Reduced Power

Our ‘renovations’ seem to be dogged by problems.

Two days after Guy left for his holidays the electricity went off  just as I was about to get up.

This is rather annoying as the bathroom is a ‘pièce noir’ (no windows) and without electricity the pump for the well doesn’t work and neither does the central heating.

Usually it’s a case of pushing up the ‘trip switch’ but this time it refused to stay in position.

While I was switching the water over to mains Bear found a torch and hogged the bathroom. He wouldn’t normally get up early but he had an appointment with the reumatologist for 9.30.

The problem was that the garage door opens by electricity and if you pull it up manually you have to get it up high enough for the car to get out  (I’m not tall enough) and hold it there (not strong enough).

I tried several taxi firms but they were all ‘complet’ – or, in other words, not keen to tackle the road in and out of town due to the roadworks.

“You’ll have to cancel the appointment” groaned Bear.

I re-scheduled his injections for next week and then phoned the electrician who said he’d come as soon as he could but it wouldn’t be till the afternoon.

Meanwhile, we decided to play with the switches on the control panel to try to locate the problem. It means switching them all off and then switching back on until you find  the one that  blows the whole lot.

Eventually we found that the culprit was in the kitchen. It was the circuit with the induction hob and several sockets.

But. at least, we had the power back on everywhere else.

When the elctrician came he checked all over the house, including the attic, and decided that the hob was not to blame.

“There’s something else wrong” he mused” but it won’t be easy to track down. It could take a couple of days work but I’m going to Lyon tomorrow. Won’t be back till early December.”

“Oh well, at least we have some power so we’ll manage,” I thought, “and it’s worth waiting for him as he’s a reliable chap and doesn’t overcharge.”

We brought down a portable electric hob from the attic and, fortunately,  the oven is still working.

But, the following morning, when I went to empty the dishwasher, it hadn’t done anything – and, worse still – the freezer was off. There was a frantic search for extension leads and after what seemed like ages  – and a few arguments – Bear and I plugged it into a socket in the next room before the contents had time to thaw.

Let’s hope no more sockets decide to go out of action but, just in case, I’m trying out cooking on the woodstove.