Sometimes things happen that make you realise just how dependent you are getting on modern technology. Yesterday was one of those days when the electricity went off just after 2.00 pm and stayed off until about 8.00. We have no idea why this happened - the rumour was that a cable was cut while some building work was done to a house just down the read but this no-one can confirm. The thing was that I soon realised how much one relied on electricity. We had no light, of course, but fortunately we had some candles which we dug out and lit as the darkness fell. But everything esle was off too. I was glad that it was a mild day yesterday so I didn't miss the central heating too much but we didn't have hot water either (the boiler whech supplies the central heating and hot water may be gas but it needs electricity to get going). So no washing up, no machine working and increasingly getting darker. Every time I thought of something to do I had to say no because electricity was involved in someway or another: shredding papers, mowing the lawn.... all impossible without electricity. I rang up the emergency number for power custs and was told that 220 households were affected by the power cut.

The electricity came back on about 8.00 and all is well now but it really makes you think just how many of the things that surround you rely on electricity. And how much you rely on modern technology.