Well, today was supposed to have been back to work for Simon and Ethan but that didn't quite happen.
We were up and making breakfast and I'd just filled the kettle with some water, and as I placed it down and flicked the switch we lost power. Not to worry we thought it was probably just the kettle tripping out the electrics but nothing had tripped. Then we realised the whole house was without power rather than just the sockets in the kitchen. Ah, we had a problem.
Simon jumped on the phone to Western Power to report the fault. However because we had to call using a mobile phone we had a slight issue as the mobile phone signal here is pretty bad. Sure enough half way through the phone call and we lost the signal. We had thankfully done as the operator had requested but that had made no difference. By this time I'd noticed lights on in our neighbours houses and so we started to think that maybe the fault was with our house only.
It was then my turn to jump on the phone, but this time I used Ethan's phone as he is on a different network and had a slightly better signal. I phoned the electrical company we had recently used for our electric car charging point to see if they could help. And while I did that Simon had to drive further into our village in order to get a mobile phone signal so that he could text his boss and let them know that he wouldn't be 'logging on' first thing!
Thankfully about an hour later our electrician had arrived and promptly told us that there were a 'ton of Western Power vans' at the bottom of our lane...mmm so maybe this wasn't just our house. Anyway, he doubled checked our supply and confirmed that the problem lay with the power company and not us - phew! Just then our power came back on...only to go straight back off again! And at that point all my neighbours appeared from their houses to say that their power was now out!
So Simon and Ethan were unable to work. Thankfully, we have a gas hob so I was still able to cook breakfast and then boil water to make cups of coffee throughout the day. We decided that the only thing we really could do was to start taking down the Christmas decorations. I have a number of larger decorative pieces that I have displayed and so I gathered them all together first and got them packed away in their specific boxes. We could then start on each individual tree...there were three of them to pack away and I am quite particular about how all the tree decorations are packed and stored!
Around 11am we had a phone call from the power company to let us know that they were still trying to locate the problem and that they suspected the issue was somewhere underground, but that they were hoping to get power restored by 6.30pm! Ah...a new plan for the day was needed. We did a little more 'undecorating' and then headed out for a spot of light lunch at a local Starbucks as we knew we would be able to recharge our phones there and get a decent coffee.
We arrived back home hopeful that the power might be back on but as we turned the corner we could see all the power company vans lining the main road and men in hi-viz jackets walking about. Oh well back to more 'undecorating'! Although we did make sure to dig out the box of candles just in case;our house is relatively dark and we knew as the afternoon went on we would need the light however minimal that the candles could provide.
And then the power came back on...and two minutes later it went off again! But by around 3.30pm it came on and stayed on (well it's still on as I type this!) although I think we all thought it could go off again at anytime. This meant that we could get all the decorations taken down, boxed up and moved into the loft until next year. I still have the trees to pack away as although they are all dismantled I need to get their storage boxes out of our garden shed and it was too dark and cold to be messing about outdoors, so that will be a job for tomorrow.
A little more drama (well inconvenience) to add to the day was that our refuse bins did not get collected as they should. Guessing staff shortages due to you know what, but I have raised it with the council so we will see what happens.
To round out the day Simon and I headed down our 'gym' for a weights workout; my first time in at least two weeks...perhaps even longer! But it was worth it and I really need to get myself refocused as far as workouts go.
With the power still on I think it's time to watch some more Queer Eye - just loving this new season!
See you tomorrow.
xx
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