And then the power died. (text only)

The electrics in Castle Vanian have been a cause for concern for many years. I've spent plenty of sleepless nights worrying about them shorting out or causing a fire. Why? Because the house - and it's an old one! - still had its original wiring.

For twelve years, we were relatively lucky. We didn't burn to death in our sleep so, hey, it was all good. Sure... the lights went out a few years back but we just plugged in lamps and kept going. Sure... we couldn't run the washing machine and dryer at the same time, without tripping the electrics, but you get used to that.

Then, a week ago last Thursday, our luck ran out.

No, there was no fire, but the electrics tripped and wouldn't come back on.

Groan.

Couldn't have happened at a worse time. With five puppies running around, a buttload of laundry to be done, and the cold weather setting in, losing power was a real pain in the ass.

Then we found out that the whole house would have to be rewired - at a cost of £2,400!

Yikes.

The first two nights were absolute hell. Then, we had the brilliant idea of getting a generator. A gallon of petrol really didn't last long (3-5 hours) - and didn't run much - but it was absolute bliss. We had the generator running from Friday night until Monday night. It was a good thing that work was due to start on Tuesday because one of our douchetard neighbours complained to the council about the noise - even though it was well within EU noise regulations - and we got a nasty visit from them, telling us we couldn't run the generator any longer.

I was not impressed by their visit. They decided they were going to complain about the ''state of our house''. Well, EXCUSE ME. I mean... it's not so easy to clean when you HAVE NO FUCKING LIGHTS. Not that they cared.

Anyway.... The electricians came in on Tuesday and got to work. They were both lovely and friendly. And they did a great job too.

While working in the bathroom, they found our immersion tank (I didn't know we had one!) and got it working. That means we can take hot baths!

Plus, they noticed that the pressure in the shower wasn't great so they fixed that too.

So, after a week and a day of not having power, we're back up and running again AND have hot baths and a powerful shower.

Win.