Friends in High Places

Uh oh, I thought. Here we go again.
I know the signs now, the darkening skies, the lightning and thunder and then the rain.
Another storm.
So I started to find and light the candles for the inevitable blackout, and was fumbling with the matches - Mexican matches are the worst in the world. Measly little things - when the skies opened up and the rains came blasting down and yes, the expected blackout.
I started my storm meanderings through the house when I noticed something different;
my neighbors on the other side of the valley, the ones with houses of nine or ten bedrooms, and who never have problems with the electricity, were out as well.
Black and not a light to be seen.
I admit to some unseemly schadenfreude.
And as I was indulging in this, walking back and forth, trying to reach The Company on my new cell phone to let them know we were without light, on came the lights.
It had been less than one hour and I never even got connected to The Company.
Last blackout, three days ago , we waited six hours for the reconnect.
It must be good to be rich and have friends in high places.