A personal electrifying experience, with major economic impact.
‘Once is happenstance, twice is coincidence, the third time it’s enemy action’ – Goldfinger to James Bond.
Once upon a time the electrical outlet in one corner of our kitchen worked fine. Then it ‘broke’, and I instantly fixed the problem (moved the microwave to another spot).
Many years later, Mrs B. decided it had to be fixed properly as she had ‘waited long enough’. She overcame my inertia by bringing in an electrician to fix it. He showed up, messed around – $60 later we have power in the kitchen corner. Microwave relocated and functional.
Must just be a coincidence, but about ten minutes after we pay the electrician all the lights in one corner of the house go off. This problem must be dealt with immediately as power has been lost to the TV!! I manage to fix the problem with a new fuse – very much the ‘home handyman’.
Must be another coincidence, but two days later the clothes dryer will not work. There’s a silver lining to this dark cloud because none of the kids will come over to do their laundry until we get it fixed. It’s tempting … but we call the electrician again.
He shows up, messes around some more – $60 later we have power restored for the dryer. “Er, you know this electrical panel is pretty old and you really should think about replacing it”.
Final score
Personally, I was quite happy with the microwave in the other corner … but I got overruled. We’re still waiting for the electrician to give his estimate. This looks like a lose-lose proposition right now.
