The Lane in which I live is in an area known as ‘Lightning Valley’. Apparently, from the whole area, we get hit the most and also get the most amount of Power Cuts.

Last Thursday I was happily sitting in my Shed Office doing some Website work and I could sense and hear a rather spectacular thunderstorm getting closer and gaining momentum at the same time.

I knew it was time to save my work and move back into the house where I could at least use the Laptop on battery power and work offline. But no sooner had I thought that when the rain literally threw itself out the sky making a horrendous noise on the roof, almost waking my cat ‘Big Ron’ who was blissfully sleeping on the folded up camp bed under the desk and next to the heater!

I opened up the door and after thanking myself for building a little shelter above it, saw water falling over the top of the house guttering. There was no way I was leaving my Shed! Although only a five meter walk, I’d have been drenched through. Also, Big Ron is a cat who goes wherever you do and I know he wouldn’t have taken it too kindly either. Come to that, the carpets wouldn’t either.

Sure enough, after about five minutes of the Storm being above, one huge flash and instantanious thunderclap and out went the Electricity. This by the way, happens even when it’s not storming here and for that reason I have my faithful wind up Camping Lantern in the Shed.

Sitting alone with nothing to do at least gave me the time to do what I and many other’s I’m sure seldom do – THINK !
Memories flooded back of when, as a Child, not a week would go by without the TV Repair Man coming to change a Valve in the TV., the wonderment of having a Transistor Radio for the first time and if there were a power cut, you’d simply light the Candles and play a game or do a Jigsaw Puzzle.

I guess I’m lucky to be the age I am, because I can take it a bit better than the youngster who, after five minutes, get’s the shakes because the zapper or games console remote in their hands isn’t doing anything.
But even then, someone in some great Techy Company invented the iPod, so I imagine a great national rush of people going from their Sitting Room to find it, usually with the excuse they can use it as a torch as well.

Unless you’re elderly and suffering, what’s the harm in a couple of hours without electricity. I guess that Jigsaws nowadays are for the Under 10’s and Scrabble isn’t played so much because of the punch ups over if ‘zog’ is a proper word or not !

Big Ron and myself sat there for some 50 minutes in a rather nice enforced break from modern day technology, although I have to say that the Shed was getting quite cold by the end of it. I guess you could relate this a bit to the previous article about Ray Mears, is our modern day survival based around solely technology. It seems that it’s becoming a bit like food and life depends on it.

Even so, wish I was a teenager ! By the way, Big Ron didn’t wake up !