Hallelujah! We've got power

We’re feeling like celebrating today. We’ve got electricity!!!

On Saturday night I went off to bed, book in hand. I’d barely read a paragraph when I was plunged into darkness. I could hear the Fox rushing off to the fuse box to check that. Then he realised just how dark it was outside. Nothing but blackness. No street lights, no window lit. Power was down. He went to look for some candles instead.

Sunday was a world of silence. It’s amazing how much background noise you ignore until it isn’t there – no fridge purring away, no drills, no electric saws, no ambient sound from microwaves, nothing.

Soon my neighbour turned up. She’s Chinese & still having some problems with her English. She thought she was behind on paying her bill so they’d cut her off. I assured her no, none of us had electricity. She was welcome to come inside & get warm by our gas fire, or I could warm something up on our gas hobs if that helped. She decided to go away. She wanted to get the house cleaned up.

Then another neighbour arrived to report he’d been to his father’s house. The latter had an old-fashioned battery backed radio so I was now told the local news. The River Lune had badly burst its banks in Lancaster, flooding the substation with the result all Lancaster, Morecambe, Heysham had no electricity & weren’t likely to have it until the tide had gone down so they could get to see the extent of the problem. Low tide wasn’t until the evening.

Our Chinese neighbour was back. Her telephone wasn’t working. Neither did her smartphone. I pointed out that electricity was needed for the internet & some phones. She went away in disbelief.

We settled down to a quiet day. Early afternoon, another neighbour turned up to let us know there was free bread & milk at Tosco’s if we needed it. And they’d found a pub at the port that was serving hot food & filling flasks with hot water until 8pm. We duly thanked her but assured her we were okay.

As the afternoon went on we thought we’d better have a quick dinner while there was still light to see to cook by. We thought it wiser not to open the freezer, so opted for an omelette instead. As the Fox cooked our Chinese neighbour turned up in desperate need of a hot drink. She’d been wearing her coat all day, trying to keep warm.

No sooner had she gone than our phone went – the electricity company ringing to check I was okay. I’m on their list of vulnerable people. They offered to come round to give any assistance needed – temporary heating, lighting etc. We assured them we were okay. They also told us it was likely to be another 24 hours before power was back. In some ways it is easier knowing how long it is likely to have to be endured for.

We left the washing up until the morning when we could see if the plates etc. were properly clean. Our evening turned into a quiet chat, interspersed with games of dominoes by candlelight & a little reading. I went to bed early.

I slept intermittently, as so often I do. Suddenly I’m wide awake. There’s light on in the bedroom. The light for the clock on the radio had come on. We had power! The Fox hastily got up & switched all the lights off that he’d switched on forgetting the lack of power. It was just after 6am. I was so excited that I couldn’t get off to sleep again. I was up early & it was with relief I discovered the central heating was once more coming on.

I gather from yet another neighbour that both bridges in & out of Lancaster & the new Millennium footbridge are closed. At present a new bridge is being built up river for the new motorway extension. It was being held by barges. The barges both got swept away by the force of the river, turning over, spilling gallons of diesel into the river, slamming against bridges as they were swept away. The Millennium Bridge is definitely damage; the others have to be structurally checked before they will open again. It’s going to be a while before things get back to normal.

Some thoughts struck us. It was noticeable it was the older people who coped better. They were the ones who had candles in, & non-electric alternatives for heating & cooking. They were also the ones less at loss without TVs, radios, computers etc. Having lived through the regular power cuts in the late 1960s/ early 1970, they always had such things in. For the young it was a new experience, something they were totally unprepared for. One thing is certain, our Chinese neighbour is going to tell her husband when he gets home that they need some gas heating & cooking facilities installed, just in case it ever happens again.

Meanwhile we’re back to our other problem. The deluge of rain that caused the flooding, has also come into our kitchen. We think the problem is with the door itself. The water wasn’t deep outside. The lower laundry door didn’t let in water. We think it is to do with the design of the stable door style. I’ve been on to the installers & they say they will be round later this morning. Hopefully that can be solved before the next deluge.

We suddenly feeling this has been a long winter. The central heating failure was clearly to get us into training for losing all electricity, & central heating (electric pump, of course). I wonder what else will go wrong before the winter is out.