Author Topic: Snap

sam

Snap
« on: July 01, 2015 »
My ride began just after the day, a 00:20 launch into the cool night air. No 80 degree inferno for me thanks. (Yes, I've lived places hotter, where 100 degrees is no cause for particular alarm. After you've lived somewhere with no true summer for a while, you begin to forget it ever existed.)

As I left I could see the electricians working down the field to bring light back to the territory.…

Yesterday evening I was sitting at my desk and heard a SNAP. Out of the corner of my eye I spied a power line fluttering to the ground outside my window. Which is one way to turn off a computer. The lights did that flickery thing they do in movies when a condemned man is getting executed in a chair connected to the mains.

When powerguy arrived he had to cool his heels while dispatch started switching off the rest of the locals to make it safe. We chatted about his job (he loves it), lambs (he does lambing), rabbits (he breeds them), and of course, electricity. "It's the heat," he said. Sometimes it makes things snap.

Other powerguys arrived and I left them to it as the house darkened along with the day. And so to bed. Then awake a few hours later for that ride. First I tramped down the field to check on progress; this was a long stretch of line that had to be reaquainted with itself. "Should be a few more hours," they said. I had hours.

Did my usual rounds, for the last mile or so turning off my front light to truly savour the lack of distractions. Like Luke Skywalker, I didn't need visual aids to hit the sweet spot.

They were just finishing up as I arrived home. I thanked powerguy. Imagine that: spending time doing something you love.