Electrical failure

5.00 Calm and quiet Friday night planned, with easy meal and glass of beer.  Husband and I start home.

5.30 Daughter rings   -  burglar alarm is stuck on, no power to any sockets, what should she do?

• I tell her to switch on electricity trip switch - she tries but it trips again.
• I tell her to ring burglar alarm emergency maintenance people - she does so.

Get home - inside alarm is loud and painful, external alarm sounds like clucking starling - neighbours have called police, who called another neighbour who's supposed to have the key.

• Burglar alarm maintenance man comes - disconnects alarm.
• We ring an electrician. He can't come.
• We ring another electrician. He comes in the morning and disconnects a whole circuit, so now we have power to the rest of the house but not to freezer, dishwasher, burglar alarm or the wi-fi network.

Great man, this electrician!  He comes back on Sunday morning and finds the problem, - a fused wire in a socket that must have been sparking for ages.  He fixes it and another potential problem (electrical joke - laugh!) and switches that circuit back on again. And he explains RCDs, new legislation on circuit boxes, leaks in circuits and trip switches.