Current events (BAD PUN #1)

So a few days ago, my father-in-law knocks on the door to our room and asks me to use my height to replace a fluorescent bulb that he says has been flickering when he tries to turn it on.

First thing I notice when I step out is the smell of burning wires. Bit of a language barrier between us but I manage to convey to him that the bulb is not only working fine, but that something out-of-sight is on fire. I find my remote thermometer and start looking for hotspots in the ceiling before doing any trial-and-error. Flipping the switch for the lightbulb eventually causes a flickering zap sound to fill the living room, in time to the flickering of the bulb itself. The sound seemed to be coming from the chandelier, and with the other light out, this is confirmed by light coming from under the fixture in the ceiling, when I try pulling chandelier's cord.

The time is 9pm. I tell him to call the landlady, downstairs, while I let my wife know that she should pack a bag or two just in case we need to evacuate. Between the landlady and the other tenants/relatives in the building, we eventually discover that the living room/master bedroom area has no assigned breaker in the box, but is instead just wired to the main breaker for the second floor. The local handyman is summoned, the second floor now totally dark, and my mother-in-law heads to the all day dime store to buy some St. Lazarus candle glasses. My wife is taking this in an amazingly calm manner.

The landlady threads an extension cord from the downstairs foyer to a power strip next to the kitchen to provide us with light and to keep the fridge operational. The handyman arrives, removes the chandelier, and we all discover a dirty carbon-coated tangle of ancient wires. Some experimentation with the breakers causes arcing and a candle-sized fire, apparently between the fixture connection and the ground. When the handyman intentionally grounds out the wire, there's a large electrical snap, a rolling cloud of smoke, but no breaker flip.

The handyman eventually pares away the bad portion of old wire and reconnects the chandelier. The lights no longer flicker.

Yesterday, my father-in-law complains to us that the living room TV is not working, asking my wife to check the connection. Nosing in, I find out that everything on that wall, as well as the previously offending light and chandelier, are not operational, nor is anything on in his master bedroom. I tell him to call the landlady again, and they spend half an hour playing with the breaker box for some reason before telling us that an electrician would arrive today.

Still waiting on that right now.