Floral drops during power cut

Not much time for blipping today, but I took the camera for a walk to get away from my powerless house and caught this just up the road through a temporary break in the general damp greyness. I was happy enough to get yet another boring old water-droplets-on-flower-petals blip.

I got up at 5.30 am for a work session and was doing well at 7.00 with an especially tricky page layout when, Click! Power went!! And the house alarm started screaming like mad. Frantically, I fumbled in the dark for candles or nightlights and managed to find a few. The alarm keypad wouldn't respond to me deactivation code, and no amount of tinkering with the ceiling-mounted alarm box would shut the noisy thing down. On and on and on it went, until shortly after 8.00 I couldn't take it any longer and phoned my alarm installation guy (which fortunately lives not far away). He told me to take the front off the main control panel, disconnect the battery, and remove a fuse inside. I struggled with all that by candlelight but could find no obvious sign of a fuse, and didn't fancy disconnecting the big monster of a heavy-duty battery. So I phoned Mr Alarm Doctor again and he said he'd be with him within 30 minutes. He was, buy which time the indoor alarm had stuttered itself into silence. He fitted a new battery, ran a test, confirmed that all was well, and Bob's yer Uncle -- well, until I innocently asked 'How much do I owe you?' 'That'll be 75 euro', says he. I think I'll chuck the design lark and take up service calls.

Meanwhile, there was no sign of the power coming back on. I'd phoned the ESB as soon as I could see to read the number in the phone book and to find the phone keypad. I phoned again after the alarm guy left to see if they had an estimated time for re-connection. A very nice and helpful girl came back quickly enough to confirm the problem was being investigated but to say she had estimate but would phone me back if and when she got word. That's when I went out with the camera (well, I waited until 11.30 after a quick nap). Power had been restored when I got back. It's only when you have to do without it that you appreciate how central electricity is to our everyday life.

When I got back to work I was relieved to find that I hadn't lost too much of the work I'd done earlier -- thanks be for good saving habits.