Parenting...in the dark

I don't know if it is our new flat, or the new regime, but since the start of the year we have been experiencing brown-outs every day and a weekly rolling blackout!

We have an almost constant fluctuating voltage reaching the apartment and we know this because the UPS for the computer (uninterrupted power supply - not the postal service as I first thought) and the surge protector for the telly click on and off all the time. Most of the time the electricals can cope but every now and then the variation will be enough to kick off the router or the AC.

Towards the very start of the year we had an hour-long black-out which motivated us to buy an emergency light. This light is dead clever because it sits plugged into the power and when it senses that there is no longer power, it turns itself on. Over the last month we've had a black out of nearly bang-on an hour once a week, so I thought I would chronicle our favourite black-out stories.

5. Otlob. We do still manage to eatwhen the powergoes. If we have dinner on its way then the delivery guy has a fun time negotiating the stairs by the light of his mobile. We then have to try and read the bill and find change jn the dark.
4. Baby Massage
3. Final Feed.  I normally need the room pretty dark on the final feed these days as Leila gets so easily distracted. This evening she was close  to being down when the power went so it wasn't too bad for her. Scotty soon came along with a torch so I could see as I left the room.  The fun really started with cooking dinner which wedid on gas using the emergency light. Dinner was by emergency light with music from the ipod!
2. Games Night. This was the power cut that led to us buying he emergency light. The Prebbles wereover for games night and we wersin the middle of agame when thepower went.  We finished the game with torches!
1. Worst blackout experience was last week when I was on my own getting Leila ready for her bath while Scotty was picking up a few things from Carrefour on his way home. I had just got Leila undressed when the power went! So I popped her safely in her cot whilst I went in search of our lamp. On my way back to her with the light my phone goes and it's Scotty who doesn't have his keys! Luckily I don't need to leave the flat to let him in as the bowab lets him in to the building and I can meet him at the door, Leila is pretty restless now so we push ahead with a low lit bath. With all the faff though it turns out that I have hit my phone and it has sent a random text message to Gina! She is naturally panicked and so calls me, but my phone decides to play up and she can't hear me so is even more confused! I manage to call and reassure her on Scott's phone, we manage to give Leila her bath and put her to bed and we both collapse on the couch!