Electrical

What a week.

/ Loony Feminist / Leave a comment

On Sunday, at 5 pm, we had a power outage. Everything went off. The house alarm was beeping irritatingly. We checked the fuse box, and managed to get the lights working, but no power sockets, except in the study (but only temporarily).

So we arranged by phone (which is strongly discouraged, they kept saying Look at our website, which we couldn’t because we had no access to the internet) for an engineer to call the next day. We were so relieved when he turned up at lunchtime because we had no hot water or heating, and we were cold.

He whizzed about through the house, and the short version is that he got everything working again, apart from hubby’s hifi (oh NO!), the fan oven and one fridge. We are very fortunate to have two fridges – when we moved in together we’d lived separately for a number of years since our respective divorces – and an ordinary oven as well as a fan oven. He said that the fan oven and the fridge would need repair/replacement. He/we think there was a power spike.

I ordered a new fridge, and had to think about the oven repair for a day or two because I just can’t cope with too much going on.

The fridge was due to be delivered today, and was actually on the van, when I thought it might be prudent to check the fuse in the fridge plug. It was blown, and a new fuse did the trick. So I phoned the people delivering the new fridge, slightly (very) panicky, to cancel it, and they were fine. So that saved us a bunch of money.

Meanwhile, the hifi man was due this morning (Wednesday) and hubby dealt with him (hifi is actually broken), the lawn man was due this morning and just got on with it, and the cleaner we have just organised arrived unexpectedly, wanting to do the 6 hour deep clean we were expecting next week. I wasn’t even dressed. So I rushed upstairs and threw on my “working” clothes, no shower, nothing. When I say “rushed”, that means I struggled up the stairs, cursing silently to myself. When I say “working” I mean clothes I wear when I expect to get dirty and/or sweaty, eg making a cake. Just for clarity 😉

Oh. My. God. I didn’t actually explode, but my brain felt like it was.

So we compromised and the cleaner just did upstairs – it looks absolutely fantastic. We are so damn pleased.

On top of all that, today is the anniversary of the day my Dad died, 42 years ago, very suddenly, with no warning, at the age of 58. I was 24 and my sister was 21. Normally I’m in absolute bits, but today I was just sad. I have worked out why I used to get so upset – he managed Mother’s worst behaviours, and once he died, that protection was gone. Now Mother has gone too, I don’t have to worry about that. Although some of her nastier sayings keep going round my head.

Also, on Monday I saw a consultant about my hands. He is going to arrange some imaging to see what is going on, inject my right thumb, possibly fuse the right index knuckle and maybe replace the middle finger knuckle. He’ll decide after the scans. This is all fine, because I have had plenty of time to think about priorities and have decided that reducing the pain is the main thing. Not sure how I would manage to write or knit/crochet with a fused knuckle or two, but that is secondary. I expect I’ll manage something clumsy but effective!

Had a repeat blood test on Tuesday so it’ll be interesting to see what that dredges up.

So, tomorrow I am just getting showered and dressed. And that, guys, is all I intend to do. Maybe drink some tea.

Built-in obsolesence

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At least I assume that’s what it is. Today I had set aside for ironing my stuff. When I switched the iron on at the plug it went PFFFSSSSTZZZ. So I switched it off, and left it a few seconds, then on again. No more spitting, but a strong smell of burning. Switched it off again, brief but productive conversation with hubby, and have ordered a new one to arrive tomorrow.

Then when I was drying my hair I realised that it’s been a couple of weeks since it’s smelt of burning when I switch on the heat, so I’ve been drying my hair with cool air. Yeah.

This morning I had toast for breakfast with marmalade. I like my toast nice and dark, so I always turn the setting up. But the toast came out very pale and only half done on one side. Then I couldn’t remember if I’d turned the setting up or not, because it’s such a habit.

So. I have in my “basket” at my favourite shop a new hairdryer, and a new toaster. Next time I do toast I will take careful note of the setting, and see if I need to order said toaster.

Sigh.

I’m going to label the power cord on each new thing when they arrive with the date so we can see how long things last.

On Friday and Saturday nights we watched two documentaries about the fire at Notre-Dame de Paris. The first one was interviews with various firefighters, at all levels, including their big boss, and with various other folk involved. I was so impressed with their honesty, their obvious care for each other and the cathedral, and the team work. The only thing that irritated me was Rector Chauvet. He talked about himself. What a wonderful parish priest he thinks he is, popping into all the local shops for “un petit verre”, and how dreadful this was for him personally. It was all about him. Oh, and he was very pleased (proud) that President Macron and he went into the cathedral together when it was safe (ish). Where’s the humility? compassion for others? Eventually he managed half a sentence about the dangerous work and risk to life, but only just. Hmph.

The second one was about the restoration. My goodness, the detail, the research, the history, the work that is going on to ensure that it is as well restored as is possible. Architects, historians, carpenters using medieval tools, specialists in stone, I could go on. Each carpenter building the original had left his personal mark on the wood! it’s like looking at a job finished yesterday. Very very interesting and moving. And what’s more, the knowledge of the properties of stone and wood even all those hundreds of years ago was pretty damn good. Lighter stuff on the roof, stronger denser stuff for the pillars – how did they know all this? and there are many, many good ideas for the finished project.

Finally have an appointment with the opticians on Wednesday. My day to day varifocals haven’t had the prescription updated since May 2018, my computer glasses since May 2017. I can tell that they really need updating. The delay is because of the double vision I have which suddenly got much worse, so I was referred to the eye clinic at the hospital to make sure nothing else is going on. They finally discharged me and eventually sent me the letter containing the information the optician needs. Hooray! I have ideas for my new frames already . . . .