You must have better electical supply where you are than where I am in France! I still have wind-up torches and candles for the regular blackouts in stormy weather, that don't last very long, for sure, but when considering cooking and heating options for this house/office, I made sure to have a woodburning heating option (no town gas here) and a bottle gas cooking option. But that may also be because I remember blackouts in the 70s too :)
"Who’d have thought that one minute of tugging would power two hours of light? The world could satisfy its electricity demand simply by harnessing teenagers."
I used to get hit with auto-darkness thing in an office few years back, because I would often work late, and be the only one there. Fortunately, in that case, only vigorous arm waving was needed to restore visibility.
I have also had this in other places (such as toilets), which also mostly seem also to be in the category of "internal to the building, with precisely zero natural light", which does lead to quite the comprehensive sense of darkness. But fortunately I have so far avoided other eventualities, such as those you go on to amusingly describe...
These fancy auto-switch off lights were introduced into our offices (1980's......) but in order to re-activate them you had to pull a cord attached to each luminaire. The timer was set to about 30 minutes early evening but after 9:00 pm it was reduced to 5 minutes.....
Three of us were working on a major tender late into the night and became more and more irritated after 9 o'clock as we were plunged into darkness. In those days the only other light came from screens with green-text..... We finished very late, exhausted after bobbing up and down every five minutes.
As an aside, one of us, a Scot by birth, took the tender out to Egypt the next day to hand it over personally to the Main Contractor. Having an aversion to 'foreign food' half his suitcase was taken up with Mars bars as sustenance. He never got to experience the effect of temperature on north-Europoean confectionery: his stash was confiscated at customs. On his return, he suffered from the inevitable, spending a long time in the washroom rendering it unvisitable by other staff. Even the cleaning company complained.
The food's good in Egypt; what a big girl. Decent, wholesome stuff, correctly spiced. Now, mainland China... That's food that won't wait until your return home. It won't wait until your return to the hotel.
My first visit to China (I could write a book on this), only for a day from Hong Kong and on business, I had a meal in the site canteen. I broke a tooth...... a stone in the boiled rice.... It was all I had on my plate.
I found Shanghai to be the opposite: Amazing choice food, glorious cocktails along the Bund, and quite the variety of cafes. (Not just Starbucks) Though this was all in the pre-pandemic, last ten years or so. I suspect though, that Shanghai is the exception. Venturing out in the ‘regular’ 10mil pop cities, it’s a different world.
Working in the early hours at the Daily Mail requires you to wave an arm every 15 mins or so. For one late shift, I turned up in a black shirt. No amount of waving could wake the motion censor.
Disturbingly, we now know about your activities with incomplete trouser-coverage in public places. If only you had thought of flashing the sensors from that area from where the sun shines? Or perhaps it don't....
I found out the office I work in had motion sensing lighting after being caught in the office with a major problem last week, once everyone else had gone home the lights only lasted a couple of minutes before plunging me into the dark great fun….
Another place I worked put motion sensors in the toilets but the timing was set to between 10 and 15 minutes adequate most of the time, until someone moaned as they had fallen asleep when working late in the evening, but it did save £3000 in the first month on the electric bill….
Got caught in a loo in Bosnia like that, with a ridiculously short time out. Thankfully my smart watch has a torch function, and that worked well enough!
I was at a meeting in a government building some years back. On searching for the loo, I found the gents. Then went in and noticed the lack of urinals. Had to go back out and check the sign again to make sure! Also had to be advised on another occasion that toilets in Germany may be signed D and H. Ok once you know.
I do remeber (late '80s/early '90s?) these human being detectors being a source of great amusement when our then employer installed them in the facilities attached to the onsite bar... many a drinking moment wasted by trying to sneak into the facilities without triggerering the detectors!
I've had a similar experience with toilet facility motion sensors not being able to pick you up inside the cubicles. Fortunately I didn't have to do much more than step out of the cubicle to be allotted a further ration of lighting.
These days, of course, I just use the torch function on my phone. Saves a lot of hassle.
You must have better electical supply where you are than where I am in France! I still have wind-up torches and candles for the regular blackouts in stormy weather, that don't last very long, for sure, but when considering cooking and heating options for this house/office, I made sure to have a woodburning heating option (no town gas here) and a bottle gas cooking option. But that may also be because I remember blackouts in the 70s too :)
"Who’d have thought that one minute of tugging would power two hours of light? The world could satisfy its electricity demand simply by harnessing teenagers."
Brilliant!
Thanks, Manek. So... When are you coming over to visit? A spare room here is awaiting visitors...
And cat-sitters.
Expect PM...
The powers that be still won't elaborate why the Cote D'Azur electricity got knocked out one evening, the week before last.
TopTip for toilets in France: Always carry an EDC mini torch and a couple of Kleenex in the back pocket.
(TukasEV HR Bank link sent to every mate who insist on posting their Strava maps in my chat. Merci M. Dabbs.)
I used to get hit with auto-darkness thing in an office few years back, because I would often work late, and be the only one there. Fortunately, in that case, only vigorous arm waving was needed to restore visibility.
I have also had this in other places (such as toilets), which also mostly seem also to be in the category of "internal to the building, with precisely zero natural light", which does lead to quite the comprehensive sense of darkness. But fortunately I have so far avoided other eventualities, such as those you go on to amusingly describe...
These fancy auto-switch off lights were introduced into our offices (1980's......) but in order to re-activate them you had to pull a cord attached to each luminaire. The timer was set to about 30 minutes early evening but after 9:00 pm it was reduced to 5 minutes.....
Three of us were working on a major tender late into the night and became more and more irritated after 9 o'clock as we were plunged into darkness. In those days the only other light came from screens with green-text..... We finished very late, exhausted after bobbing up and down every five minutes.
As an aside, one of us, a Scot by birth, took the tender out to Egypt the next day to hand it over personally to the Main Contractor. Having an aversion to 'foreign food' half his suitcase was taken up with Mars bars as sustenance. He never got to experience the effect of temperature on north-Europoean confectionery: his stash was confiscated at customs. On his return, he suffered from the inevitable, spending a long time in the washroom rendering it unvisitable by other staff. Even the cleaning company complained.
The food's good in Egypt; what a big girl. Decent, wholesome stuff, correctly spiced. Now, mainland China... That's food that won't wait until your return home. It won't wait until your return to the hotel.
My first visit to China (I could write a book on this), only for a day from Hong Kong and on business, I had a meal in the site canteen. I broke a tooth...... a stone in the boiled rice.... It was all I had on my plate.
I was in Beijing with some very nervous Agfa technicians who'd been flown in from Hong Kong to install some machinery. They hated the food.
I found Shanghai to be the opposite: Amazing choice food, glorious cocktails along the Bund, and quite the variety of cafes. (Not just Starbucks) Though this was all in the pre-pandemic, last ten years or so. I suspect though, that Shanghai is the exception. Venturing out in the ‘regular’ 10mil pop cities, it’s a different world.
Working in the early hours at the Daily Mail requires you to wave an arm every 15 mins or so. For one late shift, I turned up in a black shirt. No amount of waving could wake the motion censor.
Disturbingly, we now know about your activities with incomplete trouser-coverage in public places. If only you had thought of flashing the sensors from that area from where the sun shines? Or perhaps it don't....
Wearing a black-shirt to the DM offices? Very apropos. Did you get a, "Hurrah!" ?
I used to leave chocolates on their desks before diving out the window.
I found out the office I work in had motion sensing lighting after being caught in the office with a major problem last week, once everyone else had gone home the lights only lasted a couple of minutes before plunging me into the dark great fun….
Another place I worked put motion sensors in the toilets but the timing was set to between 10 and 15 minutes adequate most of the time, until someone moaned as they had fallen asleep when working late in the evening, but it did save £3000 in the first month on the electric bill….
Got caught in a loo in Bosnia like that, with a ridiculously short time out. Thankfully my smart watch has a torch function, and that worked well enough!
I was at a meeting in a government building some years back. On searching for the loo, I found the gents. Then went in and noticed the lack of urinals. Had to go back out and check the sign again to make sure! Also had to be advised on another occasion that toilets in Germany may be signed D and H. Ok once you know.
And that Herren doesn't mean Hers!
Just realised as well damen, is not Da Men ...
If you visit Japan, learn these kanji:
男 女
I do remeber (late '80s/early '90s?) these human being detectors being a source of great amusement when our then employer installed them in the facilities attached to the onsite bar... many a drinking moment wasted by trying to sneak into the facilities without triggerering the detectors!
I've had a similar experience with toilet facility motion sensors not being able to pick you up inside the cubicles. Fortunately I didn't have to do much more than step out of the cubicle to be allotted a further ration of lighting.
These days, of course, I just use the torch function on my phone. Saves a lot of hassle.