Fortune Favours the Fortunate

Bang!

No lights, no fans, no TV, washing machine mid-way through a cycle and computers all went blank.

We had water and gas.

Nothing else. Nothing.

That was around eleven-thirty last night. The Electricity people came and fixed a burnt out wire but said they could do nothing about the circuit breaker that was flapping uselessly inside the house.

They gave us the number of a ‘wireman’ (domestic electrician) that we could call in the morning.

The Electricity people left around three o’clock in the morning. From then it became gradually more and more sticky. We were loath to open the fridge in case we let the cold out and the heat in. My lovely prawns from Sabah were in there to defrost.

These prawns are more like baby lobsters; they are delicious. We successfully consumed them later when the power came back on. There was no need to have electricity for cooking but it is much nicer to shower and clean the teeth first, is it not?

At midday the electrician came. Young man called Annan, he seemed a bit inexperienced but we watched him at his task and saw that he was very quick and efficient.

At last, the power comes back on. What a relief. Over thirteen hours without electricity. We suffered.

Then we thought about it.

What about all those people, all over the World, that have no electricity or cannot afford to pay for it or have it installed.

No mobile ‘phones because they cannot charge them up. No computers or digital cameras; no fans or air conditioning; no microwave or blenders or coffee machines; no electric light or satellite TV.

How spoilt are we? We who live in luxurious comfort when there are those about us who cannot even choose what to eat. People who are grateful to get anything at all to eat—anything. At all.

After filling my inner man with prawns, long beans and rice I went up to my office to start work. After opening up all the relevant files I realised how much I take this machine for granted.

Accessing information then indexing and arranging the notes are so simple. At a stroke it is possible to communicate with so many lovely people all over the World. The computer is such a blessing—how I wish I knew how to use it!

Ah! I think I hear the dishwasher starting. Must go down and see if the tea is brewed now that the kettle works again.

How fortunate we are. Sometimes it takes a small disaster to nudge us into remembering it.