I don't think I've ever been happier than when I lived in vehicles. Not for a few weeks, but for months and years at a time. There's something comforting about being held in tiny spaces. Being a global community here on Hive, I'm well aware that people are sometimes forced to live in places worse than this out of necessity - being a Westerner living in a vehicle out of choice can seem a strange concept.

no electricity anywhere in the world right now. I'm aware this first image of our bus pretty glows with solar powered fairy lights - it's an aesthetic indulgence of course, and you couldn't heat your soup on it. Yet I don't think I ever heated my soup with electricity living in a bus, a truck or a Landrover. If the lights went out, we'd have any number of cooking resources, stoves run from twigs to spirit, just like 1.3 billion people in the world without electricity do, surviving and making do. 67% of the world go without access to household electricity.¹. For some, it's not even a choice.@galenkp's Weekend Engagement question asks how we'd cope if there was

But as a priveleged westerner, I've lived without, many times - both out of choice and necessity. I loved putting myself in situations where I was forced to go without the standard comforts to which most of us here are accustomed. I'm a dab hand when it comes to camp cooking, so would'nt bat an eyelid if I couldn't run my induction cook top in my house. In fact I get a lot of pleasure from cooking outside, and whilst I'm glad I don't have to all the time, counting myself lucky I don't have to light a fire in my house and ruin my lungs in the process, if the electricity ran out, I'd just look for the matches.

In fact, we're both pretty resourceful, really. We could make a woodstove out of a cookie tin if we wanted to. It's not rocket science - it's rocket stove science - haha. Having lived in boats, cars, trucks and buses, we know how to shower with no electricity, and many things besides. I have a huge stack of candles and my husband seems to collect torches for all occasions.

I pfft at the lack of internet. Gosh, I miss the days where we didn't have wifi or even heaps of data to download shows to waste evenings. Remember books? They were cool.

Of more concern would be the chaos to follow there being no electricity, anywhere. There goes the transport networks, running like mycellium across land and sea. There goes fresh, safe water. There goes petrol pumps. There goes life saving hospital equipment. There goes ambulances. There goes UP crime, desperation, poverty, fear. There goes many things we take for granted. Just ask any Venuzuelan here on Hive.

A black sky even seems romantic when you have never known what it is like to truly live without power.

I could fantastise about a bug out vehicle fully prepped with everything we need to survive as the world struggles in the darkness, but how would we power it? Where would we go? How do we manage our responsibilities to family? Would we really have enough food to last in our stores, and what would happen if stores couldn't take cards and we couldn't withdraw cash? Hell, @galenkp could shoot a roo and feast, but I can't even manage to throw a rock without hurting myself.

So whilst on one hand, I can shrug and relish a return to the days of living in a vehicle without electricity, knowing I have the skills to manage it quite well, the larger knock on effects are worrying. The dark ages are right at the edge of what we know as an apocalypse, but how prepared are we for this, really?

With Love,

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