Town Mouse

Cards by candlelight

COVID complications put pay to the family’s original half-term plans. So rather than boarding an aircraft last week, we got up very early and caught a train to Yorkshire instead. It was infinitely more relaxing and it added to the pleasure of the journey that—incredibly—we had a carriage entirely to ourselves as far as York. The children have spent much of the ensuing holiday sitting around on their mobile phones and pretending to do homework. It was a habit rudely interrupted by Storm Dudley.

At the tail end of the storm I stepped out for a short walk and, when I returned, the house was in uproar. The wifi, I was reproachfully informed, was not working. Nor—as quickly became apparent—were the lights, or indeed any electrical device in the house, not that this struck the children as being important.

After the initial disbelief at the fact of a power cut had dissipated, we set aside phones, lit candles to ward off the darkness and cooked a meal on the wood stove. The children watched the pots and marvelled at the realities of life without electricity. As we sat down to dinner the lights flickered back on, but the darkness had become soothing and we played cards by candlelight. It was a memorable evening.