E is for Electricity

C’est dans l’ordre des choses — It’s one of those things

Beware of strange lorries in the road. We popped out for half an hour this morning, and all was well. We passed an ERDF (Électricité Réseau Distribution France) vehicle just beyond our house. We returned to find the electricity had been cut off. The man next door said he had seen two men clamber out of the lorry and run down the road, which didn’t sound too promising. And his wife’s cooking had also been abruptly interrupted mid recipe.

Cue several telephone calls; being re-routed to numbers that didn’t exist and eventual connection to someone who had a vague idea what was going on.

The electricity, we were confidently told, would be restored at 16.30 that afternoon (it was then 12.15), as there had been an “incident”. Twenty minutes later it was back. To hedge our bets, we had stuck a post-it note to the lorry asking what was going on. It’s probably still there.

Tomorrow we’re scheduled to have our annual visit from the meter reader, probably not the best time to pick given today’s events. Their letter instructs householders to keep all animals under control for the duration of the visit. Think he may just have to take his chances with the cats!