At midday today our power went off. I was expecting it to be off for a short time.......not for ten and a half hours. The kids weren't bothered at all. It was a lovely evening and they played outside until the rain set in at about 6 o'clock. I wasn't bothered either until Bryony decided it was bedtime and needed a bottle of warm milk immediately. Having chopped some kindling (not one of my better skills.....poor patio) I lit the woodburner and warmed her bottle on there. It took twenty minutes longer than she would have liked but patience is a virtue right?
By the time Mark called from his hotel room in Lincoln I had made the kids some hot chocolate on the woodburner, read countless Mr Men books by candlelight and was down to the very last dregs of my candle collection - who wants their home to smell like 'sparkling cinnamon'? He probably thought that I was a bit off with him but I wasn't really interested in where he was meeting his colleagues for supper because here we were doing 101 ways with a saucepan and woodburning stove!
Once Jamie and Carys had gone to bed I was considering how fortunate I am. Not once did either of them moan about not being able to watch television, access the internet or play on the wii. Then I chuckled again about the conversation I had with Carys just before she went to bed.
Carys: "We have only lived in Great Oak for five months and we've had loads of power cuts that have lasted forever, been flooded in three times, flooded out once and had brown, muddy water for a whole weekend."
Me: "Lots of people have had power cuts this year because of the really strong winds and lots of people couldn't get to places because of flood water, it wasn't only Great Oak that had storms. Its lovely here. The Red Kites are back, there's a pair of Blue Tits in the nesting box and the weather is much improved. Great Oak is a great place to live."
Carys: "ummmm.....maybe, but until I see at least two baby Blue Tits I'm just going to call it Oak."
