Elna, sewing machine, restored, mains electicity power cable, insurance

Well, my Elna is now restored to the bosom of its family, ie me :) It has a new lightbulb so I can see what I'm sewing, and will hopefully last me another 30 years! I've a lot of work to do now!

I was thinking about electricity, as you do, and remembered the day when I was sitting at my desk at school when my secretary answered the phone, put her hand over the receiver and said to me, 'It's David, he sounds a bit funny, will you talk to him?'

Of course I said "yes", and she put him through:

'I've got some bad news and some good news, which would you like first?'
'The bad, then it can only get better.'
'I was digging up the conifer at the top of the drive, as we'd discussed, and got the electric saw out to cut the roots.'
'Yes? Nothing new there!'
'Suddenly there was an almighty bang, flash of blue, and I ran like the devil was after me back towards the house.'
'What????? Are you alright??'
'Yes, I'm fine. I was a bit scared though, I can tell you.'
'I bet you were.'
'The bad news is there's now no electricity to the house, and the electric saw blade has a section melted out of it.'
'Wow, goodness. Sounds like you're very lucky. What on earth happened?'
'The mains power cable was entwined with the roots, but it was quite invisible in all the soil, and the saw just caught it.'
'What's the good news?'
'I'm still alive - at least til you get back and kill me!'
'Oh, good. What have you done about it?'
'Phoned you. You'll have to phone the electric company and get them out.'
'Right, I'll do that. Stay away from it.'
'OK. See you later.'

I was shocked, to say the least, and very relieved that David was unhurt, apart from the shock, of course. He's taken out many, many conifers from around the garden. The previous owned, a very strange lady, had planted Leylandii all around the perimeter to give privacy, and it was one of the aspects of the property that I had loved, when viewing. However, when I'd moved in I realised that the garden recieved very little sunshine, despite having a South facing garden, as the untrimmed trees blocked it very effectively. So, they had to go. I wanted to grow vegetables, and they need the sunlight!

This was the only potentially fatal accident he had. He did fall out of a tree one day, but the branches broke only his fall, not his bones.

I called out the emergency repair service, as I didn't know how many people were without electricity due to the cut, and they were pretty prompt in their arrival. they patched it together, coverd the hole with a board, and promised to come back the next day to effect a "proper" repair. I was then billed for nearly £500, despite the fact that the mains cable was far too close to the surface, only about a foot deep. Fortuunately, the house insurance covered most of it, and I just had the excess to pay. Still an expensive tree removal!!!