Les Bonnes Choses

Today was the kind of day where, unfortunately, a blog topic happened to me. I use the term, unfortunate, because you will usually find me writing about the asinine and the ridiculous.

Back in the spring, a switch in my kitchen suffered a mechanical failure. This switch independently controlled the lights and rotation of the ceiling fan; the button that operated the lights would no longer depress, leaving the lights permanently off. There are other light sources in the kitchen, so it wasn't a big deal, but I meant to try to fix the problem myself because I'm a DIY kind of guy.

Eventually, I got around to buying a replacement switch from the hardware store. The switch it replaced had several connection points along each side -- many more than the three on the replacement switch. I have no idea how the original circuit worked (though I took photographs of the broken switch in situ for reference) but it seemed that no configuration with the replacement switch would restore the original functionality. The best I could achieve was a switch that shut the power off to a wall in the adjacent room, but still did not toggle the ceiling fan light. The fan itself still worked.

Having made things slightly worse (now my entertainment unit could be shut off accidentally with the flick of a switch), I decided to get the landlord to call in a professional. Or, rather, "professional".

The first time the guy came out, I could not be there, so I left the note below, detailing the general state of things. Read it, and try to think like an electrician for a moment. Or, if you find yourself unable to role-play an electrician, maybe you'll have better luck thinking like a detective:



Now, from what I have written, do you suppose the affected switch might have something to do with the outlets in the next room? Might you want to verify that fixing the fan light did not disable power to the living room?

If you said 'yes' to these questions, congratulations! You have the natural makings of an electrician.

Sadly, the electrician who rewired the light switch does not.

While I made things slightly worse by putting the adjacent room on a switch (which could at least be left on), the electrician managed to make things much worse by cutting the power to the room entirely. On top of that, only the single most out-of-the way kitchen outlet is electrified, so without the aid of an extension cord, neither tea nor toast are possible.

The second visit from this electrician happened today, called in to restore power to the dead outlets. Again, I was out, but I left a comprehensive map of what outlets were not functioning and which ones were. I had hoped this would suffice. My hopes were dashed. Though the living room again has power flowing to it, the kitchen outlets, marked non-functional on my map, are still dead.

I have texted Matt, the property manager who not only feels terribly about this, but also has to drag himself out here each time to let the electrician in. I will perhaps update my entry when the story reaches it's thrilling conclusion. But first, I will make some tea, because I'm experiencing caffeine de-teas (DTs).