Power

Went out for breakfast at ‘Oui Oui’, a French Cafe. When we got back to house we found the power was off. Inspecting the circuit breaker panels (2 in the entry way, 1 upstairs in the hall) did not reveal any that had been tripped, though 2 of the breakers upstairs had been turned off. A reconnaissance of the immediate neighborhood revealed that the pizza shop across the street and the automobile repair garage down the block both had power. One block to the north some utility workers had arrived in force, though whether they work for the power company or not is unknown at this point. Two guys were inspecting the inside of a refrigerator-sized steel box that was permanently installed on the sidewalk. However, the power lines are above ground, strung on poles, so it seems unlikely they were looking into our power problem. 50 feet up the street a group of men was maneuvering a portable air compressor (a big one, like those used with jackhammers, not like the little ones used by house painters) out into the street, around the corner and up the alley. I think they were with the two guys who were looking into the box. They might have been from the gas company.

Osmany tells us that milk will stay edible for up to three days without refrigeration if you keep it in the shade. Hard to believe. I suppose it is possible if it

1. has been pasteurized, and
2. has not been opened.

I was surprised, daughter was disgusted.

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We went out this afternoon. About a block from the house we passed three guys from the electric company working on fat cables in the wall of a building. Maybe electrical power is routed underground and all the cables on poles are telephone and cable TV (communications). In any case these guys told us an underground cable had failed and they were repairing it,

We went out to TIgre this afternoon. It is a 30 minute electric train ride to the west. The hot wire in the subway is suspended above the cars, so there is no third rail on the ground with the regular rails, The train has a third rail that is interrupted by road and pedestrian crossings and assorted other railroad related obstacles. Anyone foolish enough could walk right over and get themselves fried without any problem. Each car in the train has contacts and a motorized wheels, so any interruption in power only hits one car at a time.

Tigre is a Disneyeque tourist town. Very nice if you like that sort of thing. It was hot. In the shade it was hot. In the sun it was scorching. Not a very pleasant outing.