No good deed goes unpunished, so they say, and today it was proved once more. I go out to honour my promise to the girls in the flat next door to cut back the undergrowth round their garden so that no one loses an eye in the passing. I take the electric hedge-trimmer, thinking it will get the donkey-work done in about half an hour. I begin and the trimmer cuts out within seconds. Cursing, I revert to hand shears. Two and a half hours later, I have knocked the various encroaching bamboo-like growths into shape, swept up the pavement and the entrance to the main door and bagged up half a ton of stray foliage. I go in to find that the fridge has switched off and the tv is not working. Worse, the coffee percolator has also switched itself off. I check the electric box and discover the hedge-trimmer, attached to extension cable, has tripped the main circuit breaker for reasons best known to itself. I reset half a dozen circuits and everything comes back on. I go for a shower and discover that I have also acquired a cut from a jagged branch, running for several inches under my right forearm. I have had better days.
Posted on: Mon, 11 Aug 2014 17:25:11 +0000