We've got the power!

As I write this I am sitting in the caravan with the television on at a normal volume, not overly loud to be audible over the hum of the generator. Tomorrow morning I will be able to walk from my bed into my bathroom and have a hot shower, with the light on,          without first having to put my wellies on and go outside to turn the generator on. Be gone days of not being able to buy a whole week's worth of fresh produce for fear that  unrefrigerated, the food will go off before it can be eaten. Adios taking our washing to the grannies on rotation. Hello batch cooking and a freezer full of meals prepped on motivated days ready for the unmotivated ones. Welcome to the ability to use the washing machine and the tumble dryer AT THE SAME TIME. Bonjour being able to hoover and dry my hair at the same time. Ok that last one's a little unlikely but it is possible because, yes, that's right; after owning our dream for 419 days, living here for 332 days and a mere 44 days after the power pole actually went up, we finally have POWER! Real mains electricity is now coursing through the wires from here: 

         

to here:

Old pic but you get the gist!

It wasn't all plain sailing avid readers and casual observers of this madness we call Dream Farm! No. There was our lovely contact at Western Power Distribution who insisted on turning up to every site visit in his brogues and seemed to take every Friday as holiday as well as finishing work just after lunch on most days. There were the guys who turned the pole installation into a whole days worth of 'work' like this:

Vaping the day away

(They also took my help yourself to a biscuit very literally and ate a whole packet of digestives!).

Then there was Scottish Power who we contacted to try and get a meter. They took vagueness and the customer service for which the Big Six energy companies are famed to a dizzying new high with the explanation that "someone will probably be in touch with you to arrange a date in about two weeks". That was 44 days ago. We are still waiting for them to get back in touch with us. 

And lets not forget the meter installation that was delayed by 10 days because the man was neither trained nor insured to go higher than four rungs on his ladder and this was, and I quote, "a five or six rung job". Or the second man they sent out whose ladder was not long enough to reach the meter. 

But frankly I don't care about any of that any more. It's been well and truly chalked up to experience and will no doubt become exaggerated as we tell and retell the story of how we built our dream home, drunkenly regaling anyone who will listen with the ups and downs and the "darling do you remember when those idiots turned up and couldn't even climb up a ladder!!"'s, because, in the words of 1990's number 1 chart topping pop mega stars Snap, I'VE GOT THE POWER.