Back to Basics

[Carole]

Not been able to do anything today, and I mean anything.  We had a powercut from about 9.30 this morning and only just got electricity back at 7.30 this evening.  Was sitting at the computer when everything just switched off.

Talk about back to basics!!! 

No TV, No computer, no house phone, couldn't do any laundry, couldn't put the kettle on, couldn't mow the lawn, no wifi, had to be careful about opening the fridge and freezer too much.  Those with combi-boilers had no hot water, at least we had a tank full from our conventional boiler before the power went off, but showers were not possible so had to wash my hair in the sink with a cup to rinse like I did when I was a child.

It was difficult to find things we could actually do.  Luckily we have a gas hob, so was able to do some cooking (with a match as the ignition didn't work).  Mobile phone just about lasted the day and then the Electric company sent out a customer support van with a generator so we could charge up phones, and they had a small portable fridge for medications and were giving out cups of tea and even offered microwaved food from the van.

I have to say I was very impressed with the support as, because I was one of the people who reported it, I was being given text updates all day long - about 20 of them.  It was a big job as they had to dig up the road and replace an electrical junction of some sort.   You guys would probably know more about that than me.

I also met a number of people living in the same road I had never met before, because everyone was wandering around with mobiles asking every-one else if they had power.  Then when the van arrived we all congregated outside the van sitting on the wall waiting for our phones to be charged.  So I guess that wasn't a bad thing.

Some of the kids in the road freaked out for a while because they didn't have Wifi, or power for their games stations etc and had used up all their data very quickly. 

It was quite amusing when those who had been at work all day were turning up at the van at 6pm saying they had no power and what was going on, when we had been without it all day. 

Carole

[MarkS]

Hee hee -we had something similar recently.  They were doing some planned maintenance on the overhead power lines which means they were powered down for 3 days.  Since the down transformer for the neighbourhood is in our woods, we had a massive diesel generator parked on our drive to provide power for the neighbourhood in the meantime.  But the power was switched off for only 10 minutes as the engineers switched the connections from the transformer to the generator at the beginning of the 3 days and then vice versa at the end of the 3 days.

Mark

[doug]

Aaaahhhh ... poor kids. Perhaps they went out in the fresh air and had a look around. No game-stations; what a shame. Like these new game-station thingys for very young children... what sore of electronic people are they going to grow up to??

It`s almost a case of bah-humbug, innit???

Rant finished.  Doug.

[ApophisAstros]

Aaaahhhh ... poor kids. Perhaps they went out in the fresh air and had a look around. No game-stations; what a shame. Like these new game-station thingys for very young children... what sore of electronic people are they going to grow up to??

It`s almost a case of bah-humbug, innit???

Rant finished.  Doug.

Here Here,
Roger

[Carole]

Sounds like there were very organised at your place Mark.  Presume you could still get your cars in and out of the drive.

Actually once the power was back on that wasn't the end of the story, as Virgin was down in our area too, so no Wifi still or Virgin TV. but luckily we have freeview downstairs, and my daughter who lives a few streeets away said her Virgin had also been down for a while, so no internet or TV from my grandsons either!!!

However that got working fairly soon after the electricity came back on again.

Yes, Kids today don't know how to amuse themselves without technology. 

Carole

[Carole]

Walked past the "hole in the road" today, where UK Power Networks had to dig up and replace parts yesterday.  It's still a hole.  These are all the new parts they had to install.

I took 3 photos of it and stitched them together as it was too long for one frame.



Also forgot to mention yesterday, they were checking up on the vulnerable and elderly as well.  I gave them a good bit of feedback as they were excellent. 

Carole

[Roy]

So easy to take electric powered way of life for granted. Pleased to hear that the power company looked after everyone, and the pulling together of the neighbours to have some time together in adversity sounded a 'silver lining'. Interesting to see the hole in the road.
By the way have you seen pictures of sink hole in Sheringham High Street. Wondering if it will be mended by the time we go to Kelling.

Cheers Sue.

[NoelC]

Lovely hole Carole! - dissapointing that there are not many signs of charring and arcing around it.
But know that problem! Happens here at least once a year, normally caused by trees coming down - occasionally because the lines have been stolen. A generator was one of our first purchases after moving in.  Wifi slows down when it's foggy anyway and with no reliable mobile signal you have to keep a few board games to hand.

[Carole]

have you seen pictures of sink hole in Sheringham High Street

Oh crikey, not seen that.  I am sure it will be sorted by the time we go there.

Carole

[ApophisAstros]

have you seen pictures of sink hole in Sheringham High Street

Oh crikey, not seen that.  I am sure it will be sorted by the time we go there.

Carole

It says coastal town in the blurb so dont think its on the route,
Roger

[Carole]

Yes doesn't affect us at Kelling unless you want to go on a day trip to Sheringham, I am sure we walked down that street in Sheringham a few years ago, Delphine, Ian, Adrian and me.  yes I actually got Adrian up there one year.

Carole

[Carole]

In the immortal words of Victor Meldrew.............................

I don't believe it!! 
Only 9 days after our major 10 hour power cut, we are without water now all day and won't be fixed before tomorrow morning (we hope). 

Major leak on the A21 - the whole of BR2 is without water and BR1.

They are giving out water in Tesco car park.  No laundry, no dish washing, no showers and no toilet flushing - eeek!

The big yellow pipe goes down into the ground where a drain used to be which has apparently collapsed.



My daughter is also affected and she is going off on holiday tomorrow, so contingency plans have to be made in case there are problems after she has gone.

[Carole]

Over 24 hours now with only low pressure water, so anything from the cold water tank can only be used sparingly for fear of causing an air lock as happened to us a few weeks ago when the water got turned off without us realising before it was too late.  Mostly living from water bottles.

A21 is closed off completely and all the traffic is passing through out back streets - chaos this morning when I had to pick my daughter up and take her to Stansted.

Been living here for 42 years and never had anything like this before.

Carole

[ApophisAstros]

Wonder what the 3rd thing will be...
Roger

Kelling countdown

[Carole]

Finally got the water back on, but it's apparently going to be cloudy and spluttery to start with.  I shall feel happier when I can hear the cold water tank filling up.

Might get up in the loft and see what's happening.

Carole