I have a great many character flaws.  One of them is that I love luxury, followed closely by loving creature comforts and all things that make me feel that “everything is alright in the world”.  In my past, this would have been things like fluffy slippers on an international flight, accompanied by a shot of Grey Goose vodka, and a caviar blini.  In the past year, having gone through some tough times, creature comforts have been as simple as looking out of my window and seeing a sunrise, or a sunset, or having a surprisingly good bottle of sauvignon blanc pop up in the fridge I had accidentally forgotten about.

All of this was, however, until Friday evening, when some very mischievous chaps stole our electricity cables.  I have always had an issue with sleep.  Sleep and I are strangers to each other.  We meet occasionally, greet each other politely, and move on.  I spend many hours out of twenty four awake.  In fact, on average, if I sleep for four or five hours, I consider it nothing short of a life-given miracle. 

And so it was on Friday evening that I awoke as normal, at around 1am, only this time, with quite a start as I heard a loud “thump”.  I got up and ran to the window thinking I may see seven sleep angels marching towards me with a host of cures for insomnia, but nothing.  As I turned around to return to my nocturnal Alcatraz, bed, there was an even louder explosion like noise, and our power was like my youthful slender figure – gone.

So began a very long, rather dark weekend.

It took the neighbourhood quite some time to realise that in front of us were cables lying in our trees, disheveled and sad looking.  Being blessed with somewhat krissy hair, my lack of ability to use my jet-engine like hairdryer resulted in a weekend of me looking remarkably like Whoopi Goldberg in the early ‘80’s.  This of course was accompanied by make-up done in the semi-dark which looked much like the Sahara desert – light in patches, deep holes in other places, and the odd mirage.

Suddenly, fluffy slippers on a flight to Paris seem not only like a luxury, but more like something you feel you will never experience ever again.  And what was even worse than that thought, was the realization that with every passing minute, the wine was getting warmer… and so was the ice.  None of this is good.

Of course, as we all know, every cloud has a silver lining in the world I live in, and in this case, there were a few.  I have lived in this house since 1979.  That is a jolly long time.  Most of my neighbours have been my neighbours since before 1979, and as a semi-community, the decades have brought us closer to each other, for which I am deeply appreciative.  Suddenly there was an overwhelming sense of community as we decided who should phone who, who should say what and plans were established with military precision.  In no time, there were reference numbers flying about, security vans had arrived, D.A. Councilors were milling about checking we were okay and telling us that cable theft in our quiet suburban neck of the woods is a real concern at present.

We were promised electricity by a certain hour last evening; it was 6p.m.  This thought filled me with delight.  Of course, 6p.m. is drinks hour, so I knew I could have that glass under electric light, with some rather runny ice.  Well, 6p.m. came and went… but twelve hours later, at 6a.m. the power was restored and with great delight, I knew the ice would start to re-freeze.

I digress with all the details, for which I apologise, but you knowing about the state of my ice and wine is always important.

The lesson, however, is more important:  you think fluffy slippers and international jet-setting is what is important to one, and you suddenly realise that the basic needs are far more necessary – light, warmth, but more than that, community strength, camaraderie and team-work.  I don’t regret the sense of closeness realized this weekend; which means I don’t regret the power outage.  All this being said, however, I also know the fundamental universal law that “if you steal from life, life will steal from you”.  And so, to those cable thieves out there, good luck this winter because for every cable you steal, I feel sure life will steal a sock or a fluffy slipper from you, and I have to say, that can’t be much fun.