Petrol but not much power

Well, after last week’s petrol strikes we were hoping for a quiet few days.  Once the crisis was over we zipped into town to fill the tank and buy fruit and veg.  Slightly scarred by the speed with which the situation had developed it’s possible we overstocked, just in case things started again.

It still seems likely that this was only the first skirmish and that there’s more to come.  That done we headed back up the hill to our little stone house.

The following day the Cyprus Mythological Meteorological Service issued a severe weather warning for the weekend.  Strong winds, up to gale force, were predicted they said.  Since our little valley seems to channel the wind, with a corresponding increase in force, we were mildly concerned as we trotted off to bed.  However our worries were needless, the wind was gentle and barely got above a whisper all night.

The rain and the thunder and the lightning though?  Good grief, we’ve never seen anything like it.  Several days later it’s still being talked about on some of the Cyprus forums.  Some folks, including many who have lived here for years, are stating that they’ve never known a storm here behave in the same way before.  Of particular note was the continuous peals thunder which lasted for an hour or more.

All of this would have been of only mild passing interest were it not for the fact that in the early part of the storm we lost all power.  Yet another wander out to the top of the stairs in the cold and wet and dark showed that the entire village was without electricity so we headed back to bed once more.  Come morning, still no power so we pottered around and did assorted Sunday morning jobs whilst making tea using the gas hob and listening to the battery powered radio.

Just before midday, so some 8 hours after it had first gone off, the power flickered back on.   Horray! said we as we skipped off to have showers and the like.  The water here is pumped so no mains power means no water from the cold water tank.

Thirty minutes later, while Ian was in mid-shower, the power went off again.

That particular loss of power showed two things; showering in the dark is both strange and mildly hazardous as the shower room has no natural light.  Secondly, when the power goes off it is advisable to hop out of the shower sharpish.  The cold water is pumped but the hot water relies on gravity; therefore if the power is cut what was a nice warm shower becomes a scaldingly hot one in an instant.

Just as we’d finished resetting clocks and the like from the shower power-cut the village supply failed again.  And again, and then again.  In the end we gave up, lit some candles to supplement the weak sunlight and read.  It was gone 2pm when the power came on and seemed to show some resilience.

However, things were not to be that straightforward; just after dinner on Sunday evening the power cut out again once more.  Happily by then we had a roaring fire, plenty of candles burning and some warming food inside us but still not the best end to the weekend.

Since then the power has tripped off, and straight back on again, half a dozen times.  If there was any chance we didn’t know the full list of powered items with in-built clocks before, then we certainly do now.  In amongst this the Macs have coped remarkably well with the repeated loss of power.

So, we have petrol … the spurious severe weather warning is over … can we have a full day without power cuts?

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