Sunday 26th
I’m writing this offline on Sunday the 26th of January, I have no idea when I’ll be able to get back online to upload it, but I’m sure you’ll get to read it at some stage. This is due to the fact that the latest storm (Storm Éowyn) left us with no power. It’s one of the worst storms I can remember in all my years of living in Ireland, I was so surprised that we didn’t lose some of the slates from the roof, and I thought we’d lose the dormer windows during the night, it was wild!
We did lose the fence at the back, and the shed, but it could have been so much worse. We are now on day 3 with no electricity though, that means no lighting or heating, and our mobile phone signal is off too. As it’s been down to -3 at night, we’ve even had snow, and it’s very cold, and the beds are starting to feel damp. We are lucky though, we have a roof over our heads, and a one ring camping stove, so we can make tea, and even do toast on the frying pan.
On Friday night we went out to get a takeaway, it seemed like the whole of Sligo had the same idea, and as so many places, including the whole of our village had no power we tried other places, without a phone signal we couldn’t find out who had power and who didn’t.
We went to Ballisodare first, but the takeaways were wedged and there was nowhere to park, we tried McDonalds and KFC next, and the carpark was just jammed, so we ended up in Collooney and waited over an hour for food, the staff in Eagles Takeaway were brilliant, so calm and considerate, and everyone had the chats while we were all waiting. Again, we were the lucky ones, as they ran out of food, and people had to be turned away. I’m really wishing that we had a gas cooker though, at least we’d be able to cook, and it’d give us a bit of heating if we had the oven on low. It started snowing as we were waiting for our food, and the drive home was quite dodgy. When we arrived home the power came back – as soon as I turned the heating on it went off again!
The rest of the village had their power back yesterday afternoon, but over 30 houses in our area are still without ours, including the church. We’ve been told that the estimated day that we’ll get it back is Tuesday at 4pm, so that’s still another 48 hours at the time of me typing this. We have a sort of half power at the moment, so the fairy lights that we left up from Christmas are half flickering, and then going off.
Last night there was a yellow warning for ice, and the roads were very icy this morning, making it unsafe to go anywhere. We are due another storm today, and there is a yellow wind warning in place, it’s not a red warning like the storm on Thursday night though. Hopefully it’ll be kinder to us.
I was in Manchester last week, if you follow me on social media you’ll have seen some posts, I’ll write about it all properly whenever things get back to normal. Luckily I flew back on Thursday evening before the storm – phew.
I hope you are all keeping well, and haven’t been too badly affected by the weather. If we had a bit of heat it wouldn’t be too bad, and I’m thinking back to the days when we had a gas superser. The storms seem to be coming in quick succession these days, and I dread it when I hear there’s another one of the way.
Tuesday 28th
We are now on day five of no electricity. I’d like to say a big thank you to the people who got in touch offering us hot water, a place to charge our phones, showers, a place to cook food etc. and a special thanks to the lady who offered us a room, and to the lady who offered to send money so we could go to a bed and breakfast, it really is very much appreciated, and we are very grateful. On Sunday evening two angels arrived to the house with a generator, so we have had some heating and lamps all thanks to them. We are so grateful, their kindness was so unexpected and so appreciated.
The timeline of the power being restored has now changed from Tuesday, and is now meant to be Thursday at 9pm. I really hope it’s sooner rather than later. Poor Lucy is also without power in Roscommon, and she also has no water. Hers isn’t promised back until February 5th! I’m listening to the radio and there are electricians arriving from other countries to help today, so fingers crossed that the rest of the 200,000+ houses in Ireland will have their power restored as soon as possible.
Dinner over the last few nights has consisted of biscuits or pot noodles/rice, and we’ve lost all the food in the freezers – my freezer of happiness is no longer very happy, and I’ll have to throw everything out.
We are some of the lucky ones though, we have a roof over our heads. It just proves to me how much we all rely on electricity, and how a bad storm can batter the country. I do wonder if the electricity cables can be put underground, or if something could be done to improve the infrastructure, especially now as the storms seem to be coming one after another.
Cafe Fiá, the community cafe in Coolaney village opened yesterday for those who don’t have power, and we had a lovely lunch there today, it was so nice to have some lovely warm soup and toast, and a warm environment.
Thanks for reading, and thanks so much again to those of you who got in contact with me to offer help, we really appreciate your kindness.
Magnumlady Blog 