I don't know what to do

As we went to bed last night the loudspeakers that exist in every locality in Japan spluttered to life and announced we were to experience planned power outages today, starting at 6.20am this morning. The plan, apparently, for our locality is power out from 6.20-10am and 4.50-8.30pm, perhaps up until the end of April. But then when we woke up a bit after 6, we waited - and it didn't happen. Different rumours are going around about when or if it is going to happen at all. It seems as though they couldn't get organised in time or they changed their minds about this morning. We're used to reliable, trustworthy Japanese - if they say something will happen, it does. So this current situation is very unsettling.

Also the boys are home from school. With mixed messages about electricity comes uncertainty about train schedules and whether many students could get to school. So instead they've made it a student-free day. Teachers are debriefing and planning for the future. What will it look like? Will the boys be home all week?

It seems there HAS been panic buying in the shops, which makes me uneasy about going. I think mainly because I don't want to leave the boys here alone in the house for an indefinite period while I wait in long lines. I think I'll make do with whatever we have. After all many in Japan are in a far worse state! I'm glad we can get everywhere locally on foot or on a bike and don't need petrol - as that is in short supply too. Thankful that I made a couple of loaves of bread over the weekend - as that is missing in the shops too.

Planning is hard too. Will we have power this evening? I can make do without power if I have gas - we have an elderly gas stove which will do just fine, but will we have gas? And I can't just go out in our tiny backyard and light a fire - that is illegal. Wow, how we rely on electricity in this country!

Then I wonder what to do with my "now" time. All the lists of things I have on my to-do lists don't seem all that important now...