Is anybody there? It's ominously quiet round here, so just checking that
the world hasn't ended.

--
Sally in Shropshire, UK

Sally Thompson <thompson.stonybrook@gmail.com.invalid> wrote:
> Is anybody there? It's ominously quiet round here, so just checking that
> the world hasn't ended.
>
>

You beat me to it! I was beginning to feel that all humanity outside of
Toodle Towers had vanished!
But, whilst on the ‘Knock Knock’ perhaps it is time that UMRA played
another round or two…

Knock, Knock,
Who’s there?
Sam & Janet.
Sam & Janet who?
Sam & Janet Evening…

Knock, Knock,
Who’s there?
Iwishu,
Iwishu who?
Iwishu Glad Tidings.

Knock, Knock,
Who’s there?
Happinu.
Happinu who?
Happinu Year.

C’mon UMRATs you can do it!

--
Toodle Pip, Mike McMillan

On 1 Jan 2023 18:15:56 GMT, Sally Thompson
<thompson.stonybrook@gmail.com.invalid> wrote:

>Is anybody there? It's ominously quiet round here, so just checking that
>the world hasn't ended.

If the end of the electricity supply is the equivalent of the end of
the world, it nearly did last night.

Long story short and with the benefit of hindsight:

We drank champagne, toasted the New Year, watched the fireworks all
around then 'pop' went all the lights.

Not just our lights, most of the city went dark and I don't mind
reminding you that it's a boodily big city.

It seems that somebody was flying fireworks (Chinese Lantern style?)
and they landed in the electricity distribution system and a cascade
of trips switched everything off.

All's well now so Happy New Year to everyone and Happy Birthday, TA!

Nick

On 01-Jan-23 21:39, Nick Odell wrote:
> On 1 Jan 2023 18:15:56 GMT, Sally Thompson
> <thompson.stonybrook@gmail.com.invalid> wrote:
>
>> Is anybody there? It's ominously quiet round here, so just checking that
>> the world hasn't ended.
>
> If the end of the electricity supply is the equivalent of the end of
> the world, it nearly did last night.
>
> Long story short and with the benefit of hindsight:
>
> We drank champagne, toasted the New Year, watched the fireworks all
> around then 'pop' went all the lights.
>
> Not just our lights, most of the city went dark and I don't mind
> reminding you that it's a boodily big city.
>
> It seems that somebody was flying fireworks (Chinese Lantern style?)
> and they landed in the electricity distribution system and a cascade
> of trips switched everything off.
>
> All's well now so Happy New Year to everyone and Happy Birthday, TA!

One of Mr Putin's rockets that went rather astray?

--
Sam Plusnet

Nick Odell <nickodell49@yahoo.ca> wrote:
> On 1 Jan 2023 18:15:56 GMT, Sally Thompson
> <thompson.stonybrook@gmail.com.invalid> wrote:
>
>> Is anybody there? It's ominously quiet round here, so just checking that
>> the world hasn't ended.
>
> If the end of the electricity supply is the equivalent of the end of
> the world, it nearly did last night.
>
> Long story short and with the benefit of hindsight:
>
> We drank champagne, toasted the New Year, watched the fireworks all
> around then 'pop' went all the lights.
>
> Not just our lights, most of the city went dark and I don't mind
> reminding you that it's a boodily big city.
>
> It seems that somebody was flying fireworks (Chinese Lantern style?)
> and they landed in the electricity distribution system and a cascade
> of trips switched everything off.
>
> All's well now so Happy New Year to everyone and Happy Birthday, TA!
>
> Nick
>

You do live in interesting times, Nick! :)

Mrs McT

On Sun, 1 Jan 2023 22:25:26 +0000, Sam Plusnet <not@home.com> wrote:

>On 01-Jan-23 21:39, Nick Odell wrote:
>> On 1 Jan 2023 18:15:56 GMT, Sally Thompson
>> <thompson.stonybrook@gmail.com.invalid> wrote:
>>
>>> Is anybody there? It's ominously quiet round here, so just checking that
>>> the world hasn't ended.
>>
>> If the end of the electricity supply is the equivalent of the end of
>> the world, it nearly did last night.
>>
>> Long story short and with the benefit of hindsight:
>>
>> We drank champagne, toasted the New Year, watched the fireworks all
>> around then 'pop' went all the lights.
>>
>> Not just our lights, most of the city went dark and I don't mind
>> reminding you that it's a boodily big city.
>>
>> It seems that somebody was flying fireworks (Chinese Lantern style?)
>> and they landed in the electricity distribution system and a cascade
>> of trips switched everything off.
>>
>> All's well now so Happy New Year to everyone and Happy Birthday, TA!
>
>One of Mr Putin's rockets that went rather astray?

There's more...

They have examined the wreckage.

The flyer of this hot-air balloon thingy - I'm not going to dignify
their role by calling them a pilot - thought it would be more stable
in flight if it had a trailing tail like a kite and so flowing out
underneath it were metres and metres of cassette tape. VHS? Betamax?
8-track? Compact C90? Who knows? It appears that the kite tail shorted
out the electrical system and set the catastrophe in motion. Does
anybody know the whereabouts of Mr Bean on New Years' Eve? (full
credit: Liliana)

As you can see, it doesn't take much to knock out the electricity grid
here: it happens quite frequently. Often for only an hour or two but
sometimes several days or a week and Mr Putin really wouldn't have to
try very hard to cripple the country.

But to be honest, I don't think Mr Putin would have to try very hard
to cripple UK infrastructure either. Not just electricity but it all
seems to have been designed for maximum profitability when everything
is working at its optimum but it displays minimal resilience when any
operational vector deteriorates. Put all our solar generation capacity
offshore? That's going to go well when the neighbours get annoyed with
us.

Nick