Had just staggered out of bed and boiled the kettle for a cuppa when the lights went out. Then on. Then out. Repeat four times, then out. Permanently. I thought someone was mucking about with the switchboard (unlikely at 6:30 but you never know) but no. It was the entire district that was out. Oatlands to Levendale and all parts between.

I sat in the dark for a bit waiting for it to come back on again, but it didn't. So I lit the candles and wondered how to heat up my porridge. It did not seem a good time to be splitting kindling, so the fire was not an option, so eventually I lit the gas cooker and heated it up with a bit of milk to stop it sticking. Naturally a shower was completely out of the question since my water is delivered by pump, so I had a scratch wash and dressed in time for sunrise (which was spectacularly red this morning) and walked the dogs.

Wondered if the electrical failure would impact on the Bank's security and if so if I should actually go inside, but it turned out that parts of Oatlands are on a different circuit to the rest of us, so the bank was all electric. This lulled me into a state of false security, but I visited a friend for a bit just in case after running into a local at the shop who told me it was still out. Got home at 11 - still out. Rang Aurora again, was told to call back in 3 hours .............

The power came back on again at 1:30 which was a huge relief. There was a bit more of a pause in supply about half an hour later, but it is back on (hopefully) for the rest of the evening at least, and I have filled kettles, made sure the toilet is flushed and generally set myself up in case it goes off again. There seemed no obvious reason for the failure as we have not had the strong winds they threatened us with. Huh. Who knows.

Last night's meeting turned out to be much more complex than I expected as Council blithely announced they have condemned the grandstand. This is the only attractive building in the grouping, so I am bit peeved. But with years of neglect and vandalism by local kids I can see their point. Sigh. We hope to replace it with a less ambitious building with some tiered seating on a scale more appropriate to modern day 'crowds' (the five of us who sit and watch the sheep dog trials). Unfortunately they also decided to keep the concrete dunny block for a wood shed. This is the ugliest building down there and right in my line of sight. I will see if I can lobby for support to get rid of it too and build a woodshed into the new grandstand building instead. I won't hold my breath though.

So a far from dull day, and now to work out what is for dinner.....