Sparks fly … not

22nd October 2024

At some point we really need to get our head round the electrics and make a priority list for the sparky. It was completely obvious from day one, in fact hour one when the electric gates were not working, that there was some shocking wiring but things generally worked and being used to this level of sophistication in the sparky department ….. one of the previous cottages we stayed in on the east coast you could not run the dishwasher and the ceiling fans at the same time as it fused the house… you get used to it. …. Odd bulbs or missing ones in ceiling lights or tops of lamps hanging off were not a priority in those early days.

Today marks the start of our fourth week here. It feels like we have been here ages and reflecting on what a journey and experience it has been so far gives us confidence. Not only that but we were buoyed to the extent of leaping around, to hear from the bank … I have been approved and I am now a proud owner of a Barbados bank account. Bin AND bank success in less than 2 days … we can hardly cope with the excitement.

So armed with our trusty note pad we (the royal we ….Richard) start establishing one by one which switch turns on which of the unbelievable amount of outside lights and with that which switches don’t belong to anything, or don’t work or have blown bulbs. Some are movement and light sensitive so there was some leaping around and waving arms.

In the early days we had established which ceiling fans worked and which stubbornly stayed motionless. Some fans had 1 as their fastest speed and some had 1 as the slowest speed … it’s still a bit of trial and error as some dials have no numbers at all. We have also established all AC units work except for the one a remote control that has gone to live in an as yet unknown location… will have to get back to that one …although they will all need servicing no doubt.

There have been some cracking finds today …bulbs “ not suitable for damp conditions” completely exposed to the elements resulting in ….

You are not going to believe this ……… I am feeling sarcastic today ….. it doesn’t work.

This delightful picture goes a small way to explain the condition of the electric gate entry system. Nice that so much effort has been made to ensure the wiring does not show, and the beautiful coral stone walls are shown off to their best. Needless to say it was offending my eye, having ignored it for 3 weeks, today I ripped it down. Those cable pins will be really useful for the bar area wiring that hangs seductively underneath the bar which has also been bugging me. (The bar has had its limelight stolen and been photobombed by an enormous toad)

There is also no doubt why this lamp does not work…. I’m betting though once we remove the nest, put in a new bulb and replace the cap which we found in a random drawer and were keeping because we just knew the bottom would turn up somewhere … it will work.

So the sparky has a long list. He will just have to work through it slowly.