The blackout - written by candelight

Local lady Amanda Martin provides readers with a humorous as well as serious insight into what life is like without electricity.

IT'S just after 7 p.m. on Tuesday, March 30, and the husband and I are watching the One Show while making dinner.

It's a bitterly cold and stormy day. Sleet and snow on the mouth of Easter. The lights flicker and go off. They come back on and the husband starts re-setting clocks.

The lights go out again. We wait for them to come on again. They don't. I ring NIE and get the automated fault system. I don't know at this point that 'auto' will become my NBF (new best friend) over the next number of days.

Skip forward to Wednesday, March 31.

Don't mind the lights being out though I'm getting fed up with NIE keeping me in the dark. Spoke to a human. That gave me a shock. Disappointed that she couldn't tell me when the electricity supply would be restored. No information on radio news broadcasts. NIE spokesperson, fault reporting staff and 'auto' all singing from the same hymn sheet.

I ring 08457 643 643 at intervals. NBF hasn't been updated since 20.00 hours and it's now midnight. 29 hours without electricity. We're better off than people in Dunaghy though. At least we have water to drink and can flush the toilet.

Freezers defrosting. All the time and effort spent making proper beef and chicken stock wasted. Gino D'Campo recipe sauces. Shop-bought food can be replaced. Homemade with love and care can't. Not when you've lost heart.

Thursday, April 1.

Getting really frustrated. The humans at NIE are quoting the Mission Statement at me like it's a mantra. Ring the Consumer council. They note my complaint and say they will ask NIE public relations to contact me.

Nice gril from fault centre phones. Oh dear. She can't tell me if NIE are going to bring generators to worst hit areas. She doesn't know if NIE and NI Water are doing anything to get generators to pumping stations to restore water.

Can she tell me if there are people in dire straits without heat and water that we could take help to? No.

I ask what NIE are doing to help them. She quotes the Mission Statement. I tell her it's not only unhelpful it's unsulting And yes, I know it's much more difficult to find fault on sections of the network that are underground, but I point out that it's the overhead lines where the faults are.

NIE are throwing everything they've got a this. She tells me they have brought in extra staff and a helicpoter. I say she can tell me they have 10,000 extra staff, but none of them are on the ground here.

Access has been a problem she says. Oh really! People coming through Loughguile on their way to work in Ballymoney had no trouble driving past the downed poles. Not a NIE team in sight.

Thursday April 1

Sending the husband out on a reccie. He's glad to get out for a bit of peace. I'm gradually disintegrating into a mad woman. There's only so much Sophie Dahl peanut butter fudge a person can make by candlelight. My eyes are burning from reading in same candlelight.

Thought I knew the way to the back door without the aid of a torch. I walked into the kitchen door, some prat left ajar. Ok, so it was me.

One tends to forget that the partly open door is now a hazard. And the candles! Better blow them out in case the house burns down.

I realise how scary it is to be POWERLESS!

I think about the people who are on their own. Isolated. No light, no water, no heat, no hope.

I tell Michaela I can't understand why NIE aren't putting those worst affected up in hotels.

Apparently that's not part of their Code of Practice/Standards.

The Red Cross and other volunteers are left to set up crisis centres.

When this is over NIE have some questions to answer, issues to address.

I for one want sight of the fault and repair records for Calheme, Cloughmills and Loughguile.

I want to know how long NIE have had knowledge of areas susceptible to adverse weather conditions and what they have done to ensure that those overhead lines are as secure as is humanly possible.

I want to know what NIE's long and short term strategy is.

They are crowing about throwing resources at the incident.

Firefighting is the worst way to expend energy and funds.

Forward planning is a constructive manner is the sensible solution to long term stability within the network.

In my opinion, in order to meet targets and obligations made to consumer bodies, etc, NIE chose to fix the faults that would get the highest volume of customers' power restored.

It was 5.30pm on Thursday before the repair team got to Landhead Road.

There were no access problems.

Friday April 2

They're working flat out but we don't expect power to be restored today - Good Friday.

Going to the Joey Dunlop Centre for a wash...

Good Friday p.m.

The electricity came back on at around 12.30 p.m. some 65 and a half hours since power failed.

The husband is running round like a dog with twho thingamies. Central heating and hot water on at full blast. Remote control in each hand.

I can't describe how wonderful it is to sink into ahot bath and wash my hair, but I feel really bad about the hundreds/thousands of people still without power.

This has been a terrible experience. I can't praise the repair teams enough.

Related topics: