I have not been around much lately.
On a Tuesday morning a couple of weeks ago, our electricity sub-station burnt down. It provided power to a very large area, couple of Km2.
Looking at pics of the damage, repairs would take a few days.
My first concern was my German neighbour who is permanently connected to an oxygen machine. So I walked over, assessed and discussed the situation and short term solutions.
He had enough battery backup for a couple of hours (roof panels) but not enough to get through the night.
Decision – buy a generator with a self starter, they could then start the machine on their own.
A phone call from a friend advised that the closest large shops had long queues of people buying generators, so we then went to a Builders about 20Km away.
They did not have a lot of stock or a large selection.
So I bought a 3Kw self starter for my neighbour, a 2.7Kw for our house and a 1.2Kw for my other neighbour (she only wanted to run her fridge)
All 3 are Ryobi machines.
The self starter battery was faulty, so I had to pull start all three machines. (I am sure I tore a muscle in the right shoulder)
The 3Kw machine ran 24 hours, supplying power to the oxygen machine, fridges, deepfreeze and TV.
I had to fill all 3 machines regularly with petrol, and start them.
The 3Kw filling was at 06:00, top up 14:00 and fill up at 20:00 (there was a panic call one morning at about 5AM – petrol finished and battery power zero)
Our generator was sited next to the front door and garage door. Got hold of a nice hefty cable, fitted 3-pin plugs on each end. Plugged into the generator and the other plug directly into a wall plug in the garage. Switch off the Main on the DB board, start generator, and the whole house was powered! The only thing that would not work was the hot water heat pump. It pulled 1.2Kw to start which just kept tripping the generator.
So, cold showers are NOT OK in winter, we resorted to boiling water and washing.
Cooking was not a problem as we have a gas hob.
We were without power for 8 days while a temporary sub-station was built. As they were busy cabling, some ‘unknown’ people stole the cables faster than what they could connect them!!
Well what was I doing with my spare time, apart from budgets and dealing with old people?
Before the power came back on, the wife went into hospital, for 5 days, for a reverse shoulder replacement, right side. She is right handed.
This now meant that I became:-
The chief cook
The designated driver (at the least next 3 months)
The chief procurement officer (study the specials, check the prices, check expiry dates, check tomatoes are not soft, potatoes hard, bananas not bruised – a whole new experience!)
The clothes washer (I drew a very big line when it came to ironing)
The dish washer, drier and packer-awayer
The assistant physio exerciser
The shower helper (fortunately the one bathroom has a very large walk in shower) with a fold down seat
The hair washer
The first few days were not good, until she realised that the left hand can actually do a lot for her. Makes her own breakfast and lunch, and can wash herself. She can also dress herself and put the sling back on.
The physio started off at 3 times a week and now down to 2 per week. When we go for that, I do any shopping at the same time, and then I also cook for us using someone else’s hands and kitchen. (We are starting to run out of restaurants.)
Busy week this coming week. Physio, shopping, lunching out, cooking and then on Thursday I present the budget to the home owners. If accepted, I can then start with the financial year end.
I had more free time when I worked!
Phil