It was Sunday 29th September and I awoke to find myself alone in my bed. It was then I remembered the Doting Owner and her daughter had popped over to Canada for the weekend, as one does, to attend a family wedding and I was, as they say, home alone. I looked for the time from the ethereal glow of the electric clock and it wasn’t there which meant either a circuit breaker had popped or I was experiencing a power outage or power cut as we used to call it. I fumbled for my ancient wristwatch on the bed side table and by the glow of its luminescent hands I established that it was 06.40. I switched on the lights which didn’t respond so a power cut it was, without doubt.
Now in these days of all-singing all-dancing technology a power cut kills just about everything in the home including the telephone system and the computer. So there I was, literally in the dark in the middle of the inclosure with no idea of what was going on nor any way of finding out until I remembered the old corded telephone I had secreted in the cupboard under the stairs for just such an event. This just plugged into the telephone socket and, hey presto, contact with the outside world by way of a call to Scottish and Southern Power whose number I had previously written on a post-it on the aforementioned phone.
Before too long a nice lady answered and I told her my plight which clearly came as a surprise because she had received no similar calls, from which we deduced that it might be just my property that was affected. She went off to check her systems with a promise to call me back as soon as she was any the wiser whilst I set off in the pouring rain, as day light was starting to show, to inspect my short but vulnerable overhead supply line.
I found nothing to cause concern, no branches or trees down, nothing to create a power cut but I did see the most magnificent fallow buck fraying a small defenceless tree with enormous antlers so that made the soggy walk worthwhile.
I arrived home to find the phone warbling and it was the nice lady from the power company who advised me that something like 650 homes were without power due to a fallen tree on the lines and the estimated time for the restoration of supply would be 09.30. With this news I decided it just wasn’t necessary to roll out cable and start the generator in my workshop, after all I was on my own with only me to worry about. I soon discovered I could override the electric ignition on the gas hob by simply applying a lighted match, so I could cook if necessary, but more important I could make a cup of tea -wonderful!
It was just as I was sipping my brew that I remembered the friends who were staying in the cabin, which is all-electric. I hastily made another pot of tea and hurried it down to them. They were grateful for the tea but unfazed by the lack of power and decided to stay in bed until it was restored, for which I was thankful.
In the event the supply wasn’t restored until 15.20, during which time I was continually contacted by the power company to not only update me on progress but also to make sure that I was alright and not requiring help or medication, which was very reassuring. In hindsight I wish I had connected the generator in the first instance because on a dark and dismal day can you imagine how many times, through force of habit, I flicked light switches as I moved around the house? Lots! And I thank my lucky stars for a fully charged Kindle which wiled away the gloomy time.
Must go now before I get cut-off again! Ian Thew
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