March: in like a lion? Check. High winds, a fallen tree, a transformer hit, sudden fire that burned so hot it made holes in the road, and yay — power outage in subzero weather. I’d much prefer to be dull.

You know it’s bad when I could smell the smoke (I have a bad sense of smell). The flickering was more eerie, which made me worry that it was closer than it was. I had been watching a film. I ran outside with my neighbours. Cars were stopping. Sheriff and other emergency vehicles showed up surprisingly fast. It was bitterly cold, so I didn’t last outside too long.

Belle Ombre is drafty and without heat the house started cooling right away. But I could read on my ‘pad. We have plenty of candles. I even had some Bowmore to sip. Eventually I wrapped myself up well and went to bed, but before I had fallen asleep I heard the beep that meant the power was back on. Phew!