50 hours without power, water, flushing toilets or heating. Boy that was hard. I think I was at the end of my tether when we went up to bed with our candles last night after being told that the power would be restored tomorrow (Christmas Eve) or the day after (Christmas Day). I went to bed in a long sleeve top, a fleece, fleecey bottoms and bed socks with a quilt and a blanket. We were awoken at 12:20am by things whirring and lights coming on. WAHOOOOOO. Huffle and I got up, told Moo, turned off lights that shouldn't be on, reset the water softener, checked the sump was working, checked the UV and the RO water treater, put the dishwasher on and flushed the toilets. When we went back to bed we couldn't sleep at first, we just couldn't believe it.
Sunday's walk
Having no utilities has been a real eye opener. Thank goodness for the local Community Centre who kept their doors open for the whole 50 hours for the use of their washrooms and their stove and their warmth. Yesterday there were representatives from 'Durham Region' handing out water and granola bars and words of support. The first evening the power went off, the boys were in bed so it was Moo, Huffle and I playing scrabble and watching Love Actually. We ended up finishing our game by candlelight in front of the gas fire (thank god we had one gas fire!). I really thought that the power would be on by the time we got up in the morning, but it wasn't. At that point we didn't know the Community Centre was open so we had no way of boiling a kettle. We managed to keep warm and entertained and went out for Sunday Brunch in our local town where they had not been affected by the power cut. We had a gorgeous brunch and a waitress that bought us copious amounts of coffee. We came home and because the kids were 'silly as ships' we decided to have a walk around the Hamlet. The paths were so icy it was hard to walk. I fell and hurt my knee, Small fell and hurt his back, Smallest fell and hurt his shoulder, Moo fell over and bashed her knee and elbow. All are well now.
There were trees down all over the place. Icicles hung on top of icicles. Then we found out the Community Centre was open. After a good walk, we came home and prepared for another evening without power. We lit many many candles and huddled around the fire again. We played 'Go Fish' which was interesting....."have you got any fives?" "Who knows, I can't see a thing!". I think we made the best of a very bad situation.
The following day, still no power, for lunch we took a huge pot to the Community centre and heated up some soup from our quickly defrosting freezer. We went down in the evening again and boiled some eggs for tea. Huffle and I dared to go out and do our Christmas food shopping and left Moo with the boys. They said she behaved well so it's looking hopeful that Santa may visit. Shopping was mayhem. Of course when we got back we daren't open the fridge and our Sun Room was very cold so we left the food in there and hoped we wouldn't get any visits fom hungry racoons. Despite the fact we had no electricity, we managed to make Royal Icing and constructed the Gingerbread house and Moo iced a Chocolate Roll with yummy choclate icing.
Thanks to Mary Berry for her tips. For those that know me well, I make a Gingerbread house every Christmas and every year it falls down. Normally there are egg cups and mugs inside to keep it up - NOT THIS YEAR. Nothing inside except a tea light to light it up. Electricity PAH!
We played a few games and the boys played outside in the snow. The evening was sat around the fire again by candlelight. The boys had their stories by the fire and then the grown ups played a card game. This time we had no hope that the power would come back on and were only just hopeful that it might come back Christmas Day, though the thought of Christmas Day without hot food or heating was not something I could get excited about.
Small asked me if all of his presents were electronic this year as he was obviously worried he would not be able to play with them! He wondered if he had an IPad. NO SMALL, YOU DO NOT HAVE AN IPAD FOR CHRISTMAS! I told him he would probably get an Apple but it would NOT be an electrical one. Ha, he always gets an apple in his stocking because Father Christmas knows he doesn't like satsumas.
Well, all is well now and the house is nice and warm. We have had a hot breakfast with fresh hot coffee and everyone has showered. Ahhhh the luxury of heat and light.
* Whenever the boys wriggle and jiggle, I always ask them if they need to go to the toilet. During this experience of no power we have been saying "do you need to go to the Community Centre?" instead. This might just become a new thing for us to say.
A reflection through the glass coffee table of the window and the tree outside last night. Just beautiful.
Last night, Huffle lay on the sofa under a blanket checking on the news. "brilliant" he said, "Would I Lie To You Christmas Special is on tonight at 8pm". Moo and I looked at him quizzically, then it suddenly dawned on him we had no TV, no internet, no electricity. Poor Huffle, he really had forgotten. Bless.
This morning we sat and drank coffee, emailed, skyped Grandma and Grandad and spoke to the busy house that was full of Halls and Gibbs. The boys played on the computer. It was just lovely. We really appreciated it.
After a pizza lunch (purely because the dough needed eating as it had sat in the fridge for the past 50 hours without being chilled) in front of the start of Polar Express, we all went out for a walk. It was very cold. The kind that hurts your face. We delivered some flapjack to Cog, Small's friend, for Christmas and then did a walk back.
A seedhead completely encased in ice and Moo striding along the cracking ice (I have videos of her being silly).
The ice is still everywhere and looks very beautiful. The boys slid on their bottoms and knees (like boys do). Moo slid and skidded and stamped the ice. It was nice to get out and especially to know we had a warm, well lit house back home.
Moo and an icy tree. Moo skidding. Me and the icy tree.
A frozen fir. An icy dangling wire.
On the way back we skyped The Rumbleskins to show them our 'cold' and then skyped them again once home. We had a nice chat with the OzCousins and then spoke to more Oz cousins when they arrived at The Rumbleskins for breakfast. It was already Christmas day there. We have travelled far and wide today via Skype.
Whilst Moo and Smallest were at the cornfield and I was photographing, the boys sat on the porch reading todays newspaper that had been delivered.
There was some table tennis played, lots of veggies chopped for tomorrows dinner plus Moo and I made a Lentil Nut Loaf for tomorrow too. Then we all started on Chips for tea and ate and watched the rest of Polar Express. WELL IT IS CHRISTMAS EVE.
I can't tell you how nice it is to be warm and to be able to cook and to watch TV and to do the jigsaw and to use the lights and not have to carry a candle around constantly and to flush the toilet. THANK YOU VERIDIAN FOR WORKING THROUGH THE NIGHT TO LET US HAVE A PROPER CHRISTMAS.
This evening when the boys have gone to bed we will be watching Scrooged (Huffle's all time favourite Christmas film) and watching Love Actually (Mine and Moo's favourite Christmas Film) with a glass of wine, maybe a Bailey's on ice, with the After Eights, maybe some nuts and delicious things. Hope Santa remembers to visit. Hope those kids sleep tonight, they seem more excited than ever!
Please don't use my photos without asking first. Posted with Blogsy
1 comment:
Really pleased that it got sorted in time for you. Hope you all had a lovely day xx
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