Of course, if you’re reading this you’re either
a) not affected
b) not in South London or
c) well aware thankyouverymuch

But in case not, there’s been a major power cut across most of South London affecting just about everybody’s journey home.

Oh, and it rained, too.

I was leaving the office when someone told me, and I immediately wondered whether South London included our little corner of the south west of the city, which is so close to the river you could almost mistake it for an island in soggy weather.

At Hammersmith, the tube station gates were pulled shut, and irritated and ill-informed commuters pleaded with the station supervisor for information or trains; whichever would be more forthcoming.

On the bus home, I punctuated our journey south, across the river and potentially into darkness with sneaky peeks into people’s windows, pubs, and shops closed for the night, looking for signs of power.

No, not money and whips. Electricity. Spotting a glowing lamp here, a flickering television there, a spotlight on a nasty frock and a porch light steaming in the rain, I was reassured that the power was indeed on all the way home.

Wandering soggily up my street, I reassured myself that the fact that most of the houses lay dark had more to do with their owners being trapped angrily outside a tube station somewhere than the loss of power in this bit of the world and, sure enough, when I put my key in the lock, opened the door and hit the lightswitch… there was light.

And on the doormat, a DVD of Adaptation, rented from Movietrak. And lo, the evening did suddenly look very good indeed.

Though I’d stopped at Tesco Metro and bought a dozen red candles just in case.