Hydro heroes 27/11/11
Sirs,
At a time when we all seem to have a complaint about how poorly we're serviced and treated it's sobering to experience prompt, calm, courteous, professionalism in the most adverse of conditions.
Friday 25/11/11, 1:00am: While sitting quietly at my computer, I was rudely awakened by a loud knocking at the kitchen window. Now I live 200 yards off the main road in the centre of Lewis and the last thing you would wish for or expect is to have a knock, knock, knock, from a stranger knocking on the moonlit window( apologies to Walter D La..) with 5 degrees outside and the wind chill dropping it to zero.
"Your power pole is on fire" said the stranger.
Sure enough the second pole down from the main road was on fire, in the howling gale, from top to bottom.
" You'd better report it" said Gus. No longer a stranger but a relative of our
neighbour
Peggy up the road.
"I will" says I "but you'd better get back up the drive in case the pole comes down and you'll be stuck here." With some speed he did just that.
01:15 After waking 'she who must be obeyed' we found the emergency number and duly reported what we could see from the kitchen window.
01:30 The Fire Brigade arrived from the East, just beating a 'Hydro' van from the West.
Somewhere around here the top broke off the flaming pole and the power reduced but
still left enough to run some lights and the computers. The engineers then managed
to isolate our line and we were cut off completely.
We watched the display and excitement
enfold from the window for a bit while 'she who must be obeyed' flagged and sloped
off back to her bed.
I, knowing the power was now off, donned the foul weather gear and braved the elements
to view the activity close-
"I'm just over from a call-
"The crew from there and maybe some of the boys out at a call in Point will be over with a digger and a new pole so that you can have power when you rise in the morning. Now off to your bed, man."
By the time I got back to the house and warmed up it's 04:00 so I left them to it and went to me bed, candles won't run a computer.
05:30 Looking out the kitchen window I can see the digger transiting the croft and out the gate, back onto its lorry. In the flickering headlamps and headlights I can see that a new pole has been erected. The wires are back on their insulators on the top of the crosstrees. A bit of checking on the other poles and transformer.
06:10 The crane lorry drove up, off the drive.
06:11 Power restored in all its glory.
By any standards superlative service. But considering the time of night and weather conditions; above and beyond the call. Hats off to the 'Hydro' linemen.
Well done and thank you.
Calum MacLeod
5a LochGanvich
Isle-
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