Back to Dark!

So, we left Italy on the night of the first. I will admit, I was a bit sad; I am always sad when I leave home but this time especially since we didn't get to do any of the things we had planned so well in advance. As Rob put it, we work hard during the year and this was our time to relax and sadly we were all sick and trapped inside the house. It was a missed opportunity! Anyway, we were now on our way back to London. Emilia was an absolute angel on the plane; she is so used to flying that she knows exactly what to do and when. As soon as we get on the plane and find our seats, she fastens her own seatbelt. She then opens her table and puts her books, colors and toys on it. While we are on air, she constantly checks if the light for the seatbelt is on, and if so, she promptly fastens it. She loves looking outside the window, and if we fly at night, she admires all the lights. It has become so much easier to fly with her now. Thankfully, the queue at passport control at Stansted was inexistent and we quickly got into our booked car. Everything was running smoothly...until, we got home! We arrived home around midnight to find a very cold and dark flat to welcome us! Apparently, the flat had been without power since the morning of the 31st. We burned some candles, bundled up and went to bed hoping to solve the issue the day after. 

So, as soon as we woke up, Rob starting phoning all the emergency numbers and long story short nobody could do anything! The weekend was approaching and we were still in the middle of holiday time and the emergency team failed to help us out. We were at home without power for almost four days before an electrician was finally sent to check what the problem was. Since everything tuns on electricity here, we had no light, no heating, no hot water and we couldn't cook. It was a nightmare but thankfully we managed. Rob bought a very long power extension and we connected to a socket in the hall; at least, we could make a warm cup of tea and have some lamps on! It was terribly cold out, so eventually we also had to buy a little electric heater that again we connected to the socket in the hall using our super long extension. The thing we missed the most was hot water! I had to go to a local hairdresser to get my hair washed! In the end, we had some light, we had a little heater, and we could eat take-away from the local restaurants, but nobody could give us hot water! Some of our friends offered their help and we did take advantage of it a bit, we did laundry at a friend in the building and we went to other friends for a nice and warm meal as well as an afternoon playdate. 

By Sunday afternoon, however the flat got so cold that we couldn't bear staying in, so we went to a near by shopping centre, spent a couple of hours window shopping and then eventually we dined there. It was the first time Emilia went out and after more than a week spent inside my parents' house and then three full days in our flat in London, needless to say, she was super euphoric to be out and about! 

We were all very happy when eventually the power was back on Monday afternoon but at the same time it was kind of sweet to be in the flat wearing cosy loungewear, covered with lots of blankets and with very little light, lots of candles and the Christmas tree on!