HAPPY NEW YEAR, THEM OF YOU AS FOR WHAT THAT APPLIES RIGHT NOW!
I've had an interesting start to the year, to say the least. I hope yours has been more... has been less... I hope yours is going great!
In the latest incident in the currently obtaining Cavalcade of the Unnecessary, last night at about 03:30, just as we were going to bed after the fireworks were
over and so was A Day at the Races, with which we were concluding our yearly New Year's Eve Marx Brothers marathon, some of our power went out. Just one group, but the group that includes the
water heater. The water heater which controls our central heating. Oddly, in addition to this group going down, the meter box itself now has a cracked screen which is unreadable. That
cupboard is basically NEVER opened. We're assuming some sort of mechanical strain such as the unevenly tightened screws that caused a laptop screen of mine to spontaneously crack a few years
ago.
We're relatively self-sufficient people; we tried all the usual stuff -- you know, unplugging everything and trying to flip the breaker again and so
on, and every time we flipped it, there would be a half-second burst of power and it would turn back off. Eventually, of course, I called the landlord's emergency number and they said
since it wasn't liters and liters of water pouring into our living room or something they couldn't send someone out yet but due to it being our heating, in January, we would get priority today
and so I was to be so kind as to call back as soon as they opened this morning. So I got to bed at around 04:30 and I got up at 08:00 -- yay! The good news is I have no concrete plans
and no out-of-house appointments of any kind for the next few days. Yay!
A technician from the landlord showed up at around 11:00 and farted around with the breaker box same as we had, and was also unable to get the breaker switch to stay on, many, many times, after experimenting with all the same stuff we did and verifying that everything on that circuit was unplugged. After 20 minutes or so he called the landlord's emergency repairs service and told them our breaker box is faulty and to send someone right away.
When the emergency service arrived a few hours later, the guy they sent walked in, flipped the breaker, and it worked. It just... worked. He stood there
looking at me like I was lying about having tried everything, or maybe, just maybe, had managed somehow to flip that switch... wrong... I reminded him that my husband had also been unable to
restore power via regular methods and in addition, if he would recall, a technician had come out and similarly met with frustration.
The nice man left diplomatically, having nothing to do, after mutual wishes of Happy New Year, telling me if it goes wrong again to call them immediately, and gave
us their direct number. He also facilitated setting up a separate appointment with the energy people themselves to replace the cracked meter later this month. We figure it's an intermittent fault
of some kind, so won't be at all surprised if it happens again.
So anyway we now have heat again now -- and internet! I wish you and yours all the best for 2020 and beyond.
