Power cuts
Another thing that you might want to know about, especially if you were considering staying on Symi for any length of time; power cuts. I mention this because I am currently writing this in one, with my laptop on battery for a couple of hours; I will post it up later on when, hopefully, the power comes back on.
What causes them? Well, electricity not flowing through cables I guess. Why that happens though, I have no idea. I do know that it is not a problem at our house as the first thing you do when you are plunged into darkness is check the fuses. Actually, I was plunged into daylight this morning as the power went off at around 7.45 and it was light. That doesn’t help when you are researching online and have your writing stored up in the cloud. So, check the fuses and make sure they are all where they should be; up. If they are down, then there is a problem somewhere on one of your circuits. All up means the problem lays outside somewhere and outside your control. So what do you do?
Well, usually you ask your neighbours or send a text to a friend to see if they have power. That way you start to isolate the area affected. Sometimes it’s the whole island, other times, as was the case last week, it’s only a small area in your neighbourhood. Occasionally (and I’ve not heard this for a couple of years now) you get a warning, an announcement or, more likely, word of mouth around the village. Someone actually knows in advance when there is going to be a power cut so you can prepare. Today there was no warning, so I was not prepared.
And now you are going to ask how do you prepare? Well, for a start you fill up water bottles with tap water so you can wash up, boil the kettle and flush the loo, though not all at the same time. You might also want to get a gas burner in if you don’t have one, so you can boil water. If you have an open fire you might want that ready – it’s not windy this morning but it is cold and there is no heating. And you may also want to get candles and torches ready for when it starts to get dark. We have candles in certain places and a torch always in the same place just in case.
And so what do you do when there’s no power and you can’t use your computer (for long) or have no internet connection? Imagine the horror of it for some: they wouldn’t be able to sit staring at their phones all day checking Facebook every 30 seconds in case something has changed, wasting hours of their lives seeing who had what for breakfast and how a dog gets on so well with a cat, and how the whole world hates Donald Trump and yet keeps voting for him, and how the UK Prime Minister is a hypocrite, and yet someone still voted for him too and how… And no online games, no instant television, no films, no nothing. What do you do? (Hysteria mounting.) Well, I usually start with the housework and get jobs slated for later in the day, out of the way so that when it comes back on I can get back to my work without then having to do the chores later. Then there’s the courtyard to tidy up, litter tray to empty, bedroom to tidy, bed to make, floors to sweep, books to read, books to write (remember longhand?), coursework to do (ditto), there’s always something to dust and clean and if that all gets done and it’s still not back on, there’s always a long walk. Maybe to the electricity company to see what’s going on.
And now I am going to check out some photos and load them up to go with this ramble and then go and set about the housework, once I’ve shouted across the lane to Andreas to ask if he has power at his house, just to be sure.
