Hassles of a Power Outage

Yesterday, in the Los Angeles area we hit a record heat of 113 degrees. It felt like Vegas weather or Arizona weather. What made it worse was the power went out in our neighborhood at 6 PM. We had no air, no fans could go on, and Edison had no time frame of when they could fix it. The neighbor behind me works at Edison. My neighbor and I went over there and he was calling his guys on his crew and was unable to reach anyone. I thought maybe he had some pull and this could get back on quickly.

The pole sits in my neighbor next doors backyard. It has a transformer on it as well. I didn't want to go to a hotel for the night for 2 reasons. One is my cat. I didn't want to lock her in a heated house all night. Second of all, after hearing the out break of bed bugs in hotels and motels I thought we would rough it out. We had candles and flashlights. My husband got out his generator. We have had the generator for 20 years. We bought it brand new. My husband went and got gas for it. But it would kick over. He got frustrated and quit after trying in the dark to make it work.

We have a few elderly neighbors on our cul de sac. I called their daughter and she came and picked them up to stay with them for the night. They have been known to fall and without any lights that was risky. My other neighbor and myself checked on the elderly neighbors here to make sure everything was taken care of for them.

At 4 AM there was a banging at our door. It was Edison. He needed to get to the pole in our neighbors yard. They were gone so my husband unlocked our gate and let him in our backyard. Unfortunately, the transformer was frozen and he was not allowed to climb poles in the dark. I understand as he was also alone and it could be dangerous. After he left we fell back asleep.

It is 10 AM and I am still waiting for a crew to come out and fix the problem. The heat is going to be about the same today. Edison told me I can go online when the power comes back and they have a claim form if I want to claim any of our lost food in the freezer and refrigerator. I just want the power back on as soon as possible, I do not do well in the heat. Edison said it was caused by extreme heat. Oh, how we depend on our electricty when we do not have it. Even my cordless phones don't work. My cell has enough charge on it so far. I can always plug it into my car charger if need be.

I didn't even mind the cold shower this morning that I took in the dark. If the electricity doesn't come on soon I may find myself in another cold shower. My pool is dry as we are in the process to have it replastered. Otherwise, I would be in my pool. Seems like everything has gone wrong at once. Oh the power of electricity. It means so much when you do not have it!