Hallo Darkness my Old Friend

Three o'clock in the morning. I can't sleep. Nothing unusual when I know I have to get up early to catch the taxi to the airport the next morning. Especially when pick-up is at 4.30 and I still have to shower, pack and check out. The only problem is that it is pitch dark around me. Have I lost my sight during the night, have I died or is the power off? Usually it is the latter in Africa, but strangely enough only my room is dark. The rest of the hotel has light. I need to shower and pack still.

I try each switch in the room. On, off, on, off, nothing, I even locate the distrubution board and find no tripped switches. On, off, on, off, nother there either. I have just finished a book by Joseph Murphy called "The Power of Your Subconscious Mind", but not even telling myself that the power will come on, helps. I decide I need 3rd party help, like the night watch who is sleeping behind the reception counter.

The night watch enters my room with a torch whose batteries are weaker than my state of mind. He tries each switch in the room. On, off, on, off, nothing. He even locates the distribution board and find no tripped switches. On, off, on, off, nothing there either. At least the first steps of troubleshooting was done correctly by me, I thought to myself. Would like to see what his next step is going to be. The man is baffled, he goes through the process again, each time from trying the switches to tripping the distribution board and then adding another step like looking in a cupboard, then looking under the bed, then looking outside the door. He gets help from what looks like another member of the staff who is on night duty and heard a commotion as he is opening cupboards and doors. She is just as in the dark (pun intended) as he is. This goes on for some time and I am running out of time. I need to shower. What is the rest of my day going to be like? I call in the power of the subconscious mind to convince myself that this is the practicle exam of my latest study in human phsychology and that everything will turn out fine. Can I change the rest of the day by staying positive?

The night watch man takes out his phone, makes a couple of calls. He speaks in Swahili, so I have no idea if he is getting the information he needs to shine a little light on the problem. He disappears down the corridor. The other member of the night staff is still flipping switches in my room. I wonder how many times one has to do that to realize that it is not going to solve the problem. Suddenly the lights come on, fortunately not while she was flipping a switch, otherwise I might have believed that it actually workes. Let's see how the rest of my day goes....