I lost power yesterday just after lunch, but thankfully just after we established that my sister’s plane had indeed landed in Moncton. Phew! She spent the night safe and warm in my cousin’s house being spoiled rotten and then another cousin is driving down here for Christmas and has found her a seat in his van. So hopefully she’ll be here by the afternoon and her nightmare, fifty hour trip will be over.
The bad news is that her luggage didn’t get on the plane 😦 Apparently the airline has it, knows where it is, and will be trying to reunite her with it ASAP. For now, though, she needs to buy some necessities and we both need to purchase token gifts for the parents because the real gifts were in her suitcase. Da’s comment this morning was that he slept much better last night than he has since he arrived because it feels like things are finally going our way.
The window held, although it was leaking heat like a seive which wasn’t good once the power had gone. Around mid-afternoon the winds started to die down a bit, enough that my parents could get out of the house without being blown over, so they went to the hardware store to pick up some wood to secure the window better. They also went to the store to pick up some groceries including some hot chicken for supper. Yay! Miracle of miracles, just as we’d served up supper for Mum and I and were trying to work out what to do with Da’s cold tofu, the power came back. Hooray! It flickered a lot over the next couple of hours and then steadied. It’s amazing how much better one feels with hot food and hot tea inside and some actual lights.
The window has now been boarded on the inside so we’re not worried about flying glass if the inner pane gives way. Hopefully today we’ll be able to get out and secure it from the outside so that nothing can smash the inner pane. Boarding the window also insulated it better, which we decided was a good thing just in case the power went out again.
The glass that we picked up looks incredibly thin and we suspect that the window wasn’t quite as well-constructed as it should have been. Damn contractor who built the house. Our roof was not the one loosing shingles – it was my neighbour. We replaced our roof in the spring when we discovered that it was very poorly constructed. His house was built by the same contractor and he obviously didn’t replace the roof. Now we’re feeling very grateful for spending the money on a new roof because our neighbour is going to have a nighmare getting that fixed. Plus he’s trying to sell the house!
The adrenaline ran out not long after the power came back and we all kind of flumped. Once we’d got the window boarded and some of the mess cleared up, we decided that we needed a truely daft, escapist movie to unwind with. Cue Star Trek IV! Damn, that move is fun and it reminded me yet again why Bones is my favourite original Trek character 🙂
I’m at work today and the good news is that the office was in fact closed all day yesterday rather than just until noon so I haven’t lost a day of pay. Apparently the power was out most of the day here. There has been ‘discussion’ over the late announcement of the closure on the emergency line – nothing was said about my office until well after most people had started to battle their way in. The window was the only reason that I didn’t come in first thing and a lot of people then had difficulty getting home again due to the storm. Methinks that the decision will be made a bit earlier next time!
To sum up, my sister is going to get here in a few hours, the window is semi-secure, my cousin will be on a flight here this afternoon, we have power and I’ve still got enough time to do the last bits of shopping that I need. Christmas is starting to look more hopeful than it was twenty-four hours ago 🙂
Of Books and Cats 