Connecting you now...

At last!!!

We were finally re-connected to the power grid this afternoon after 9 days without electricity. The line you see on the right was taken out by falling trees in the storm on 12th and there were several more breaks downstream, but as the spur only serves four houses we were low on the list of many thousands of faults.

Daily life was teetering on the edge and another day would have required an evacuation. Water from the roof tanks was all but exhausted and sewage, which also has to be pumped, was beginning to back up. Frustratingly, some neighbours had been reconnected quickly but were great and let us visit for showers and drinking water.

The ESB ('Electricity Supply Board') were excellent and although a day later than promised did get the job done - although we did feel a little peeved seeing them all in a warm hotel last night in Bantry when we were returning to a cold house after the cinema!

This guy was amazing, climbing a swaying pole with spiked boots in a strong wind and bursts of heavy rain .