4 hour power cut
Driving back into my town last night it took me ages to work out what was wrong. Then I realised. It was pitch black. There were no lights on anywhere as far as the eye could see.
Once in my house I stumbled around for candles and matches and then went to check my elderly neighbour was ok. I nipped next door and took her some candles. She was more than ok, and we sat by candle light having a nice chat and a glass of wine.
Then I went home, sat on the sofa under a quilt and luxuriated in the absolute silence and beautiful moonlight. It was magical. These days it’s very rare we are in silence. Not just the absence of music, or the TV, but the hum from the fridge, and the boiler. It’s even rarer to be in total darkness. There are normally loads of little lights all over the house, the answer machine, the oven clock, the microwave, and all of these usually create quite a glow.
Nick got home and we had a very Victorian evening. We put candles on the piano, Nick did some practice (boy he needs it) and I attempted to make my rag rug (I gave up cos I couldn’t see what the hell I was doing.)
At 9pm the lights came back on, the fridge rumbled back to life, the boiler roared, strains of radio 4 floated down from upstairs and I was actually disappointed. I had been feeling so totally peaceful and calm and Jane Austen-like.
On the plus side I could make a nice cup of tea and put the washing on.
Aside:
(my shiny new sewing computer (see below) was totally useless in the power cut, but if I’d had the antique treadle powered machine I could have merrily sewed by candle light – what irony.)
Once in my house I stumbled around for candles and matches and then went to check my elderly neighbour was ok. I nipped next door and took her some candles. She was more than ok, and we sat by candle light having a nice chat and a glass of wine.
Then I went home, sat on the sofa under a quilt and luxuriated in the absolute silence and beautiful moonlight. It was magical. These days it’s very rare we are in silence. Not just the absence of music, or the TV, but the hum from the fridge, and the boiler. It’s even rarer to be in total darkness. There are normally loads of little lights all over the house, the answer machine, the oven clock, the microwave, and all of these usually create quite a glow.
Nick got home and we had a very Victorian evening. We put candles on the piano, Nick did some practice (boy he needs it) and I attempted to make my rag rug (I gave up cos I couldn’t see what the hell I was doing.)
At 9pm the lights came back on, the fridge rumbled back to life, the boiler roared, strains of radio 4 floated down from upstairs and I was actually disappointed. I had been feeling so totally peaceful and calm and Jane Austen-like.
On the plus side I could make a nice cup of tea and put the washing on.
Aside:
(my shiny new sewing computer (see below) was totally useless in the power cut, but if I’d had the antique treadle powered machine I could have merrily sewed by candle light – what irony.)
posted by Rach at 11:33
1 Comments:
We've had power cuts recently - puts me in mind of the Miner's strikes of the 70's when Joe Gormley was in charge. This week it was 2 hours, so we all sat round telling ghost stories!!!! It's very difficult to find candles and matches in the pitch black, and of course we couldn't boil any water for a drink as everything here is electric. I did quite enjoy it - but wouldn't want it to happen very often :)
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