I remember a few years ago I was on a business trip in Ottawa when there was a power outage. It happened around 3 AM and woke me up because my CPAP machine turned off. The power was out for several hours, Since I could no longer sleep I checked out of the hotel and went looking for breakfast. No one opened for business until the power came on much later, and I couldn't even get a convenience store to sell me a chocolate bar or loaf of bread because they couldn't (or wouldn't) get into their tills. I had to drive about an hour to another town before I found a place with the power on. I'd hate to have a major power outage at home and have trouble buying things. I'm also a bit accident prone and injure myself regularly, so now I tend to keep enough food and other supplies aound the house to last me a full month. This way, shopping is always an option rather than a necessity.
W