As BW people know all too well, last week Oklahoma was at the epicentre of a huge ice storm in central North America.

The impact has been huge. Around half of the state has lost power at some point (for multiple hours upwards). Currently, Monday 17th, over 125,000 homes and businesses are still powerless (including our ever-so-slightly smelly Joel Limpic!). The completely overwhelmed power companies say it could take up to another week to reconnect all homes.

At least 24 people have died in the state as a direct result of the ice, mainly from traffic accidents and botched, improvised attempts to keep warm at home. Some of the advice to people on TV had at times sounded almost comical - “don’t use your BBQ grill indoors” - until stories of carbon monoxide poisoning and house fires began to roll in and the realisation dawned that people have died from having done so in the last few days.

People have seemed remarkably stoical and positive. From the various conversations we’ve had in shops and our neighbourhood, as well as through the church, there is what we Brits would call the Blitz spirit shining through! People have been helping each other out and sharing homes and resources, and so far we’ve not had stories of people dying through lack of care from others. Of course the children enjoyed the schools being shut down - ours were very annoyed to find our local school reopening last Wednesday ahead of some other parts of the metropolitan area!

For lighter distraction we’ve also enjoyed the antics of the local weathermen, with each channel outdoing the other with their forecasts. The local stations even have special little logos and stirring music to go with reports, and we have rolling lists on screen of cancelled events and closed schools, businesses and churches (still weird to see for a European). It is slightly a case of deja-vu for Hannah and myself, since we experienced an ice storm in January when we were here on interview, although that one caused far less chaos. That January Sunday did win the prize for lowest church attendance though - I think there were about 37 of us in the building that day, the frozen chosen!! Apparently January was (relatively) less troublesome because it was colder then. Sounds counter-intuitive, I know, but apparently when it remains fairly warm the ice repeatedly melts and refreezes, which causes far more damage than if it stays frozen until the final thaw.

Of course, something like this makes you reflect upon what a privileged life we all usually lead. When our power went down, fortunately for only 9 or 10 hours, so much of our normal life and creature comforts went with it. We couldn’t even flush the loo or have running water, since like many homes in our area our water comes from a well that is powered by an electric pump. That evening we lit a fire and sat around it with the boys, talking and playing games. Before their bedtime we each said thank You to God for some of the many good things we enjoy in our lives. We take so much for granted and treat those gifts as rights, not privileges. Hopefully next time I’ll be slightly less quick to snarl when my webpage doesn’t load as quickly as I want or the exact type of cereal I desire has run out. Not very deep, I know, but it’s on such small attitudes that I need to work if I’m to have any hope with the truly important things of life.