Odd day

I am sitting in the dark, trembling after just having set myself afire. Whew! I was upstairs, working on a sock pattern (soon to be posted), and suddenly the lights went out. John, who is working on my house and had been looking like poor Oliver Twist in his chimney sweep days, was taking a shower downstairs. When everything suddenly darkened, I at first thought that he had blown a fuse with his power tools. Then I realized that he wasn’t using any power tools and that the whole neighborhood was unlit. I knew that the room he was in is dark as the inside of a cow if the light is off, so I went to find a candle and rescue him. I also realized at that moment how ill prepared I am for this sort of thing – note to self – amend this situation! I found the candle I use for taking a quiet bath, but that was the only one readily available. I considered the birthday cake candles, but decided that they wouldn’t do. Fortunately, he knew where I had some more candles because he had been painting the cupboard where they were. We found them, lit a few, and suddenly my sweater was aflame. Oddly enough, I remained fairly calm and flung it to the floor. Wow! This very thing happened to my father once at a wedding, and he didn’t get burned either – just frightened. Once at a posh party in Ireland as I was filling my plate at a buffet, I noticed that my hand was very warm and then that I had set my linen napkin on fire. Later, Dennis who had not seen what I had done, knew that I had done something, because I was “creeping along the wall like a terrified giant white mouse.” I felt like a giant white mouse again this evening. Still no lights though. Oh, horrors! I just realized I can’t make tea!