October 2024 was a blur. I was pretty much triple booked at work as I was facing weeks of back-to-back real-time trials where I would have to do my regular work as overtime. I just focussed on getting through my pages while still doing a lot of cooking and, of course, keeping up my Pilates routine.

Cat photos for the month. Alma is so droll.

Dodger is adorable.

A lady reached out on Facebook offering me these gifts for some helpful posts I’d made in her group. Just goes to show that when you comment online, it’s never in a vacuum. Someone is reading. Be kind.

The only really significant thing that happened in October was a major power outage that ended with me feeling even more settled and supported here in Mérida.

Mid-month, thankfully before the real-time marathon, the power went off for hours. I reported to CFE, who said they were working on it. Neighbours also had an outage. It eventually got dark and I realised that the neighbours had power but I still didn’t… It’s the weirdest thing – I’d felt for months that I was about to have a major electrical problem with the house. I have a sneaking suspicion my body was reacting to something very real since electricity can be felt. I almost felt relief in this moment that whatever I was facing had arrived and would be dealt with.

I called CFE to tell them I still did not have power. They sent someone out surprisingly quickly, well within the four promised hours. He did all his checks and told me that he didn’t believe the problem was at their end and that I had to call an electrician. Thankfully, I had someone in my contacts that I thought could deal with something this major. I’d had a water pump fail some months before and this fellow had responded to my bat call for help, getting me sorted very late on a Sunday, including a hail Mary run to Home Depot at the eleventh hour before they closed. He’d gotten the work done, done well, and his price had been almost absurdly fair.

I messaged him that I needed help and he responded promptly that he was available. I asked the CFE guy if he could call and explain the situation and he oh-so-kindly did.

My electrician arrived super quickly and he started right from the basics, troubleshooting all my breakers and even rechecking the CFE guy’s work (yes, he climbed the pole). The problem was primarily at the entrance to the house, partly CFE’s fault, partly the fault of my main breaker panel. He told me that he had a contact at CFE that would probably come after his shift. It would all be above-the-board work using approved CFE methods, but I’d be paying him cash under the table. The two of them would get me sorted that night. Or I could put in a work order and wait for days. Of course I went with option A.

We headed to Home Depot for parts while we waited for the CFE worker. He was waiting for us by the time we got home. The guys then spent hours working their magic and somewhere in all of that, my house got upgraded to 50-amp service! They finally got the lights on around 11:00PM.

There were three culprits, one at the pole, one at the main breaker, and then a short at the house breaker that has probably been the cause of my lights flickering and constantly burning out despite being 15-year LEDs. The electrician said that this is probably what I was feeling all these months.

The upgraded service has been amazing and such a blessing — I can run the oven and Vitamix at the same time! The lights don’t flicker when I run the microwave! Oh, and I haven’t had a light bulb burn out in months.

Parts and labour cost me all of 6,000 pesos, and I have the security of having a really responsive electrician/plumber I can trust to stick with me through a crisis to a satisfactory resolution. I still feel very blessed.