Monday, June 19, 2006

Adventures in utility work

Picture yourself in this situation - you look out your back window to see the electrical transformer on the utility pole in your backyard is smoking, and dripping some kind of stuff, which is also smoking. Well, that's exactly what I was faced with last night. I called our local utility (RG&E) to report it, but one of my neighbors apparently had other ideas, because the next thing I saw was red lights flashing on a fire truck. The fire department cordoned off the area and told me that RG&E would be along, but that I shouldn't go near the thing. They eventually arrived (it was after 10pm at this point). After scoping things out they told me that they would be replacing the transformer in a little while, but to do this they would have to shut off electricity for "a couple-a hours." This they did. It didn't help that yesterday was a bloody hot day. So I lay in bed, covered in a thin layer of sweat, while a big utility truck idled under my bedroom window. The power was out for almost three hours, so I guess it wasn't the end of the world.

And yes, it was pretty cool to see the smoke.

In other news, I have gone to two different ATMs in the past three days that have been out of cash. What the hell, M&T Bank?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

What do you expect from a bank called "Empty Bank"? (M-T)

Roman said...

I expect that the bitch have my cash next time!

Ruth said...

We found your blog!! Neil gave up the URL. We'd read more, but we're tired. It's Karen's birthday today (technically yesterday) so we've been out celebrating. We plied Neil with alcohol and he squealed like a pig.

Roman said...

Comments from drunken librarians are the best kind!