About 3 years ago, the power went out late one night with a good 30 seconds or so of flickering lights first. I went to phone the power company, only to find that the phone was crackling and fizzing, and then the line went dead. (I'd already plugged in a wired telephone that didn't need external power!)
I went up the road to the local exchange, imagining everything in darkness, but it wasn't - only a few neighbours near me were out, and the phone box by the exchange worked fine, so I reported the electricity and phone faults.
It turned out the electricity cable running under the pavement nearby had melted underneath the tarmac, and taken out the nearby phone cables as well! I think we were 3 days without electricity and 5 days without telephone whilst the cables were replaced.
Ian
