It's official, we're a 3rd world city

Hard on the heels of the gas outage that lasted for weeks earlier in the year, now I find that a critical part of the city (critical in this instance, means a part that I needed to use today) has had a major power cut. Power not expected to resume till near lunchtime.

No idea what the cause is, but here is how it has inconvenienced me...

I use an insurance broker. A non sequiteur? Possibly. Anyway, I'm all in favour of using brokers (I am one myself as it happens, but not for insurance) as you get independant (supposedly) advice & service.

Anyway, I'm beginning to suspect that our broker shuffles me between policies every few years in order to renew & increase his commission. And that's because he frequently suggests I chop & change for no apparent reason (he cites advantages to me - I see inconvenience usually.)

Also, this may be hard to envisage, my broker looks & sounds like a pony-tailed, Elton John spectacle wearing, Paul Holmes. Scary.

Anyway, the latest is that I need to up my life insurance policy & he has just the one for me. But it requires that I go give some blood.

I hate giving blood. And you have to fast. And for fuck sake, this is Christmas!

So anyway, I've already had the deadline for my "bloods" lapse once, & received a stern wagging of the pony tail & Holmes voice lecture, and I have promised to go do it soon.

And so today, fasted, slightly less wined than usaul the previous evening... I headed up to the Terrace to get my fucking "bloods" done. On the way I wondered about the throngs that lined the footpaths. Then I entered the building which houses the clinic, and it was all pitch black.

"Power cut" said some guy coming past me, "All up the Terrace".

So somewhat pissed off I started to head back to work. Then I changed my mind figuring how much power does a blood test need & so I went back.

I climbed the stairs in the darkness to the first floor. A woman with a torch was wandering back & forth along the corridor. I asked where the blood test place was & she told me that it was along the corridor, but there was a wait as they were doing people one at a time. I asked how long will it take?

"A while"

"How many people are ahead of me?"

"Half a dozen or so"

"How long does each person take?" (thinking that this is like getting blood from a stone & why do they need me here in that case"

"5 to 10 minutes"

"I'll wait"

I followed her back in, and the clinic was in total blackness. She waved a hand at a corner that was pitch black & told me to take a seat.

I could see no seats, and as I edged closer I could hear people snickering. Fearing I was going to sit on someone's lap I asked if anyone was there. More snickering.

I sat in the first empty seat I could feel, and even at this stage I had no idea how many other people were there.

I left, bought a muffin & a coffee & returned to my sun drenched office, which has power.

Chances are slim now that I will make the new deadline for my "bloods". Fuckem.

Power outage - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia