I've (not) got the power

Paris. I'm home. Hooray!

Well, this was how I felt when I pulled up outside my apartment building and lugged my bags up the three flights of stairs. So exciting. So happy to be home - you know how long I've been desperate to get back here.

I turn on the lights. Nothing.

I check the fuse box. Nothing.

My estate agents are useless. Having been unable to provide me with the original meter readings (that I need to get an account set up with the electricity people), they told me that they would organise it while I was away. They promised that they would pass the information on to the electricity company and that all would be sorted for my return.

They said 'Go to England'. They said 'Don't worry'. 'We're onto it'. They said 'We'll sort it out'.

They didn't.

So I called EDF (the elctricity people) myself and they informed me that the power supply was cut on August 6th, but that they could happily organise a technician to perform an emergency reconnection.

"Excellent" said I. "When will that be?"

"Thursday morning" said the nice lady at EDF.

"But that's two days away" said I, with a hint of horror, alarm and panic in my voice.

"Yes. Normally it's a five-day wait" said Mme EDF.

"Book me in for Thursday!" said I.

To make matters worse, this week in Paris there are two of the biggest expo's of the season - Pret a Porter and Furniture & Deco. On top of this, Coldplay are in residence all week at Bercy. Unsurprisingly, every hotel room in Paris was apparently taken.

An hour of phoning and begging later, I find a room on the outskirts of town. I hump my luggage all the way over there and try my hardest to keep hysteria at bay. I'm not totally successful.

I settle down in my temporary lodgings and decide to catch up on my emails and the blog. Thank goodness that I did....

At the end of the worst day in a long time, three great things happened:

1. I receive an email from my boss thanking me for a great month in the UK - and confirmation of a very nice bonus for my efforts.

2. I find out that David over at authorblog has given me his award for the 'Post of the Day' and that this has brought lots of new people to my blog.

3. I get an email from my new assistant that proved to me what a fantastic recruit she is turning out to be, and made me realise how much simpler my life will be with her around.

Wow. How great is that. I have an awful day and these things are sent to me as little pick-me-ups. Almost like someone knew I'd need something to make me realise that life really is good.

A more religious person than me (a less religious person doesn't exist) would see this as the Lord moving in mysterious ways. I call it serendipity, happenstance and straight old-fashioned damn good luck.

As I counted my blessings, my hysteria slipped away and I settled down for a big old sleep.

So, rested and in control, this morning I headed for the offices of the estate agency. You can imagine how well that went.

They should just be grateful that I got a good night's sleep...