La luz

When we first moved here, we were on builder's electricity supply. There was a large diesel powered generator connected by temporary cables around the estate to each house. It's the way things are done here in Spain. Forget the luxury of moving to a new house which is already connected to electricity, water, gas and yes even the telephone. Those things only happen much later here - if at all!

Whilst we were on builder's supply; the generator broke down, it ran out of fuel, one of the cables broke and the trips overloaded. Even when it was working properly; the lights would dim as people started to cook meals or switch their lights on. The only good thing about those days was that we didn't get any bills.

It was a huge relief when we got our habitation certificates and were at last connected to mains electricity. We thought all our problems with supply were over. That has not quite been the case. We've had the odd occasion when the electricity would go off for just a second or at most a minute - a nuisance but tolerable.

In the last few weeks though we've, suffered longer cuts. There has been no warning , no van with a loudspeaker or a leaflet through the door - the power just goes off and then we wait with baited breath for it to return. Nobody seems to know why it goes off or who mysteriously turns it back on again.

Yesterday was probably the worst because the electricity went on and off a few times during the afternoon only to go off and stay off for nearly two hours. When it finally came back on at 8:pm you could hear people cheering as if someone had just announced the end of a war. It did go off again a couple more times but only for a minute or so each time. Finally folks could cook a meal, make a cup of tea and settle down to their favourite TV programme.

We have our fingers and our toes and everything else crossed in the hope that the problems, whatever they were, are now sorted. If not, we can only hope that that person who restored our power yesterday lives nearby.