25 March 2025
It would have been Aileen's birthday. I went downstairs at 6:45 a.m. to make a bowl of porridge and a coffee to have in bed as I caught up on the news and listened to a podcast. There was a strange sharp pinging noise as I descended the stairs, no hot water from the tap and when I tried the lights they were off as well. I checked the trip switches, and they were ok. I phoned Alyn next door, and she had the same problem, so I phoned SSE on 105 and explained the issues. they had already had a report and were despatching an engineer to discover the problem. They were remarkably efficient, and within minutes, a message appeared indicating that they hoped to have power back by 10 a.m.
I had a summer breakfast instead, a bowl of cereal, a banana and juice, had a shower and went to Tradstocks to see the progress on Aileen's headstone. My neighbour, Summer, came round to show me the draft of some children's books she had been writing in Mandarin and English. They looked impressive and she asked if I could look at the English in the second of the books. I had previously made suggestions for the first book. There was still no electricity but we managed to transfer the text and illustrations on our phones by WhatsApp. Something to look at later once the electricity allows me to fire up the laptop.
It was a glorious March morning with hooloovoo blue skies (check Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy). Summer was here and I had opened the doors onto the garden for the first time all year. I noticed a group of men in yellow jackets, one of them at the top of the wooden electricity pylon about 200 metres away in the adjacent field. I wandered down to discover if this was the problem. The SSE engineer was climbing down the pylon, and the other engineers were packing their equipment. They had rectified the fault caused by a shortage on one of the power lines. They had discovered a small branch lodged on one of the phase conductors which had shorted the system.
They thought it had possibly been dropped there by a bird. This was highly likely to be one of the crows or rooks that nest along the nearby Boquhapple Burn. Twenty nests are being built in the Ash trees. It was almost exactly a year ago that one of the crows came down my flue and survived. There again, Hooloovoos are super intelligent and known for their capability to manipulate matter and energy! The team of five engineers seemed pleased that they had solved the problem. The lead engineer left in haste for the village substation to switch the electricity back on for the 34 houses that had lost power. It was 10:10 a.m. Slightly later than estimated, but power outages happen for all sorts of reasons. Whether crows or Hooloovoos.
It wasn't just power that had been reinstated; the glorious sunshine had created a warmth that had the flowers gaping, the grass growing, and the garden awaiting. A day that Aileen would have loved.
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| The branch was lodged in the phase conductor |
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| Pylon framing Ben Ledi |
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| Good Job - the SSE engineers |
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| Aileen planted these |
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