Never let it be said we don't take things to extremes...

I know many people observed Earth Hour on Saturday night. We kind of took things to extremes in an attempt to outdo everyone else.

We lost our mains power on Saturday afternoon and proceeded to spend the next 48 hours without electricity, impressing the neighbours with the sheer number of very large vans and trucks that could be squeezed into and parked on the side of our narrow one-way lane (four big vans, a flat-bed truck and a digger at the peak), and with the sheer size of the hole that kept growing in the footpath and laneway outside our house. It turns out the cable had been damaged some years back when cables were laid, and had chosen that moment to give up the ghost.

We also became increasingly amused at the level of distress people experience when confronted with people who can happily live without electricity for a couple of days. They're really not sure what to do, or think. The poor electric board man came back no less than four times to make sure we hadn't come to our senses and decided that we did want a generator after all.

But we were fine. We camp a lot, we're equipped to live off the grid. We'd pulled out the petrol stove and the paraffin lamps, and were living our lives as normal, just a bit less brightly in the evenings. And opening the fridge a lot less, of course. I did, however, have a very long hot shower when the power came back on yesterday afternoon!

I blame Mr. G. myself, because the last email he sent me before getting on the plane discussed buying an old cottage without power for a weekender. In that, he made the comment that the two of us living off the grid was meant to be. We've laughed ourselves silly all weekend. What a welcome home!