Edison's hiccup

Everything suddenly goes quiet and the room goes dim. Unannounced, the
power has gone out for the second time in two days. It's lucky that I'm
on a laptop with a good battery since the power seems to take these
little 20-minute coffee breaks once or twice a week. Suddenly devoid of
electricity, people make the necessary adjustments to try and keep doing
whatever it was they were involved in until, abruptly, the power hiccups
back on and the machines burp and wheeze back to life. People show
absolutely no surprise during these times, indicative of how accustomed
to this they are. All the electronics are plugged in through surge
protectors that beep occasionally to warn that their power supply has
been cut off, although generally there is no damage done. Today,
however, the power went out for 5 minutes and then, a few minutes later,
went out again for 10 minutes. Maybe it forgot something on it's way out?

p.s. After writing this and before sending this e-mail to the blog, the
power went out two more times, again only briefly. Electricity here is
like a sleeping fat man snoring through the night who's breathing is
suddenly suspended for a few moments and then resumes with a full snort
to announce its rhythmical return. Good night and good luck.