There was I, engrossed in typing the previous post when suddenly the lights failed and the computer died.
Bear was in the bedroom playing with the lights. He had been changing lightbulbs without switching the lights off and something had shorted and blown the tripswitch.
He went into the garage with a torch but nothing happened. We were still in darkness, so I went to see what was happening. He had forgotten where the tripswitch was and was poking about at the EDF box at the other end of the garage.
"Haven't you tried the trip?" I asked.
He seemed a bit confused so I tried pushing it up but it wouldn't stay put. Oh dear, that could be serious. We played around for a few more minutes. Bear admitted that he didn't understand the buttons on the EDF box but I reckoned that the grey one ought to stay in when pushed but it wouldn't.
Eventually we gave up and I called Pascal. But there was no answer at home or on his mobile. It was five thirty on a Sunday evening. How do you find anyone to bail you out of a mess at that time?
I rang our friends in the next village for advice. Perhaps they would know someone.
"Whatever you do, don't call EDF," said Michel. "They will charge you a huge call out fee but they won't repair anything if it's not their box."
However, he didn't know anyone who could help.
We perused the yellow pages by torchlight and I rang the five electricians within five kilometres. Surprise, surprise, not one was answering.
By this time I had realised that the bread supposedly baking in the machine was ruined, CC had to 'purée' the soup she was making with a potato masher, and Whale's electric bed was out of action.
I phoned Daniel. He knows everyone, but he wasn't home.
"I'll get him to come round as soon as he gets back" said his wife.
Bless him, he arrived about forty minutes later and checked out the fuse box. He was puzzled so he rang an electrician friend for advice. It all pointed to a problem with the EDF box but his friend said he would take a look on his way to work at 7 the next morning.
You might have thought that this would lead to a pleasant evening by the fire in candlelight, opening a bottle of wine and talking together. In your dreams. That's not how it works in our household.
Everyone opted for an early night. Bear decided he couldn't get down to his mattress on the floor so I helped him make up a bed by putting the coffee table beside the sofa and putting the mattress on top.
"Be careful you don't fall out" I said as I went upstairs.
I was just about dozing off when a friend sent a text message. Then Jay and CC decided they were hungry and went downstairs to get some supper.
It was about 11 o'clock when I was woken by moaning and heavy breathing. Bear had fallen out of bed and then dragged himself up the stairs where he collapsed, panting on my sofabed and claimed he was going to be sick.
Fortunately he didn't throw up but he was in pain and from what I could see by torchlight he had a bump above his eye and was complaining that he had splinters in his hands.
He refused to let me ring for an ambulance so I tucked him up on the clic-clac and tried to get some sleep in the bed. However, knowing I had to get up at 6.30 it was difficult to relax and, in the end I got up at six. No light, no heating, no hot water. It made me think of those poor housemaids in Victorian times.
It was strange coming downstirs by torchlight and scrabbling around for candles and matches. I made hot drinks by boiling water on the gas hob and waited for the electrician.
He arrived on time, took a look at the problem and decided it was definitely an EDF job. However, he tried hitting the box quite violently saying that that sometimes did the trick! Daniel turned up and agreed to phone on my behalf. Apparently there'd be no-one to talk to till 8a.m. so we waited.
Meanwhile, Daniel contacted his friend who works for EDF and obtained the correct phone number.
When he eventually pressed all the buttons and got through to a human being he explained the problem and said we needed help urgently because there was a handicapped person involved.
They said they'd send help straight away.
Meanwhile Bear was still pretty uncomfortable after his night's adventures and I decided to call the doctor despite his protests.
The nurse came to wash Whale but without light and hot water thought better of it.
"If you have time I can heat some water on the gas" I offered.
"It would be quicker in a microwave" she said.
"But there's no electricity. . . ." So I'm not the only one who's only half awake at that time in the morning.
It was about ten o'clock when the phone rang.
"Madame, it's the EDF. Your doorbell doesn't work, of course and we're outside your house."
The two men inspected the box, declared it dead and replaced it in a matter of minutes. I pushed up the tripswitch and we had light!
Nothing to pay, nothing to sign and no coffee thank you.
What a relief to be back to normal.
The doctor arrived about an hour later, gave Bear the once over and decided there was no serious damage. However, after inspecting the bump on his head she said he must not be allowed to sleep for more than two hours at a time - day or night. So I have the job of setting my alarm to wake myself up so that I can wake him.
Looks like being a fun night tonight then.
The French maire plays a much more important role than his English counterpart. Even the smallest village elects its own mayor who enjoys considerable power. Apart from his obvious role in marrying people (a civil ceremony is compulsory, followed by optional church service) he and his council make decisions regarding planning permission, law and order and how to spend the income of the community.
and increasing the pavement area so the new road system with its inevitable 'priorité a droite' will be no safer than the original layout.
