Tempting fate

WHEN the thunderstorm was raging the other night, I fully expected my power to go out. I even lit a candle in anticipation, and unplugged some stuff just in case.

It didn’t happen though, and the storm passed without causing us to lose power, although I did read in the paper the next day that some parts of the west of Scotland did suffer that annoyance.

Yesterday, after the storm, I was enjoying a nice sunny day off. I went and bought some salad stuff and a nice big potato that I stuck in the oven and set the timer. I had the TV on and was upstairs fitting a new blind in the bedroom. I was listening to the news headlines on the TV, when suddenly I could hear nothing. I just assumed that the audio had failed on the programme, and would be sorted by them pretty smartly, as it was a live news programme. But after a minute or so of silence, I though I better go and see what was going on.

When I came downstairs, the TV was off completely. I walked through to the kitchen, and noticed the oven was off too. I tried the kitchen light: nothing. A quick look at the electricity box, and I noticed that the entire panel had tripped off. Not an individual circuit, but the whole box. I switched it back on, and immediately the TV sprung back into life. Weird, I thought.

I went to the kitchen, re-set the timer on the oven, and turned it back on.

Just over an hour later, the timer went off, and I was looking forward to my salad and baked potato. I got the oven glove ready to take the tray out of the oven, opened the door and waited for the blast of hot air that always rushes out. Only it didn’t come. I grabbed the tray from the oven with the glove, but it didn’t feel hot, so I just picked it up with my bare hands. It was completely cold; as was my potato. It appears I was trying to cook a baked potato using only the heat from the bulb in the oven.

So, after suffering the massive storm with only the slightest flicker of lights, 20 minutes cooking time of a potato managed to blow the oven. Arse.

See what I was saying about life being good sometimes, just forget that.

I’m off to look at new cookers.