mystery power outage

last night we got back from bodysurfing and dinner in town to discover the house with no power. we fired up candles and flipped the breakers, then went out to the street and looked at the connection to the power lines. the street lights were on, the neighbors’ power working, and the tie-in to the city looked a little funky, so i determined that whatever the issue was, we weren’t going to solve the problem until morning. i started reading by candlelight in bed, made a comment about ruining my eyesight like abe lincoln, then remembered the headlamp i brought.
an hour or two later, the lights on the balcony came on, and someone shouted from the street asking if everything was working. he didn’t seem to be from ICE, the power company, but i shouted back yes, thanks! so to recap, the power to the house was off, but several hours later, without our having notified anyone, someone came by and brought back the juice.