Un-be-live-able 2

Yesterday, naive that I am, I drove myself from work to home stopping on the way to get vegetables from the side of the road. After a little bargaining and talking to Eve, the gardener there (who seems hell bent on knowing where I live and giving me free flowers--which I refused under the premise that "nothing is ever free"), I get home.

Imagine if you will, me, happily humming along, chopping up basil, ginger and onions, while a pot is boiling water and rice and a pan is frying some freshly bought vegetables.

Then, Boom! a torrential rain exploded, out of nowhere, drenching my garden and little Jasmine plant (which I rescued from its planter and dumped in a carboard box, poor baby). Of course, the electricity turned off 2 minutes after and I was a left in the pitch dark at 6:30PM, while my dinner was cooking. Unbeliveable. This is the 7th day of my three weeks here, that I've been without electricity. I've been keeping track.

Thankfully, I remembered where I had stashed my little flashlight. Within 5 minutes of screwing around with it, I broke the bulb. Awww, great. Remembering my little mood lights, I stumbled around in the dark until my fingers touched the matchbox. Shake shake shake rattle...I only had one match left! Trembling and praying (local matches are rather flimsy and they tend to break off before they've had a chance to light), I managed to strike it and quickly light 3 or 4 mood lights I've had lying around in the bathroom. And by mood lights, I mean little Sea Breeze sented tea lights.

Annoyed and irritated, I beg a collegue to come by to pick me up after work so we can go shopping. When he arrived at my house, it took the guards a good ten minutes to open the heavy doors are the torrential rains had gathered and created a little dune of sand. The road to the store was apocalyptic, and I hoped very strongly that our car would make it past the pools of deep water without stalling. I watched with apprehension as half a dozen cars where pushed out of the road by their owners.

In the store, there were no real candles, and I had to pick from Glad's $14 multiscented candles, or a $4 larger version of my tea lights in sea breeze. Heck, I figured that I already had the scent lingering in my house, I went for the larger sea breeze candles, a couple of lighters, a mat, some food (I always end up buying more than I plan).

Upon getting home, I put all my food away by the light of 4 dinky candles, and settle to read my Times magazine squinting a lot only to settle in bed a few minutes after that.

At midnight, I awoke to bright lights shinning in my eyes, convinced that I was finally in Heaven. Nope, still on this earth only the electricity started working again. Sigh.

In the morning, I find that I forgot to turn off a stove top (burning for 6 hours) and had not closed the window of my car (the seat was soaked through and through).

Help. Me.