Sometimes, it’s one damned thing after another...

The power came back on just before 11 p.m... and went back off just after midnight. And then it came back on at some point in the middle of the night - my phone was plugged in to charge and suddenly sprang into life. At some point after that, it was off, but neighbours confirmed that it came on yet again at about 6 a.m. I slept through that.

Morning came and the power was on, so all was good. Except that we had no broadband. Word reached us that there had been a knock-on effect from the power failures and that we’d lost broadband. Openreach were working on it though which might have been fine had it not been for the small detail that I was supposed to be interviewing candidates for some vacancies HMRC has. A few frantic e-mails later, a substitute was arranged and my manager informed.

But we were promised restoration by noon. And, indeed, Openreach were as good as their word and all was well. That was, until the power was cut again. Apparently, this was caused by an emergency isolation that had been carried out for safety purposes, and we would be out of action for another four hours or so.

The location of the fault became apparent following a brief stroll - Pound Road was blocked just south of the bridge over the A14 by a clutch of large vehicles, one of which had a cherry picker on the back.

I settled back to wait. And wait. Perhaps a stroll would help... but, eventually, the power was restored. Would the broadband still work? Yes, it would.

And so, life returned to normal in Creeting St Peter. At least, for the time being...