Small things and damp connections

Yesterday we had rain and mud. Today we have rain, mud and strong winds (“fresh to strong and gusty” according to the weather service). I just brought in my laundry wetter than when I put it out, but I didn’t want my neighbour having to return “intimate items.” We’re not on such close terms that they could return underwear, or us receive it, with equanimity.

So we’ve had rain, mud, wind, intermittent power failures accompanied by loud bangs from the transformer…what is still to come? When I called the power company again this morning, the gentleman wearily told me that I didn’t need to spell the name of my road as he was quite familiar with it already. There was a team out here complete with cherry picker and lit up like an alien spacecraft at 10.30 last night and another team here before 9am.

We never fully lost power but seemed to lose certain circuits with each bang. When one neighbour rang last night to check, we thought we were fine as we were watching a DVD without interruption. Investigating further, we found the oven, stereo and various lights out of action. Fortunately we were able to finish off our dose of West Wing.

Things seem to have settled down enough to fire up the computer. But if I disappear between one word and the next, you will know why – either power failure or we have blown off the hillside.

Wrangling damp, recalcitrant children into the car this afternoon, I looked up to heaven and rolled my eyes in frustration. What caught my eye were not the heavenly hosts, but a Hapag-Lloyd container whisking past on the highway. Snugged up to an Evergreen container, the truckload seemed to illustrate two parts of my life – the Taiwan and German connections. It is amazing that a company that made a great deal of money out of shipping migrants from Hamburg to colonies north and south, still shuttles around the world. Even more amazing is that it still has a presence in this part of the world.

And by the way, today is a small milestone in the history of this blog – the 100th post.