Powerless

 

We had a power cut yesterday.  Initially I thought it was just my house that had an issue as I had lights but everything else had tripped the fuse box.  My son and I checked that neither had done anything ie plugged something in or switched something on or off.  We checked everything we could check then the lights went out too.  I looked outside and my neighbours on either side and across the road still had lights on.  So it was a reasonable assumption that I had an electrical issue.  I called an emergency electrician who came out within the hour who confirmed there was no power coming into the house.

So last night it cost me £120 to discover that some type of power cuts can affect some houses and not others.  Yes, my neighbours on either side and across the road (and round the corner!) all had power while me and every third or fourth house didn't.  There are only 5 houses on my little row (I'm in the middle) and I was the only one with no power.  Something to do with circuits apparently... 😡

Urghhhh!!!  Anyway, my emergency basket of torches, candles and matches was tested for the first time.  Thank goodness for that rechargeable work light I bought a few months ago!  We were able to light one room for a few hours.  I made a simple one pot pasta and cheese dish for supper as I could light the gas hob by matches 😊

Close up of textures

In other news, my stashbusting cardigan has grown lots over the last few days.  I'm loving having a project that is quicker than socks!  Plus I've had a search through all my wool stashes and found a few good single or half used balls!

I have a whole bag full to choose from now!  It's very therapeutic as I zone out while I knit while I binge watch Elementary on my laptop.  The only subscription I have is my Amazon Prime so I'm making full use of it!!  Plus it stops me overthinking about going back to school tomorrow 😟

Unprepared!!

I came home from work today to find that there was a burst pipe just outside the house across the road.  My water was cut off this morning, after I left for work!

Luckily my neighbour (who retired early from teaching at 49!!!!) knew beforehand and filled up containers with water before it was cut off.  He kindly filled my kettle so I could cook dinner and have a cuppa!

But I'm annoyed at myself for being so unprepared.  I didn't have any bottled water for drinking or cooking.  I didn't have any hand sanitiser or wipes.  I don't have any rainwater collection systems in place (for flushing the loo) Just a few short years ago when I lived in a very rural area I was the Queen of Preparedness!  Every winter I'd get snowed in at some point, the water pipes froze, the power lines came down in windy weather and the telephone wires regularly came down willy nilly.  The road at the end of the lane got badly flooded a few times too.The nearest supermarket was 15 miles away so I was always prepared with supplies.  Plenty of food in the cupboard, bottled water in the garage, candles, gas stove etc etc

This weekend I ran out of toilet paper (I thought I had a pack in my cupboard) 😳 Today I had no water.  Both timely reminders to GET PREPARED!!

I might be living in suburbia but I could still have a power cut or have a burst pipe.  First of all I need to:

1.  Keep some bottles of water for emergencies in the garage (rotate regularly)
2.  Keep some hand santiser gel in stock
3.  Order a water butt ASAP!
4.  Get my wood pile sorted in case the electricity goes out.

Then I need to look at my general preparedness for any type of SHTF scenario that might happen in the future.

Years ago I read this book, it had some good ideas to get started.  Must look it out again to refresh my memory!