Falling Back, 10. Electrical Problems.

I have internet problems where I live. However, they may finally have a solution. To get internet, I had to contract wifi for my home, with a limit of 60 gigabytes a month. After that, internet walks slower than a turtle. 

About a year ago, Telefónica, the company that held the telephone monopoly for ever so many years, installed a fiber cable along our road. But when I went to some different phone companies, asking if I finally had the possibility of getting decent broadband service, some told me I had no problem, but others told me my area still didn't have coverage. Just in case, I sat still. Last week, I went and asked again, and was told that, yes, I could get broadband internet now. Now, I just have to scout for the best offer. 

And hope that what happened to a Welsh town doesn't happen to me. In the town of Aberhosan, every morning, promptly at seven, the entire town would lose its broadband internet connection. Calls, complaints, and probably threats, made the engineers replace all the cable. But things didn't get better.

So, the engineers arrived in the town, and used a special machine to measure electrical interference. It turned out that an old, second-hand television recently bought by a pensioner, was to blame. The man swore he wouldn't turn it on again, and peace has returned to cyberspace.

The truth is, that, while we don't have an old television (if it hadn't broken, we would still be using it, though), we still have older electrical appliances. The computer itself is old enough to be considered a relic, especially its oldest components, the speakers. Of course, the oven can't be used anymore, since it shuts off the electrical current for the whole house if we turn it on. The bell doesn't work, either, and people use the door knocker. 

What does happen if we're not too careful, is that the current turns off if we surpass the allotted kilowatts. We have few, just 2.2kW. That means that we can't use the hairdryer and the microwave at the same time. Or the electric heater and the microwave. Or, if it worked, the oven and the electric heater. No, we don't have many electrical appliances with a lot of watts. We can't unless we use them separately. 

What happened was that, when electricity was first introduced to the village, that was the maximum kilowatts each house could get. And, back then, in the 1960's, it was more than enough. Then, my parents emigrated, the house sat empty, and when my husband and I moved in here, we didn't use many appliances, either. So we never upgraded. Besides, it would mean paying more each month. The house next door was built in the 1980's and has 3.3 kW. But, even lying empty, I'm paying at least ten euros a month more on the electric bill for that house because of the greater kilowatts. 

Electricity is important these days, unlike when my parents first moved into this house when they built it, back in 1957. Now, when the lights go out and stay out for any length of time, we start getting panicky. The freezer melting down, the strain on our eyesight at night, the lack of running water (an electric motor pulls it up from our well), the lack of internet, the fear of our phone batteries dying on us, all those are modern day fears related to a blackout. Yet, our parents lived without electricity for the better part of their youth and young adulthood. Times change.

I just hope no faulty appliance interferes with broadband when I finally install it. Knowing my luck, it probably will.

Life continues.