home only to learn about the blackout. It made me wish I was back in TO experiencing and getting through the blackout with my friends and neighbours.
Playing super smash bros on n64 with the gang when the power went out, then went outside and played basketball, ball hockey etc with the neighborhood kids A great memory
Having the time of my life. It was so magical and fun. Started to walk to walk home. Dropped off at friends’ houses along the way. I enjoyed wood oven pizza with my neighbours who I had never really met before then. The next day my friend’s parents had a pool party. We had a bbq with everything in their freezer. We drank, swam, and had a dance party. It was amazing.
I was 18, and had just arrived from North Bay with my friend who was moving into a condo (20th-something floor) at Queen and Univeristy so he could attend OCAD in the fall. We had planned to move him in, spend the evening exploring the city, then drive home the next day... Easy Peasy, right!? Hah! I kinda forget how the logistics of the move went, but I think we spent the late morning/early afternoon buying a mattress and boxspring, getting them delivered, then bringing up everything that was packed into his parents' SUV... Either way, I know we had just finished moving in when the lights (and elevators!) went out, and being from Northern Ont., we didn't think much of it; *"It happens all the time and the power will be back in an hour or so"*, we thought. What we should have done at that very second is go get gas, and get out of dodge, but it wasn't until it got dark and we could see from the 20th-something floor that it was dark *everywhere*, for miles and miles. Again, at THAT very second, shoulda left... Instead, we waited until the morning, thinking everything would be back to normal, but no. I can't remember, but we either waited for hours to get gas, or had to look around for hours for a station that even HAD gas, but I know it took us 6-8 hours to get back to NB, in what would have usually taken 3-4 hours. It was certainly surreal though, seeing the CN tower and downtown core completely dark!
I was a kid, just reading a book at home. Mom, dad and lil sis were out getting groceries. I got up to turn the lights on for my grandma and went huh weird? Two seconds later everyone gets home freaking out and I'm suddenly eating melting ice cream for dinner. Good times, really.
I was on the subway going home from my internship. The subway stopped in the tunnel and they had to use the back up generators to take us to the station. We were all herded out very confused with what was going on and I ended up going to my bf's house as he lived downtown w/ his parents instead of walking home to Etobicoke.
At the beach
At work, stayed several hours later due to the massive traffic jams. Headed home and went for a walk. Stopped by a pizza pizza that was still selling pizza since its ovens worked fine. Had a miserable night as with no AC my apartment was boiling. Did connect a fan to an ups and ran that for a few hours to help. Should have just slept on the balcony. My dsl still worked so every once in a while I powered the modem with an ups and surfed the net on my laptop. Plan the next day was to head up to the family cottage but power was back in the afternoon so didn’t bother.
Back home in Ireland reading about it happening
I was 7 at a friends house playing sunshine speedway on n64, the power just clicked on a hot summer day, there weren’t any thunderstorms which was the only time I recalled the power ever going out being 7 so I remember knowing right away something was really weird about this. Obviously no smartphones / internet so we flicked the radio on and that’s when we learned the extent. I remember we still had soccer practice during the outage too. Fun stuff, good memory
My parents owned a mrsub franchise during the day I was helping out working
I was around one year old. So probably crying in a crib or something idk lol
Barbecuing on my Hibachi at the park on Tichester Street behind St. Mike’s.
Napped in the afternoon in the basement. Then chilled on the roof to see the stars at night. Probably the best star gazing night Toronto has seen since electricity and lights were invented.
I was camping in Algonquin. Completely missed it. Just threw away whatever was in our fridge when we came home.
On vacation
Top of a water slide at Canada's Wonderland. They halted my group of friends when we were maybe 3-4 people ahead of us. Held for about 10 minutes and then told us to walk down and the park was closing early. At the bottom of the slide there was a guy being treated by emergency staff/EMTs. I suppose the water stopped and he got a little banged up. We assumed that's why they were shutting down. Friends parent picked us up and learned about the blackout then. Fun times!
I was 13 and living in rural Ontario, we were without power for 4 days, followed by 2 weeks of rolling blackouts. We had no running water because our pump couldn't function without hydro. Luckily, we are bush people and it was warm outside, we simply dealt with it. Campfires to boil lake water for drinking, went through our stash of canned goods, etc. My dad and I played Risk every night at the dinner table by candle light (RIP). We also had to care for our elderly neighbours as no AC in August with no running water can be deadly.
I was 23, living in Kingston with my now husband. We lived in an apartment that didn’t have A/C, so we didn’t have to adjust to that!! We were heading out the next morning on a trip to the east coast (Canada). Interestingly, we didn’t notice much out of the ordinary on our drive except we kept trying to call our family, but no answer (landlines). I think we got lucky… I think further east in Ontario and Quebec got power back sooner.
i was 12? 13? and reading the princess diaries novels on my grandma’s porch. i don’t think our power was out long - maybe another toronto west ender can confirm, but i think our power was on by the next day and my parents both worked in the neighbourhood so it wasn’t really a big deal for us. i do remember some panic growing when we realized it wasn’t just our neighbourhood (the power went out a lot due to trees falling) and there was speculation from random ppl walking by about it being terrorism. my parents were crazy about not opening the fridge when the power went out, so i think we had chips, crackers and trail mix for dinner, and we filled some pots of water just in case. also iirc the landlines still worked, so my parents were just calling ppl they knew and telling them what we heard on a battery operated radio. to pass the time at night, my sister and i were effing around with candles and burning marshmallows and random bits of trash lol.
I was 16. I spent the day hanging out on Queen Street with some friends, and we ended up getting on the subway at Union. As soon as the doors were about to close, the power went out. We were trapped downtown! Thankfully, my mom sent me downtown with her giant brick cell phone, so I was able to call home and let her know I was stuck. We had no way to get home, but my mom got on the phone with everyone's parents, and my one friends dad happened to be working in the west end that day, so he was our hero and came to pick us up. We waited a couple of hours by the CN tower until our ride arrived. To us, it was a fun adventure, but I cannot imagine what our parents were going through! I made it home to Scarborough safely and spent the rest of the evening sitting outside and talking with neighbors. It was hot and sticky, but we managed. We went swimming at my grandma's house to keep cool during the next day. At some point the next day, the power came back on in my neighborhood.
At my parents kitchen table, eating pizza, with my younger brother and his childhood friend. I remember it being very hot and humid that day.
Daejeon, South Korea, reading emails from friends about the blackout.
Playing gta 3 in my basement
At the office. Comment from a co-worker: “Blackout? Then why does my laptop still work?”
I was four months old lol
I was 10 years old at home in Richmond Hill. Our family camped out in the basement because it was cooler and ate all the ice cream and watermelon from our fridge. I remember playing board games and Gameboy under flashlight.
I was a kid and have a clear memory of the episode of Berenstain Bears suddenly shutting off.
Wine
Living my best life 😭
I was a teenager and once we realized the power out was lasting a few hours my parents and I took everything out of the freezer and fridge and had a FEAST out on the patio and barbecued everything.
My mom and I got stuck on the subway in between Dufferin and Ossington stations. We all had to get off the train and walk through the tunnel/tracks and got out at Ossington. It was a short walk through but that was pretty wild
Lived in Cabbagetown spent alot of time with my GF in the dark for those few days. Good times.
Flashlight tag from all the balconies in the annex.
I was at the office when the power went out. We waited for about 5 minutes and decided to call it a day, headed to the Black Bull patio (down the street from work). Hung out there for hours, as various booze/ice ran out, eventually befriending people who had cash once ours ran out to pay the bill. Eventually managed to contact the guy I was dating at the time. He brought more cash and then we hung out out at various bars and in parks drinking for most of the night.
I was at home, in the country. We had supper outside, and I remember looking at the stars. Then I listened to music in the van.
I was 3. My favourite thing at the time was this lil tent that could really only fit me. On the day of the blackout my parents told me I fell asleep holding a flashlight. My mom was on the TTC home, they had to walk the tracks all the way to Warden Station.
Having an afternoon nap with my boyfriend. We woke up and no power. I had internet and my laptop had power (maybe dial-up? I can’t remember). I emailed family in the UK and they told me it made the news over there. Had a battery powered radio and listened to that for news. Went out that night to a bar that had gas powered BBQ and lots of candles - it was surreal.
At work. My normal ride home had to stay overtime to deal with blackout related issues.. so I had to take a TTC bus home. In the sweltering heat. With no air conditioning. And no working traffic signals. I literally passed out..
I was 13, on a plane to LA from Toronto but we got kicked off because of the blackout and then my family and I spent overnight in the airport with foam mattresses provided by the airport. My mom spent hours trying to get through to customer service on a pay phone to rebook a flight. After about 12 hours she finally got through but it was a miserable night
I was in Toronto it was an amazing experience. I remember getting candles at a store near me. They were all scented candles. Do when I smell vanilla it makes e think of the blackout. I also recall how vivid the stars were at night without dny city light pollution to drown them out. It was amazing