And there was light.....

Just had a strange 40 minutes. I may be a sad old git sitting in front of my computer as a substitute for a life, but this time I had an excuse. At 7 p.m. all the lights went out - a good old-fashioned power cut, reminiscent of the glorious winter of 1973 when I was thirteen and at boarding school and power cuts were fun, fun, fun, not to mention leading to the miners destroying Heath's government.

I thought about inching along the corridor to the fuse box, but soon realised a) I knew where the fuse box was but, having only lived here three weeks and not having had occasion to look into the cupboard yet, I would have stood no chance whatever of finding a fuse, and b) a glance out of the window told me that every house along the street had suffered the same fate. (Torches? Candles? In a house I've just moved in to? Do me a favour.) In fact every house within sight - my first impulse, being the man I am, was to take refuge in the Fox & Goose, but they were equally blacked out. So I went to sit in the car, as the only source of light, until it occurred to me that I might as well go back into the house and switch the computer on, as the battery was charged up. At least that provided enough light to find the gin and tonic I'd been drinking....