About 18,000 customers are without power right now in Nova Scotia, and while that number has gone down significantly over the past few days, people who are still in the dark say their patience is running thin as they wait for the lights to come back on.

Chris d'Eon has been in the dark since Saturday morning -- and he isn't the only one.

Across Nova Scotia, thousands in rural communities have been coping with power loss since Dorian ripped through our region.

"It's been a bit of a hassle, alright, no showers," said d'Eon of Milton, N.S.

D'Eon lives near Liverpool and has spent the past few days cleaning up his yard from what Dorian left behind.

With power crews spotted in his community this afternoon, d'Eon is hopeful his street will back on the grid within hours, not days.

"We've been struggling trying to get them up here, because it's just this street," said d'Eon. "Everyone else has power."

Nova Scotia power said the estimated restoration time was anywhere between 11 o'clock Thursday night and 11 o'clock Friday evening.

"It is what it is," said Bridgewater resident Charles Wentzell. "You don't have power, you don't have water. We lost all our fridge and freezer stuff."

Wentzell says after five days without power, he invested in a generator.

The small business owner says he's also taken a financial hit by not being able to work since Saturday's outage.

"I build furniture for a living," Wentzell said. "I'm not set up to do that all by hand."

Residents around here say, they understand they need to be patient but six days in, it's wearing thin.

Mark Baillie of Hell Bay Brewing Co. in Liverpool says he's been spending more time at work than at home these days.

"I've been staying till 7:30-8 o'clock," Baillie said. "I can stay and get things done, because I can't get anything done at home."

His brewery in Liverpool has power but his home in Lunenburg county doesn't.

"We can have a little bit of warm water sponge bath," Baillie said.

As power crews from as far away as Ontario work around the clock to get people around here back on the grid, other Maritime provinces seem to be faring better.

As of 11 p.m. Thursday, 4,829 Maritime Electric customers in Prince Edward Island were without  electricity.

In New Brunswick, 1 NB Power customer was still waiting to be connected.

With files from CTV Atlantic's Suzette Belliveau.