It's brown, it's a palace...but it ain't the Brown Palace

Last night, after a lovely dinner with some pals up the valley I returned home to find yet another Maberga mini-drama. Driving up the last bit of road that reaches my house, I found what I always find...the dogs waiting for me in the window. Being front-lit by my headlights, I could tell that they weren't also back-lit. "didn't I leave a light on before I left?"

Yep. I sure did. And still, no lights on in the kitchen. Hmmmm?

With just a little anxiety, I walked from our car park down the 15 meters to our front door. Rationally I knew that no one was waiting inside to kill me because the dogs were were waiting there for me. Had someone else been in the house those doggies would have been having a great time jumping all over my house guest (bad training) or dead.

AND STILL....

I got a friend on the phone before I entered. I wanted a witness, ya know, in case I was murdered. Andrea was not going to be able to do anything for me if someone was in the house. Nor was she going to be able to change the light bulb if that were the cause of the darkness. I'm sure what I was saying to poor Andrea was incomprehensible. She's Hungarian and speaks incredible English, but sometimes WHY someone is saying what they say really aids in comprehension. She's probably still trying to figure it out.

Anyway, I entered the house to find that no one was waiting behind the couch for me. Nor was the bulb burned out in the lamp I had left on. None of the kitchen lights worked. I asked Andrea to stay on the phone with me as I went upstairs - it's a better hiding place than behind the couch.

Out of habit I hit the switch for the stairs lights. Et voila...light. Same in the bedroom. Light everywhere but the kitchen. I thanked Andrea, told her that, no, I wouldn't need to pack a little bag and stay at her place, and said good night.

Then I went back to the kitchen. I lit a few candles and tried to figure it out. I stood in the middle of the room, did a 360 turn around the room and said to myself, "nope, no electricity in here. Time for bed."

This morning before coffee, I did a bit more than a 360 turn and realized I need to call Andrea to get the name of her electrician.