Power 'off-ages' and 'on-ages'

I started writing a post yesterday, to share our marvelous rainy day picnic adventure with you all, but was beset by the Electricity Pixies... not a new girl band but rather the little mythological creatures that toy with the Greek Electrical Power Grid, and will, with no apparent reason, flick all the power off for as little as 10 seconds to as long as 5 minutes.

(For many years, T was convinced that it was the cleaning ladies doing the vacuuming after the staff left, unplugging the power to the city while they plugged their vacuums into the socket, then when they were finished, plugging the city's power back into the socket. I however believe rather that it's the mythological beasties of the island at work.)

As we are also blessed with power cuts that can last up to 6 hours, candles and matches are placed in key locations throughout the house and used regularly.

Unfortunately, when the power goes, the internet, the cordless telephones and my USB back up battery power supply are also affected.

My current USB backup instead of giving me 1/2 hour of electric cover, is so worn down by the constant abuse, I am lucky to get 5 minutes to shut everything down and unplug! (all the while being serenaded with a loud "BEEP---BEEP---BEEP...")

So no internet, as after the fifth time of sitting in darkness for 2 minutes [Me, slowly getting up and lighting two or three candles, while starting to save and shut down programs on my laptop- POOF! The power would come back on! Ha-ha. Me, remembering new years resolution made less than ten days ago, trying NOT to laugh cynically here...] So, I just decided, "enough is enough", and just shut everything down, got a book out and read.

(I read VERY well by candlelight.)




Today I have several times started to write this post only to be plagued with thunder and lightening - and had to stop.

Yes, I know, that probably got a blank look from many of you.

Here on Corfu, when we have thunder/lightening we can have MASSIVE power surges, for why, we do not know. Over the past 10 years, personally, I have had 3 stereos, 1 answering machine, 2 sky boxes, 1 VCR player, 2 televisions, 1 USB back-up power battery, countless cordless phones and 2 laptops murdered by those "thunder/lightening surges". And that was even after we had the whole house grounded!

When we moved in, all the power points (plugs) looked grounded - how can you tell??- but we would get nasty shocks turning on lights or, particularly in the kitchen, doing anything with an electrical appliance and having damp hands and bare feet... (personally I'm convinced that all those little shocks did my heart good, keeping me pumped with tiny surges of adrenalin to regulate my heartbeat!) We had each and every electricity point grounded over the course of 4 full days with an electrician several years ago. We have never regretted that particular expenditure!


We were told once, by someone who also had fried a lot of expensive electricals, that you must be wary of electrical things tied to your telephone line (for instance: your laptop!), as the telephone lines are not grounded and will zap directly into whatever the phone lead is plugged into. (Yet another reason not to dawdle on the phone when it's raining!)

We do not sneer and shake our fists at the sky come storm time.

[I will post more tomorrow, or whenever this little storm front moves out of reach! Of course as I am finishing this short post, the sky appears to be clearing.

My "trying and failing to make herself into a very small" weather-vane dog however continues to cower with her face tucked under my bed (well til I took the picture), so she obviously still hears faint rumbles coming from some far off 'somewhere'.]

It's September!

What a change! The heat and humidity have dropped to below tropical proportions and the evenings are finally cool enough for a shoulder covering!


The storm was pretty spectacular With the sky swirling and thunder rumbling, we knew we were in for a good show.

It lasted a long time, and it was fascinating to watch all the amazing cloud "building". The dog of course suffered. Poor beast, I think she must be affected by the dropping barometer as much as by the thunder.

We dashed around and battened all the hatches we could think of, while at the same time being amazed at the sky above us!

Living on an island gives you a whole different perspective on weather!

Finally it got very dark with clouds and we had a spectacular lightening show. Then the rain hit and came down like a monsoon! It came down with the wind whipping around til nightfall. It was a surprisingly cold rain and when it hit the pool (of nice and warm 30 C/86 F temperature water) clouds of mist swirled up!

All in all it was a wild evening - weather wise. T and I played cards (cribbage) to keep the dog company, and finally decided to go to sleep to the sound of rain falling.

~~~

There is of course, some bad news, as the rain washed off the pectin on all the grapes, so we'll have to hope that they ripen a bit more and get that pectin back before we have to pick them to make the wine! As it now stands we have no idea when they'll be ready.

The purchase of the big blue plastic wine stomping tubs has come in very handy however for all sorts of things (including washing old blankets and curtains!). With the weather change, there seems to be a need building to turn the house inside out and make it all fresh before winter. (also before my mother comes!)

T's birthday is a week from today. (This will be the real test to see if my sons actually READ this blog or merely SAY they do...!) He'll be officially retired and collecting U.S. social security! Finally! I've merely been living with an "unemployed statistic" for the last nine years!!! Still, all's well that ends well, I think going to visit the family in the U.S., is a nice prezzie!