Our electricity went off in the house at 1am on Saturday.

My husband and I got out of bed to check the fuse box and the meter cupboard to find the digital meter was completely blank.

We found 37 houses in our street had no power due to a massive power surge knocking out televisions, DVD players, computers and other electrical appliances.

At 7.30am the engineers came and started drilling a hole. An engineer disconnected the mains from the meter and told us not to use any electric.

We thought we were haunted. Allan across the road noticed his lights were going bright and dim.

Tracey next door noticed her lights flickering on and off and blamed her husband for bad DIY.

Ste in the corner house panicked when his televison blew up, Doreen a retired lady had a fire in hers while Ian next door was fuming but not as much as his video! He was nearly in tears when he explained his nursing coursework, two years study was on his computer.

A few of us went out for breakfast. We returned late afternoon to find a bigger hole in the road. A representative called to check the internal fuse box and the meter before connecting us.

By now Ron across the road, a man in his seventies, was getting thirsty. He has no gas appliances. We took him a pot of tea, and water for his dog.

The drilling went on through the night, we had a great time passing the hot kettle round. Sitting in candlelight together was nice, just like camping.

On Sunday morning a guy called to tell us the electric would be restored and our appliances checked.

The only disaster we ourselves suffered was when a week's shopping in the freezer started to defrost. Some people were off for 36 hours.

Some electrician boffs came and repaired what they could in people's houses, restoring telephones and microwaves. They did really well.

We were mostly all fixed and back to normal by Monday morning. The big hole is still in the road, but so long as we can shower and watch televison we are happy.

Ingrid Dennison

Masonfield

Clayton Brook