Zap!

Well, I expect it went "zap" and possibly even "pow!".

I got back from shopping this morning to find our next-door-neighbour out in the street. Apparently, a vehicle had snagged a cable running from our house to a pole across the street, and the cable was now in two pieces. They had no power, and she thought I wouldn't either.

In fact, I still had power. It turns out that for some reason, their power cable runs from their house to our side wall, does a 90 degree turn, and goes to the utility pole. This was the cable that had gone; our power cable is at the other end of the house and comes from the next pole. If that ever goes, it could be serious: we have three-phase power for the heating.

Meanwhile, the ETA for repairs was 3 hours: they managed about that. I took the kittens to the vet to get their stitches inspected (no problems) and the repair crew were here when I got back, about 2.5 hours after I learned about the problem. Just as well this wasn't next Tuesday: we're forecast to have Snow then, and I suspect the delay to repair would be more like 1-2 days.

This is why we have both oil and electric heating. Last winter, when I got home on The Night It Snowed (1) I cooked breakfast on the oil stove before going to bed.

(1) at 07.25 hrs

Zap!

Well, I expect it went "zap" and possibly even "pow!".

I got back from shopping this morning to find our next-door-neighbour out in the street. Apparently, a vehicle had snagged a cable running from our house to a pole across the street, and the cable was now in two pieces. They had no power, and she thought I wouldn't either.

In fact, I still had power. It turns out that for some reason, their power cable runs from their house to our side wall, does a 90 degree turn, and goes to the utility pole. This was the cable that had gone; our power cable is at the other end of the house and comes from the next pole. If that ever goes, it could be serious: we have three-phase power for the heating.

Meanwhile, the ETA for repairs was 3 hours: they managed about that. I took the kittens to the vet to get their stitches inspected (no problems) and the repair crew were here when I got back, about 2.5 hours after I learned about the problem. Just as well this wasn't next Tuesday: we're forecast to have Snow then, and I suspect the delay to repair would be more like 1-2 days.

This is why we have both oil and electric heating. Last winter, when I got home on The Night It Snowed (1) I cooked breakfast on the oil stove before going to bed.

(1) at 07.25 hrs