More problems with electrics!

Followers of this blog who have been with me since the start of the year (and before) may remember the problems we had with the electrics here in the first week, that we couldn't turn the toaster and the kettle on at the same time without tripping out, that the microwave tripped out everytime and before starting to cook dinner we always had to light at least one candle.

Well, history is repeating itself at our new place. We took a spare toaster and microwave up there so we could at least have some lunch and coffee - but no way! The toaster has tripped the electrics at least twice and the microwave is not letting the toaster have it all it's own way.

The odd thing is, unlike at the villa, it's not tripping at the fuseboard in the house.

The first time the electrics tripped we sent a text to Jose, who we got the property from and although we had no contact from him, the electric was on a couple of hours later - we thought maybe there had been a power cut - after all, it's not as if we have street lights to check or a neighbour to see if they have any lights on - we were quite literally 'in the dark'.

A couple of days later we were once again suddenly without power and this time it didn't come on until the following day - we were without power for about 20 hours - such a good job we aren't living there yet.

So, I spoke with Tony, the agent, to see whether there was something we needed to know about the power supply or whether we would need to get a generator as back up for these frequent periods without electric.

I remember when I first bumped into our neighbour, she was so envious that we had mains power as they were still waiting for theirs to be connected after 12 months of living in their house (they should be connected next Wednesday, according to the latest update).

Anyway, I felt envious of the constant hum of her generator this week - at least it kept going.

Yesterday, the power went off again - not good when you are having a day working on the lights, you need power to at least see that they work ok. Normally, I wait until the end of the day to send texts, when we are in the car, on the road and back in sight of the phone mast - but not today. I shut the dogs in the house (or they would follow me up to the road) and took the car until I could get a signal to be able to text Jose again.

Within the hour he was at the house and said he would show Neil how to reset the power, and off they went for a drive.

Now, it turns out that although we have mains power, it's not a direct supply. We actually have a cable running from the nearest television mast, with a trip switch on the side of the building that houses the electrics for the TV mast. All legal, it was installed over 20 years ago and probably, in it's day, was incredibly up to date for a country house to have mains power - but not today. There is this large black cable that seems to run down the hill to the house, held up by homemade posts and at one point, looks to be joined by a large clump of tape - all rather Heath Robinson-ish.

When our power trips, it doesn't need resetting in the house, oh no, you have to don hiking boots and a back-pack to climb up to the top of the hill , to the base of the TV mast and reset the switch up there. Not exactly convenient but, for now, the only way of getting power back on.

Jose then told us that next week, he will be digging a trench with his tractor - from our house, down the valley, up the other side because we are being connected to the new electricity tower that our neighbours are being connected to. They have waited over a year, we aren't even living in the house yet but already look as if we will be connected up directly to the grid.

Hopefully that will be then end of the power cuts and the uphill hikes - but until then, we just turn the trips to reset the trip switch into fun dog walks.