Now That’s Power

This post almost came to you by the power of candlelight, pen and paper - followed by being delivered in a whirlwind round trip of me showing up at your doors (if only I knew where they were) and flashing… the paper at you.

Why? Powercut. Right in the middle of Emmerdale.

The bulb in the lamp next to my head flickered in an “They’re coming” way and then everything went off. And I swear to God, the first thing that ran through my head was ‘They’ve dropped the bomb.’ Mum and I went on a mad rampage trying to find a torch or something and then ran outside to see if we could see any lights. The orange glow from the main roads, and the train going by, wiped all thoughts of Nuclear Holocaust out of my head… and the ’something different is happening excitement started in my head.

I yelled and said I’d hop online and find out what was going on. Mmmm, powercut. Yes, have charged up battery but broadband modem and wireless router both work off what? Hamsterpower! Yes, am dumbass. We still have a corded phone (no power required) so got on the landline and thought I’d yell at someone. The idiot at directory enquiries gave me the wrong number so I stopped trying them and tried looking through paper directories instead. The emergency number wasn’t where it used to be (at the front) so after searching through three different phone directories I found it and the automated service told me that due to an interruption in the High Voltage System, there was a power cut in Preston and the surrounding area.

We checked on our elderly neighbours making sure they were okay (they were) and then our next door neighbours came round to offer candles. Instead, we wandered over to their house and shared a bottle of wine while we waited for the light to return. I swopped stories about my time in school with their daughter who goes there now. (Trampolining? As a P.E. Class?! ) and then applauded their youngest son’s efforts in sign language. He had been at cub’s - a 10 minute walk from our road and they had been unaffected by the cut.

We left so they could get the kids to bed and set about unplugging everything (yes, I know we should have done this before but the only thing I had unplugged from the main’s (straight away) was my MacBook) and lighting candles. I had only to unplug two lamps and then run down my battery with a little music to entertain us until bed. It was then that I turned and saw a lamp on. I looked at it like I couldn’t understand what it was doing and, in fact, asked my Mum why the lamp was on? She came in and stared at it too… and then we noticed the cable rebooting. I turned to the Mac and saw the Airport bars filling up and we plugged everything else in.

Lovely. It was only two hours but my God, I missed it - beautiful electricity. I did take a picture when it all went dark but, well, the picture is black… so kinda pointless. But, at least, the power came back in time for me to see Spooks (and for those of you who didn’t switch over to BBC3 - don’t miss it next week!)

In other news… the late, great Norman Mailer won the Bad Sex in Fiction Award. I’m sure he’ll find that funny as he looks down on us.

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