How many workmen does it take to repair an electric cable

My friend Mary lives in a flat on South Bank which is a fairly steep road behind Surbiton station. The flats were built towards the end of the fifties and the manager recently gave dates to all the owners to warn them of the necessary replacement of the mains electric cables to each flat. The power supply would be interrupted for the minimum time required to make the replacement so at the appointed time Mary stayed with me for the Monday following the weekend when the work was supposed to take place.

Now Mary’s flat is all electric so no power means no heat, light, or cooking. So we checked on Monday with her next door neighbour at mid day, but were told that the work hadn’t started. However by six o’clock the workmen claimed the job had been completed and I went back with her to help her settle in.

At first all was fine, the lights came on and I turned on her electric fire. However the phone was making loud beeping noises. To be more accurate it wasn’t the phone making the noise, but the care line box that she has so that she can wear a button round her neck to call for help if she has an accident and can’t reach the phone.

Random button pressing stopped the irritating noise, but no way could I find a way of making the phone work. Then inspiration struck and I went to the next door flat and found that their phone wasn’t working either. Fortunately these neighbours are a young married couple used to dealing with modern day problems and the girl used her mobile to tell BT of the breakdown and to get round to the flats PDQ.

Mary and I used our mobiles to chat between our respective homes that evening, then the next day as promised, a BT engineer came round and repaired the cables. Apparently the electricity workmen had drilled a hole through the wall to accommodate their new power cable and had cut through the phone lines.

Hurrah all was now well! Oh yeah? The noise the pigs were making as they flew past Mary’s kitchen window in an unending stream was becoming deafening! It only took one phone call to find out that her line didn’t work properly. She could however dial outgoing calls and asked the care line people what to do about the continuing fault on her emergency line.

During her conversation with this organisation one of their employees remarked that she was ringing from the wrong number. Fortunately she repeated the number as it was read out to her and I recognised it as belonging to her neighbour. Well done BT! They’d repaired the lines alright but connected the line to the wrong phone. A quick check next door revealed that not only had they incorrectly connected Mary’s phone but hadn’t reconnected next door at all!

In the meantime the Care Line people came round and found that the power surge as the EDF workers had drilled through the phone cable had blown up the care line box attached to the phone. With the foresight born of experience they had brought a new system for her and were able to set up a temporary code, so that if Mary needed to call them they would recognise her address.

The next day BT sent round someone to reconnect both phones properly. I suppose it shouldn’t have been a surprise when we found all was now well, but after all our troubles I must admit we had our doubts.

So at last after three days, Mary was able to spend the morning with her cleaning lady, clearing up all the mess left behind in her hallway by the five workmen required to do the job.

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