France’s Power Struggle

This isn’t exactly how I thought I’d spend the day when I imagined it ten years ago… when Bill and I got married. That’s not to say this was a bad anniversary, not at all. Just an unexpected one, I guess.

                                Kaitlyn is spending her days this week at her little summer “camp” where she plays games and is immersed in French and is thrilled that the snacks don’t automatically involve chocolate. Especially good on a stormy day like today when at home we’d have ended up flopped down watching tv and wearing our pajamas until, well, let’s just say late.

                                So after my French lesson this morning, I called Bill to make an anniversary lunch date.

                            We headed downtown to a Chinese restaurant we like, then opted to try out a different one a couple of doors down. It had scallops on the menu and that lured us in. After the entree (appetizer in the US) and after our rice was delivered, the power went out.

                        My first reaction was to think “well, he was using the cappuccino maker and that probably put too much strain on the power supply.” The waiter/owner had the same first reaction that we’ve come to have at home: he ran to the fuse box. (we know this because the fuse box was, naturally, located in the midst of the dining room) We were both wrong. We just had to do what I used to consider normal: we had to wait.

                            I don’t know how long we sat there nibbling on our rice. Bill started to think he was going to have to call his boss and let him know he wouldn’t be back to the office at all this afternoon. Eventually, the power came back on… although a few switches still required flipping in the fuse box. Once the lights were back on I could hear the sizzle of food cooking and… voila!.. my scallops arrived. (They were fantastic, by the way. We have a new favorite Chinese restaurant.)

                            After returning Bill to the office, I headed to the mall. I don’t need anything… well what I need is some summer pants but I’m not going to find them here in the racks of slacks for tall, skinny women. But without Kaitlyn I figured I’d take advantage of the chance to just browse.

                        I’d finally found a store with a shirt I wanted and before I could buy it… the power went out. The best part of it was, several of us just continued to shop in the dark. I milled around the shop, re-checking out the selection I’d rejected on my first go-around. When the lights still weren’t on… but other stores in the mall were bright as could be… I put the shirt back and headed out. I don’t know if the power ever came back on in that section of the mall.

                            The last stop of the day was back at home. And the power was out here. Luckily I started carrying my house key on the same key ring as my car key so I can’t forget it. Kaitlyn and I went in the front door and she rushed to the refrigerator to check the food… then made the announcement that the light was out. I’ve wandered out to the fuse box twice tonight to restore our power.

One Response to “France’s Power Struggle”

  1. rachel says:

    happy happy anniversary!! hope you still enjoyed some time together!

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