Last night, shortly after Ian and I had turned out the lights in bed (about 11pm), we heard this large humming noise, and then the sky lit up outside our window.
About 10-20 minutes later, it happened again.
Between the sparks, I realised that we no longer had electricity. The heater in our bedroom was off, no lights, no nothing. Ian looked out the window and noticed that the village was starting to gather up the street, so he opened the window (and let any heat we had out! lol) to listen to what everyone was saying.
At one point, he heard someone saying "Oh, it's on fire now!"
So, we huddled up in bed (well, I huddled up to Ian because he can handle the cold better than I can) and we hoped that everything would be turned back on in the morning.
Woke up about 6:30am today and still no power, and I was freezing! I also looked outside and the road didn't look too good. So, I phoned work well before I had to be in, and told them I would try and get in, but would doubt I'd be able to get in today. Ian's boss told him not to go anywhere. The A3 was closed, and Ian takes that to get into Horndean for work (no chance today).
So, after laying in bed trying to stay warm for awhile, we got up when we noticed it was starting to get light out, threw on some clothes, and walked up the road to see what happened. Someone living in a house just up the way from ours told us what happened, because he lives right across from where the "Oh, it's on fire now!" came from.
Basically, the snow was heavy and knocked a large branch onto a power line. It sparked, and the tree caught on fire. "The snow eventually put the tree out" our neighborhood informer told us.
So, Ian and I didn't know what to do. It was cold, snowing heavily, and we still couldn't even boil the kettle for a hot drink. We met a few other villagers as well.
One man, named Gil, we met when we walked up to the pub to see if they maybe had power so we could atleast go somewhere warm. He yelled out "It's a little early for a drink!" and laughed. We talked with him for a bit, and he offered to come around with a flask of coffee, which he did after about an hour. Bless his heart! He was also checking on some of the elderly in the area. "The Old Dears" as he called them. Probably the nicest guy we've met in the village, apart from the woman that works in the post office. :)
Ian and I couldn't do anything or go anywhere. I huddled under 3 blankets and we read our books for awhile. I fell asleep at one point, and woke up to the lights coming back on.
Ian then brought the heater from our bedroom downstairs (night storage heaters don't work when you've had a power outage, so we had no heat in the house). We sat with the lights off most of the day still...lol. Watched Batteries Not Included, we made soup and grilled cheese sandwiches, and I slept a lot.
Tomorrow Ian will most likely drive me to and from work, because I'm afraid to take on the large hill I have to drive during my journey to/from work.
It's amazing though that we only got a few inches of snow, and yet we still couldn't go anywhere. When we were venturing out this morning meeting the villagers, the roads were absolutely atrocious! Buses weren't even running (I was going to take one in an attempt to get to work).
So anywho, my last photo of today is of the front garden....taken through the post flap in our front door (no way I was going outside again after I FINALLY feel warm).
Be safe, everyone!
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