Start the Ryder Cup without me

[dianeduane]

(sigh) I was going to be up bright and early this morning to watch the golfing proceedings start...but in the wild post-hurricane weather of last night, power lines went down all over eastern Kildare and northern Wicklow, with the result that we lost our electricity about eight-thirty last night, and it's not back up yet. My guess is that it won't be up again until much later today: reports coming through from the local radio station in Kildare town suggest that there are a number of lines still down between us and Naas, where our local grid connects to the main one.

Oh well. At least the cats don't care whether their food is hot or not. Now to get down to the logistics of how to boil water when the little emergency gas stove canisters are empty....

(below: the scene out in the road outside our gate, first thing this morning...)

Update: after looking around the house a little, we've discovered that the proximate cause of our outage is a lot closer. A big beech tree in the field next to us came down right across the power line that supplies our house and the houses of the neighbors to the west of us: it's holding the wires right down against the ground, and though they don't seem to be broken, this almost certainly has something to do with our powerlessness... So we've called the ESB -- the local power company -- and told them what's going on. Now we'll see how long it takes to put this right.

Comments

[wolf-moonshadow.livejournal.com]

I'm impressed you can post without power. Cellphone?

And my sympathies about the post-hurricane storm. We've been really lucky in Florida this year.

[dduane.livejournal.com]

The (regular) phone works even when the power's down, but that's standard for most phone systems: the system carries its own power. Enough for dialup, anyway.

[xnamkrad.livejournal.com]

A few years ago a major storm hit along the south coast of Ireland on Christmas Eve, and many houses were without power. As there was so much damage crews came down from the Northern Ireland Electricity to help, and it was greatly appreciated. However it did have a few problems.
1) accents, you had guys from Belfast trying to talk with guys from Kerry - both have strong accents
2) terminology, what was called a thingamajig by the ESB crews was called a yokiebob by the NI crews (note my extensive knowledge of electrical technical terms)
3) hospitality, in some cases remoter houses were without power for several days. When power was restored, very often the people would insist that the crews have a 'wee drop to keep out the cold'. It must have made repair work in the afternoons very interesting.
One person I spoke to had lost power in a similar way to the pic, but the tree had fallen across his front door, and the cables were still live, so he was trapped for some time.
Hope the power is back soon.

[megabitch.livejournal.com]

Hope you get power back soon. It's been bucketing down here in the wilds of Somerset (or "lumping down" as local terminology would have it). The high winds last night don't appear to have done much in the way of damage though. But I know where the candles are, there's a half-full calor gas bottle in the shed and the camping stove is in the loft, but we have a gas hob anyway. We also have kindling and paper "fire-logs" next to the fireplace. At a push I could at least boil water on the fire.

It eased off raining a few minutes ago - long enough for me to go up the hill to the veg garden and rescue the ripe tomatoes & courgettes before they get pounded to mush by the rain. Tomato and courgette soup is on the menu now :)

[trdsf.livejournal.com]

I thought most tropical storms fell apart before they made it all the way up and around--but then, I'm no climatologist. Hope all is well... all we have is a particularly boring and unimpressive rain slated to be with us all weekend (of course).

And extreme amounts of , that's right, the Cup is in your neck of the woods this time! I'm watching the coverage on USA network right now and hoping for an outcome rather less embarrassing than last time. :)

I'm crossing boundaries

[interactiveleaf.livejournal.com]

Because I don't know how else to reach you.

I ordered things from you off of eBay some time ago, and they went out during The Great Postal Strike. You were going to mail them to me recently, during your week in the US, which was approximately three weeks ago if I understand the dates correctly. I haven't received them from you yet, I'm getting worried, and I'd like to know if you sent them or not.

My eBay handle is samanthajoyb, and the package should have included an edited manuscript.

Thanks for your time.

Gosh, darn and indeed poot!

[the-hunter.livejournal.com]

Totally off topic here, I know, but this has to be said...
I was one of the attendees at your writing seminar at the Terry Pratchett convention this year, and I have to say I enjoyed it tremendously. I took into account all your advice, and finally completed *The Book*.
As it was mainly for lj friends who have been badgering me for ages to write it, I published it through *Lulu*, as per your suggestions, and all was well.
However, I have now discovered a Fatal Flaw in your seminar. You totally omitted the most important piece of advice...how the heck do you cope with requests for signing the darned things? People I have never met, and a lot that I have, are requesting that I autograph their copies. I've had an email from someone I have never met in the USA asking if I would sign his copy if he sends it to me. Friends want signed copies *for their mother*... and I don't know how! Is there a formula for this? How do you personalise an autograph? Is there an online repository of ready-made slogans? Are there set levels of personalisation depending on how well you know the person?
Also, I wrote it using my online name. So, do I sign it using that name, or my real name? And if I *do* sign it using my online persona, do I have to practice to get the signature the same all the time, or just hope that those with signed copies don't compare them?
I've checked with Google (you can't say *I googled* any more) and there is no available correspondence course, nor any *Big Dummies Guide to signing stuff*.
You never said it'd be this difficult!