Pulling the Plug

Don't panic, I'm not calling an end to the blog. I know you all couldn't function without it. Just writing an entry to let you know I've experienced my first Maltese power cut.

Apparently they can be quite common over here. I'm pretty sure I've had one before, at least I woke up one day to find my electronic alarm clock blinking at me, so something must have happened. This time is was the middle of the afternoon. I'd just got in from work, so it must be around 2.30pm. I needed to go out for a few essentials, but I remembered the old maxim of never going food shopping on an empty stomach. I made a toasted sandwich with what was left of the chicken I cooked a few days ago. I sat down to eat it and began watching an episode of the Victoria Wood sitcom Dinnerladies but as I took my first bite, the television turned itself off.

You must all have been in a power cut at some point. The first thing that happens is a moment of confusion. Is it just the TV? is it a fuse? You try a few lights. Then you try a few more lights to see if it's just the lounge that's gone. You try other appliances, still in a state of disbelief. Then you try waiting for a few minutes to see if it's just an accidental switch off by some trainee at the power station.

Not sure how long I waited, but in the end I decided to go shopping anyway, and hope it'd be back on by the time I returned. Picked up my rucksack, put some money in my wallet and stepped into the lift...

..which of course didn't work (thank God the power didn't go whilst I was inside it)

Ok, back-stairs. I'd never actually used these before. I can see why. Very narrow, very steep, and with a low handrail. Flat 4, two floors below me had covered their section of the stairwell with junk and old boxes which had to be negotiated too. Anyway, safely down, out the front door and off to the supermarket. Hotel down the street is in darkness and ATM on the corner is also off. (This is actually quite reassuring. Tells me it wasn't something I did in the flat. Believe me, that's good news from my perspective!)

Three quarters of the way there I have a moment of clarity. Is there any point going to the shops? Electric doors won't open. People stuck at the checkout waiting for the till to come back on. Aisles in darkness. As it happens the store was all lit up and operational, must be on a seperate circuit, or have their own generator.

Bought my essentials (milk, cereal, deodorent, juice, iceberg lettuce, margerine and Bold 2 in 1 liqui-tabs amongst other things) and trotted off home. Still no ATM, still a hotel in darkness. Oh dear....

...which also means 6 flights of steep, narrow stairs, now with two bags of shopping and a heavy back-pack. I really didn't think this one through before I set off. I arrived at my 'front' door looking like the creature from the swamp. Sweat dripping out of every pore, my fingers about to detach themselves from my hands because of the shopping bags - but I was home.

I put the shopping away and quickly checked what was the most likely to be ruined if the power was off for a while. This is where I had one of those stupid conversations with myself. (and don't deny it, you've all done it too during a blackout).

"Ok, frozen chicken is fine if it defrosts, I can cook that tomorrow, but that frozen pizza will have to be eaten. I'll have that for tea" - and cook it in an electric oven?

"In the meantime I'll just watch some more Dinnerladies until the power comes back on"

"Silly me I can't watch Dinnerladies on my DVD player! I know, I'll use my laptop and watch it on that. Just need to charge it first"

You get the general idea. Everything I thought of doing, and genuinely stood up to do, involved electricity of some kind. In the end I sat with a can of beer reading a book, until I heard the lift whirr back into life. Then the TV came back on and it was all back to normal. It was out for about ninety minutes in total....

...so I saved the pizza for another occasion