Riddle me this ...!

Hello again friends!

If you recall from the end of last week's edition, we were all heading out evening to take part in a Newcomer's Social event at Escape the Room.  If you weren't able to join us last week, Escape the Room is a puzzle/problem solving activity, where 10 of you are locked in a themed 'room' and have to solve a number of clues and puzzles in order to open the door.  Our room was called The Dig, and featured a kind of Indiana Jones themed room (only without the snakes thankfully!) which involved cracking a code made up of various hieroglyphic symbols,  obtaining the combinations to a series of locks and solving a giant sliding puzzle to reveal the bigger picture - another clue!  Mr B was a whizz with the sliding puzzle and Ethan pretty good at cracking the various codes and opening the locks (despite getting extremely frustrated with us 'oldies' on occasion as we flailed around blindly trying to find the answers to clues) however, when the 60 minutes was up, we still hadn't managed to free ourselves from the room and had to be let out.  Oh the shame!

Whaaaaa?!  (In this case, two Bevs were definitely no better than one!)

Allegedly we were just one clue away from completing and opening the door, but despite Mr B's and Ethan's best efforts, the rest of us were pretty hopeless to be honest (it was only the thought of a large Margarita waiting for me on the other side that kept me going) but in fairness, it was really HARD!   The other half of our group were in a different room called 'The Apartment' and when we met up with them at dinner, they told us they had finished theirs with 5 minutes to spare (swots) so clearly it must have been much easier than ours .....  These Escape Room activities seem to be the latest thing and are popping up all over the place apparently, so if there is one near you and you can get a group of you together, I would definitely recommend it - it's a lot of fun!

Oh thank God!  Kelly and I definitely earned that Margarita ...

As it happens, yesterday, we also had our own little 'room puzzle' to solve at home ...

Friday is the day that our Landlord, 'Dennis the Menace' usually comes over to attend to the pool and tidy the 'yard' (garden to you and me).   I was out grocery shopping this week when he arrived **yawn** but when I got back and was busy unpacking the shopping (ugh), I noticed an orange cable plugged into the outside socket just beyond the patio doors so sumized that he was using some kind strimmer or leaf blower out there as he worked in the garden, but didn't hear any noise.  Thinking no more of it, I finished unpacking and then went off to pick Youngest up from school (as they conveniently finish at lunchtime on a Friday **rolls eyes**).  By the time we got back Dennis had already packed up and left, and as I set about making lunch Ethan remarked that there were no lights on the cable box and there didn't seem to be any power in the lounge.    Perhaps there had been a power cut?  I tried the light switch ... nothing.  I then tried the power in the adjoining kitchen but everything seemed to be working fine in there.  Hmmm ... strange.  After a quick check over the rest of the house the problem seemed to be isolated to the lounge area and so guessed that maybe something has tripped a switch?  I went outside to investigate the fuse box (which is conveniently located round the side of the house which can only be reached by battling your way through prickly bushes and cacti in the front garden and getting stuck in sticky spiders webs ... yuk).  Closer inspection revealed that all was as it should be with the lounge switch still set to 'on'. Now what?  Damn.   I'm going to have to ring Dennis again ...

Now, as Landlord's go, Dennis is a fairly amenable sort, (if a bit of an introvert who will avoid conversation at all costs wherever possible) but definitely comes from that breed of over 60's males who think that woman should stick to cooking and cleaning and when it comes to practical matters cannot possibly know what they are talking about.   If ever I ask him a question of a practical nature and Mr B is also present, he completely ignores me and addresses any answers directly to Mr B which always makes me laugh because whilst he is good at a lot of other things ...  for example he will sit for hours patiently untangling my jewelry when the chains have all got in a big mess and he is brilliant at dealing with those irritating cold-calling sales people (firm but always polite and respectful whereas I'm more ... well, let's just say, it's better that he deals with those), he is absolutely shite at any form of DIY or practical task around the house ... bless.

I called  Dennis ...
"Hi Dennis.  Unfortunately, we don't seem to have any power in the lounge at any of the sockets and none of the lights are working either.   I have checked the rest of the house and everywhere else seems to be fine though, which would suggest to me that something has maybe tripped out on that circuit?   I have checked the fuse box and double checked the trip switch marked 'Lounge' and tried turning it off and on again but it hasn't made any difference."
"Oh.  It's probably a power cut ... "
"Er ... no ... **rolls eyes** the power is on in all the other rooms in the house so it's not that"
"Oh.  That's strange.  I better come over and have a look.  It sounds like something has tripped the circuit out ..."
Ya think?!   Meanwhile, I continued to think what might have caused the outage and remembered Dennis using the outside plug socket earlier in the day.  I tried the outside lights on the patio ... nothing.  Ah-ha!  Armed with my hairdryer (always a useful way of testing whether a socket is working I have found!),  I went outside to see if it worked in the outdoor socket.  It was at that point that I discovered that said outdoor was not only not working but falling out of the wall!  I think we are getting warmer.
Twenty minutes later, Dennis arrives.
"I think I may have worked out what the problem is."
He raised one eyebrow slightly and gave me with one of those patronizing 'you-can't-possibly-know-what-you're-talking-about-but-I'll-humour-you-anyway' looks.
"When you were here this morning, I noticed that you had something plugged into the outside socket?  I have checked both socket and the outside lights and they are not working either.  Could it perhaps be something to do with whatever you were using this morning?"
"Oh ... now wait a minute ...  I cut through the strimmer cable this morning whilst I was doing the yard work... !"
Oh dear God.  And you didn't think to perhaps mention that?
"... it must have blown the circuit.  Good thing you thought of that!"
This is also the man (you may recall from a previous post) that took one of our large venetian blinds away to be fixed as it wouldn't open and close and then when putting it back up cut through all the cords whilst trying to remove the tape holding it all together, so that now whilst we can open/close it, we can't raise/lower it!  Good grief.
After locating and resetting the relevant trip switches for the outside circuit, order was soon restored, (thankfully just in time for my daily dose of Rachael Ray) well ... apart from the socket which is still shot to bits but as long as it is fixed before I need to plug Rudolph in for the holidays I don't really care.

As I type this, Mr B is currently up a ladder trying to disassemble the Burglar Alarm box which has suddenly started chirping ...  very loudly ... every 2 minutes ... FFS! ... so I had better go and supervise quick before we have half the Arizona Police and Fire Brigade on the doorstep ...!!

Laters ...!
TTFN
Bev x