Barmy Blue's Bland Blog

Another elf. A she elf I think.

So. What to say? Yuki's tummy settled down. I haven't made much progress with that rug. Oh and we could have died in an electrical fire.

I'm being a little overly dramatic.

It was between 3-4am. Mum was sleeping in her chair. I was playing Sims. Then the light suddenly went out. My first thought. Power cut. But no. TV and PC working fine. Blown bulb. I wake mum up and turn on the other light. Doesn't work. Go round checking all lights.
Hallway light. Both living room lights. Both kitchen lights. Bathroom light. Toilet light. Don't work.

Cupboard under the stairs. Landing light. My bedroom. Spare room. Loft. All work. Mum's would probably have worked too but she needs to replace the bulb. She's been using a bedside lamp for a couple of years now, she can't be bothered to change the bulb.

When I went up stairs I could smell something. It's hard to describe exactly what it reminds me of. It's the smell of electrical wires. I used to smell it every weekend or so when I was little and watched Napoleon playing with his trains in the loft. It's a very familiar smell. It smells like metal but has a subtle kick in the back of the throat. It was strongest by the loft but when I went up there to check it was very cold and actually smelt kind of fresh, for a musty old loft that is.

I wanted to call Napoleon but it was 4am. I decided to wait up to call him at 6-7am, because he's up by that kind of time to get ready for work. Took me a while to remember it's Sunday and even he doesn't work on Sunday. I figured I'd have to stay up until 7:30-8am. I texted him in the hopes that he'd call when he was up, so I wouldn't have to call, wake him up and have him being all grumpy on the phone.

We have a couple of LED's we got for last Halloween. We lit a few old Christmas candles (mum saves the good ones every year in case of such emergencies) and I made my own little one for a stumpy little candle and a beef paste jar.

Mum waited up with me until about 6 but had to go to bed because her leg was hurting. I didn't really expect her to anyway. My main concern was that that wire smell could mean something was burning and I wanted one of us to be up until we could talk to Napoleon and find out if I was worried about nothing or not.

After an hour or so the smell was gone so I was a little more relaxed about my fear of an electrical fire.

I stayed down here until about 7:30 but there's only so long you can stare at a screen in the dark playing solitaire. I went up to my room to work on the rug but I was too tired for it. When it got to about 7:45 I turned off my light and opened the curtains, as it was daylight outside no sense in wasting one of the few working lights. I brought my phone up with me to make the call, or receive it.

I ended up curling up to nap about 8ish. about 8:10 my phone rings. The reception in my room is pretty spotty. I told Napoleon the problem he said he'd be round soon so I got up. Gone 9am when he arrived.

He thought a bulb had blown and tripped the downstairs circuit. He turned it back on and had me running around checking the lights. He asked what lights we had on when it went. I had to tell him several times, just the living room light. Then I noticed the kitchen light was on. I thought that's odd, did he leave the switch on when he was testing them. I tried to turn it off but it wouldn't. The other light worked properly though. Oddly enough it's the kitchen light that's rarely used. It's in the half of the kitchen that was supposed to be a dining room but is used for general storage.

Napoleon had a look at it. It was really burnt up inside. The neutral wire which is meant to be blue was burnt black and half melted off. He said water had somehow gotten into it. Not sure how. It's below the bathroom but the bath is against the wall and the sink against the other one. This light fixtur would be in the middle of the bathroom.

Now yesterday mum told me that Yui had peed there when she'd pooped in the whole house. Now that's shouldn't be a problem because our bathroom floor is lino. But there's been a slit in it for a couple of years now. I mean, come on, it's older than I am it's a wonder there's only one slit in it. But it's in the middle of the bathroom and, apparently, just above the fixture in the kitchen. Also I'm told Yui peed on that spot and mum squirted disinfectant over it when cleaning it up.

Mystery solved.

Napoleon fixed it but he said it's only a temporary fix. It's not screwed back up properly but it works. Yet another half done thing. He said it wouldn't look pretty but was too busy to think of the right wording so I did it for him. It won't be aesthetically pleasing. That's nothing new. I said aesthetics went out the window years ago. He also said that it could have caused a fire if it weren't for the fact that a Cousin Dave who was an electrician did the wring for them when they first moved in. It's all wired into some lovely life saving circuit breakers Which is why only the downstairs lights (and some upstairs) shut down. So. If you're still alive, because I haven't heard about you until now, thank you Cousin Dave.

I've now put some duct tape over the slit in the bathroom to try and prevent further blackouts.

So. That's all for now.

Bluebiird out.