The city was downsizing also. First it was the indoor spa and pool was closed and the pool was drained. Then city hall hours was cut down to three days a week,city buses stopped their routes. Some of the police force, firemen, and perimedics was laid off. The charity place that had handed out food to the needing was closed and the food stamps was stopped being handed out.
Then the water was being shut off for four to ten hours a day so people had to gather drinking water before they shut it off daily and Allie's mother had to fill pans up to heat on the stove to wash their dishes and taking their showers and doing laundry was getting to be hard If you had a landline it was shut off for several hours a day and even the cell phones service was having a overload problem. The television stations was being interrupted also.The gas was shut down to night hours so people would have heat but with the evening hours people had to put on sweaters and double clothing to stay warm. Allie's parents bought a generator to keep their refrigerator stay working and went out to the country and got firewood. Even gasoline for their vehicles was being rationed. Life seemed to settle and all of those now norms was there to stay..