double power cut double annoyance!!

Yesterday like much of Scotland at half past 4 we were plunged into darkness. As it happened it was a particularly good time as we were having a meeting to finalise the annual accounts with the accountant and he was about to tell us how much his bill was going to be. Anyway Chay rushed off and  returned a few minutes later to tell us that the generator was in operation and that the power was due to be off for a few hours.

Over the next 30 minutes it became clear that Chay had his mind on other matters and indeed he started to get a little twitchy until eventually he came clean and admitted that he had had to borrow some of the fuel from the genreator and now needed to replace it unless we would run out of power. We parted company and he dashed off in his landrover- "to borrow" so supplies from my mothers tank. As my house and some of the staff accomodation is now on geothermal and solar power we could be little help on this occassion. Anyway true to form before Chay had returned the generator began to stall and eventiually the ligts went out - again. I remained reasoanbly philisophical, I thought, about thesituation, Chay began to sweat as I stood over him supervising the fuel transfer and within minutes we were up to speed.

However when Chay suggested a pause for a cup of tea as he predcited if he moved any fiurther fuel the power would be immediately restored by the national Grid I stood my ground and insisted that we move the correct amount of fuel to see us through the evening. True to his word as soon as the last tank was refilled there was a calll letting us know the power was resotored and we could put the generator back on standby- now noting that it was fully fueled.

This however was not the end of the story as this morning as I was seeing guests off I once again apologised for the disruption, as it happended most had been upstairs and once the generator had come on they had tried to watch the news but the lack of transmission had made this futile so many had simply opted for a short nap and therefore missed the excitment of Chays flashing light disco so by the time they had decided to prepare themselves for dinner we havd been up and running again. A lucky escape but probably a bit too close for my liking and hopefully the lesson has been learnt!!