Correction and retraction of previous post -- Power Cut

If you want to understand what is going on I suggest that you read the previous post.   I will remove it in its entirety within 24 hours.                  

'' my neighbour's builders cut through my electric supply cable"

Late last night I found a letter from my neighbour on the mat wherein he asks for an apology for and retraction of the above statement. It seems that my neighbours somehow got hold of my blog and even read it. Could they be the only people in Valleys End to do so?

In any case, I am happy to retract the above statement. After the National Grid engineers had finished next door they came to me and explained what they had done, showing me a photograph of the underground cables before and after repairs and pointed out the work they had done to the meter on my outside wall.

It was this engineer who was of the opinion that builders had caused the damage to my power supply. "Someone probably put a spade through it," he said. I accept that I did not see any of the damage myself, only a photograph, which would have told me very little. I simply took the engineer's word for it. He seemed to base his opinion on the age of the material used as shown in the photograph. The engineer also stated that whoever had done it had "done a bodge job". His words, not mine. I have no idea who carried out the work.

My neighbour kindly called on me the day after to assert that the fault could not possibly have been caused by his builders. I appreciated the visit; I took it for a sign that there might be a thaw in our relationship and under no circumstances do I want to imply that he might have been wrong. Whatever the truth of the matter, I have no personal knowledge either way and hereby apologise for my statement. I am sorry that I accepted the engineer's explanation over that of my neighbour.

This is the letter I received from my neighbour, all names and addresses removed:

27August 2023

Dear …

You have recently published some incorrect comments in your blog which I am concerned may cause yyou some embarrassment, and I felt you should have the opportunity to correct your inaccuracies as soon as possible.

You may recall (although perhaps you don’t), the day after your electricity supply was restored I came around to your house to ensure that the repair was sound and your electricity supply had remained intact. I explained that, contrary to the obvious conclusion, the damage to your electricity cable was not recent, and the builder’s activity in my drive was not the cause of the disruption.

However, your memory does appear to be selective, as you stated in your blog that it was our builder’s activity that had caused the damage.

I’d be grateful if you could publish a retraction of your earlier statement with an explanation of your original mistake. Otherwise any local readers of your blog who are not in full possession of the facts may draw the conclusion that I am a person of dubious character who is willing to tell lies and mislead, and that the building firm I have been using is cavalier and incompetent, which it is not.

I would also be grateful, in the future, you choose to pass comment on me or my activities, that you check with me first to ensure you don’t write something about me which isn’t true and which may cause offence.

Yours sincerely

….

PS: italics and highlighted phrases mine