My neighbor has lived with no electricity and no gas for 34 years.

[begin_within]

She's in her late 60s now. In 1972, she had a dispute with San Diego Gas & Electric over her bill. She refused to pay it, and they turned off her electric and gas, and she has lived ever since with neither one. If you go by her house at night it is always completely dark. I think she gets up and down with the sunlight. Someone said she has a propane tank in her backyard, and she uses propane to cook with. She drives a beautiful black Cadillac, about 1963 or so model, which she keeps in perfect condition, like you would see at a vintage car show. I have never spoken with her even once. She lives 7 houses down from us and she lives alone, and I assume has lived alone all this time. Just thought you might like to know.

[MissB]

1. It can be done.

Don't know if I'd want to do that for 34 years.

She must be, um, stubborn?

[RebelOne]

2. She is a real survivalist..

[u4ic]

3. Humans have been doing it

for thousands of years...still, I wouldn't want to do it for very long.

She sounds pretty feisty...:hi:

[skygazer]

4. C ompletely dark after sundown?

Hasn't she heard of candles? Or lanterns? Or generators?

I lived for several years on top of a mountain off the grid. No electric, no gas lines, no phone. No big deal either. We ran a wood stove for heat, had a generator which ran out tv and vcr as well as lights when we needed them, plenty of lanterns and flashlights and propane to run the stove and hot water heater.

It's not that difficult and it's highly economical. Really the only thing I ever missed was my internet connection.

[begin_within]

6. I've never seen any light coming from the house at night.

I take walks around the block frequently, and I can't recall seeing even candlelight coming from the windows. In the 24 years I have lived here I have never even had a single conversation with her. Everything I know about her I learned from the lady who lives next door to her. I kind of admire her in a way, she certainly has saved a lot of money over the years, but I couldn't do it.

[YankeyMCC]

5. Stickin it to the man!

:)

I wonder if they're (San Diego Gas & Electric or whatever entity now owns her account) letting interest accumulate on what she owes. If they should (for some reason) forgive her debt I wonder if she'd accept it at this point?

BTW: As someone else mentioned above it does seem like she could be doing a little more to live comfortably like candles and laterns etc...but she must be content to have done it for so long.

[begin_within]

7. I never thought of that - I'm sure they won't turn it back on unless she

pays everything she owes them, but I don't know how much that is. All I know about her is what I learned from her next-door neighbor, who moved last year so I can't ask her anything more.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

8. My aunt (father's oldest sister) lived without

running water or an indoor toilet her whole life.

It was okay in the summer, but she lived on the Canadian border, and it gets COLD up there.

She wasn't having any disputes with anyone. She was just cheap and hoarded her money instead of spending it. When she bought her last house, she paid cash, and I don't mean a check, I mean a pile of bills.

[XemaSab]

9. She must not eat a lot of fiber then

:hide:

[Rabrrrrrr]

10. Think of the money she has saved; and when I consider what she missed,

I realize that the benefit of gas and electricity have brought no real lasting benefits to me: yeah, I can run the TV and the computer and have lights and all that... but I do often wonder, Is the psychic price worth it?

[hickman]

11. Makes me wonder how damn many people have their hands

in my pockets. Electric, gas, phone, cable, mortgage company. All before groceries. I just don't know if I could live without a bathroom, or more specifically, a modern toilet. How is it that you've never spoken with her? Is she a hermit?

[begin_within]

13. She never attends any neighborhood events, such as the occasional

"Neighborhood Watch" meetings, the block parties some people have on holidays, etc. I don't know anyone who knows her now. The lady who lived next door to her who told me about her sold her house and moved. She only spoke with her a few times when she lived there. I have never even seen her in front of her house. I have seen her drive past our house quite a few times. So she goes out, she's not a hermit. She looks to be in her late 60s, has pulled-back black hair, and looks kind of amusing driving past in the enormous black Cadillac (which is always spotless). I wouldn't mind meeting her and talking to her, but nobody now seems to know her. The whole thing has kind of a Boo Radley feel to it now.

[C_eh_N_eh_D_eh]

12. Good for her.