Power Cut

Back to the drawing board. I have a belay device that would get me down slowly and cautiously in the dark. I use a variant of the fireman's abseil. I could control the descent myself, and pull the rope free from below, since I rarely climb with a partner. This would let me descend free, preferably without contact with the lift cables.

One stray thought. It's a thousand to one chance, but all the same:

"Ted. Are you dead sure the lift is powered down? I don't want the bugger starting up when I'm down there."

"See wo'cher mean mate. Right I'll drop the switches right now. See? Everyfink orf and I've pulled the fuses."

Two minutes later I was in the air.

Joe shone his lantern down on me as I ratcheted myself down into the shaft, but I did not find the wavering light at all helpful. I just concentrated on keeping as upright a posture as I could manage. At last one foot made contact, then the other and I was standing on the roof of the lift cage.

"Ok, Joe, lower the lamp down here."

Down came the lamp, still switched on, and I caught it and detached it from the rope. Sylie called down:

"You ok Joe?" and I reassured her. By now the people in the lift knew something was going on, and they were starting to call out. I opened the hatch and shone the lantern down. There were three of them, An elderly man in a trilby hat and overcoat, A young woman well wrapped up, and a baby in a sling on her breast under her coat. The adults were badly frightened and chilled, but still self-possessed; the baby seemed to be fast asleep.

I asked their names, and called them up to Ted.

"They are Shelagh O'Keefe, and baby Declan, and Bill Robinson," I shouted up the lift shaft. "They are cold and uncomfortable, but basically sound."

I told them the news that Sammy had gleaned from the radio. A really catastrophic breakdown at Drakelow power station... no prospect of help before the morning... and our plans to get emergency food, bedding etc. down to them. Tomorrow, I stated blandly, the army and civil emergency people would be checking up, and we would be able to get expert help to get them out.

People in a crisis can be wonderful. They took in the news stoically. Shelagh just asked us to tell her husband the situation when he arrived, and to fetch her baby changing bag from her car as a matter of priority. No, she didn't need baby milk, she could take care of that perfectly well, but she could do with a drink of water. Bill asked for a couple of folding chairs, as sitting on the hard floor was killing his back and very likely giving him piles.

Half and hour later, all was done that could be done. Sandwiches, thermos flasks of hot soup and coffee, two folding chairs, sleeping bags and duvets, and a closed bucket that would have to serve as a makeshift lavatory. Above all, they had my calor gas lantern and refill. Their need was infinitely greater than mine. They must have been scared shitless; even now they had a great deal to put up with, but they were an inspiration to all of us.

Well that was that. Not a very dramatic rescue, in fact hardly a rescue at all, but we had managed to make their discomfort a bit less. I climbed back up the shaft on a metal ladder I found bolted to the wall in one corner. It was filthy and slick with grease, and could not be seen from the top. All in all I was glad I had not found it – abseiling down was quicker and safer. I reached the top and got out, aided by Joe's hand on my collar as I struggled over the lip of the doorway.

Sylie, maybe because she could not see how dirty I was, hugged me and covered my face with kisses. I was very much moved. I had spent the evening realising more and more how much I had missed her.

Looking back it seemed that we had spent our time together laughing at each other's silly jokes and playful insults, and I saw clearly that with Karen, and her predecessor Juliet, I had scarcely dared to laugh for fear of being misunderstood.

"Sylie," I begged, "we will go on seeing each other, won't we?"

"You think I'm going to let you go again after all this? I'm just going to collect a clean pair of knickers and my toothbrush, and I'm coming back with you. A night on a hard floor with you will do me a world of good."

I kissed her again, picked her up and swung her around as we used to do out of sheer exuberance. Soon afterwards we were walking back to the canal bank, hand in hand.

"Joe, I've been thinking. About the congress of the diffident woodworm, I think I can see how we might do it. Are you up for it?"

Kama Sutra here we come. I can do cold; I can do dark; I can do liftshafts. With Sylie in my life I can do anything.

The following day the emergency services people turned up. Joe and I learned that we could have winched the lift up in fifteen minutes using the big crank handles that were stored in the shed at the top of the lift. We felt like right twats for a minute, but then I remembered the sheer exhilaration of abseiling into a black hole, and realised that I would not have it otherwise. I think I shall try night climbing, starting with the façade of Loughborough Town Hall...

Drakelow Power Station is still standing. Long may it remain so. It should be clear now that no Power Station was injured or damaged in the making of this story.