Radio Silence from the snowy technological desert.
Apologies for the silence from CJS over the last couple of days.
Unfortunately the CJS office was one over 80,000 properties across the north east of England which lost electricity supplies due to the 'wrong snow' - any snow in April is wrong if you ask me!
The power went off at approximately 1.30am on Wednesday and as yet (mid morning Thursday) it's not been restored and Northern Grid are unable to supply an estimate as to when it might be. Yesterday they kept saying it would be restored within three hours, then by early afternoon, then tea time, then before dark, we get the feeling they haven't a clue. When the power went off all the machinery went to sleep and this being the middle of the North York Moors (ie middle of nowhere and miles from anywhere) even our mobile service disappears when we loose power meaning smart phones and 3G ipads are disconnected. It's our very own technological desert island, we're picking our castaway discs right now; luxury? I can't take the dog, Princess Anne tried that and it wasn't permitted so she took her Teddy Bear, me, I think I'll have the entire output from Laurent Perrier please, Michael Ball was allowed everything from Cloudy Bay so I don't see why not!
Anyway, back to dry land and the CJS Office. After the travails of the heavy snow at the end of 2010 we invested in some heavy duty Uninterruptable Power Supply Units which on test runs have been more than adequate. Wednesday was the first time they have really been needed and they failed miserably. Not enough juice left to power one router never mind computers or printers. Our Power Supply was none existent never mind interrupted.
End result - an unexpected day off for the CJS Team. Office dog Hebe thoroughly approves and enjoyed her extra walk through the mushy slusharama that was Goathland on a Wednesday afternoon.
But come Thursday and still no sign of any electricity in the near future we're trying to find ways around the problem.
We thank you all for your patience and we'll be back to normal soon (we hope). I might need that bottle of Laurent Perrier....