Well, that was a fun weekend …… not!

There was a report last night of an elderly lady being found alone in a cold, dark house in a remote area. She has eaten nothing since last Friday. ?

Our elected representatives have been sending out posts on social media to contact them if you need help. What don’t they understand about people having no power and phones?????. I’m so angry for those who’ve been truly abandoned.

We were without power for 24 hours and we’re lucky to get the power back on so soon. We thought the windows were going to blow in during the night. The wind was 95 mph up at the castle. There are trees down everywhere, and most roofs have been damaged. They lost part of the roof at a local pub and people staying there were terrified. No petrol to be had in Berwick as all the garages were damaged. Full of admiration for the people working to repair the damage and restore water and electricity to everyone.

Years ago we had a power cut for nearly a week and no water. We ended up walking over fields to get to the nearest cleared road for a friend to pick us up. We couldn't even work out where our cars were buried in the drifts, it was the worst snow I'd ever seen. House went up for sale after that.

It's a good idea to be prepared - candles, oil lamps + oil, woodburner, Gaz lamps, matches, logs and so on.

As I write this we are 4 days in to a power cut here in North East. Some people have had to go into Newcastle and book hotels to keep warm.

I was without electricity for three days in a snow storm once. I had a wood burner so could keep warm. I cooked what I could in the burner and got hot water for washing from neighbour who had a gas cooker. The manager at work thanked me for making the journey in. I told him I came in so I could charge my phone and have a hot lunch....hahaha. I would not have made the journey otherwise.

Oh katek, that sounds horrible, I’m glad things are returning to normal and you’re thawing out again. Nothing like a disaster to concentrate the mind so that next time the contingency plans will be in place and you’ll all be warm and singing gin gan goolie in the village hall.
Poor you SueDonim, hope normality is soon restored for you too and of course for your little cat.

We’ve been away and came home to no power/water/internet/phones and a very unhappy cat. The house was 7deg. I lit the coal fire and we slept on the sofas in many layers and I had the cat, too. My dd made arrangements for us to be able to stay somewhere near her, complete with the cat. I’ve had to throw out two fridge-freezers-worth of food. I’ve salvaged what meat I could but three rest has had to go in the bin. It could be worse. A friend grows all her own fruit and veg and has lost an entire years worth of f&v. ?

There’s no forecast for when we’re likely to be reconnected and the council/govt have done nothing to help over the weekend. Any support has been provided by private individuals. I fear that some elderly/vulnerable folk will have been missed.

My brother has been off since the storm. He is in Amble Northumberland. It briefly came on yesterday and went off again. Fortunately they don't have young children or elderly with them and neighbours have been mucking in together to cook food and see people are ok. Hope everyone is managing. Trust the storm to coincide with temps below 0 and snow!

Tht sounds horrible Kate, I am glad things are returning to normal!

I’m in a small village, and our power always seems to go down over the winter. I do all the things mentioned already (wood burning stove, camping gas burner for kettle, and a calor gas lamp). We keep spare barbecue fuel, so we can cook up outside if it goes on for days, and I also keep a charging cable in the car, so we can charge the phones and iPads from the car engine if necessary.

We were without gas for a November week a couple of years ago. Not as disabling as having no power. We are also among those who have a wood-burning stove. We used that for heat and even cooked a casserole and boiled a hob kettle on the top of it.

It is in a huge brick chimney in the middle of the house and after three days of 24/7 stove, the whole brick chimney heated up and worked like a storage radiator, heating two bedrooms and the dining hall.

I think I mean walk in sleeping bag!?

Don’t forget to keep in stock candles with matches and/or torches. If you don’t have a gas hob then a camping stove is worth having. I have a small portable hob that runs on calor gas cylinders just in case. An Eskimo Nell coat wouldn’t go amiss or one of the latest walking sleeping bags.

Oh dear. Sounds awful. I hope you're warming up now Katek. Good idea to have the local hall in stand by just in case. Sounds like an organising job for you!

Yes, I've kept a gas fire in one room for this very reason. However, I'm now thinking of 're-investing in a camping stove. Yes, very foolishly, I parted with mine in a recent clear out just because I hadn't used it for many years. As idiots go.........

Hope everyone is re-connected and nice and warm, how awful for you all! Although we are gas heating (with electric pumps of course) I insisted on a gas hob when we did the kitchen for this very reason. Although it is a faff to clean and not as sleek as our previous induction hob, at least when/if the power goes off ( we have overhead supply), we can at least cook, make hot drinks, and boil water for hot water bottles.

We had a 3 day power cut some years ago. The house we had moved into was all electric. It was a freezing February with snow and ice and we were so cold. I sat my 7 year old in as many clothes as I could get on her and wrapped in a duvet. A kind neighbour brought is a flask of hot water for drinks.

It really is miserable to be cold for days.
We bought a calor gas heater after this so we were never without some heating.

We had our heating system replaced a few years ago. The builders couldn't understand why I insisted on having a gas fire as well as gas central heating. I pointed out that the central heating relies on an electric pump and would be no good during a power cut!

Hopefully everyone is reconnected now. I agree the push for all-electric home energy supplies is worrying ?

Three days with no power, that is no fun at all. My heart goes out to you, and all those with power cuts.
We had one just for a few minutes and the only problem caused was that my central heating boiler is now speaking German!. All the instructions on the little digital screen etc.
How strange! But I have learned that An is On and Aus is Off.
So I can still use it . But I can't reset the timer etc.

Lucky girl - that should not have happened as stairlifts are battery powered and should be fine as long as they are charged.

We’re beginning to return to normality - all services are back, but the house still feels a little on the chilly side. Much talk in the village about having a contingency plan should we ever have a similar situation. A local electrician suggested connecting one of our big generators (used for Gala) to the public hall to provide warm space, hot drinks etc. The big problem with that was we wouldn’t be able to let people know as all communications were out. Dh has suggested a PA system on the roof of the car-might not be a bad idea! Despite a decent night’s sleep I’m shattered-fighting the cold must take more out of you than you realise.

During the 3 day week in the 70s, we put together an emergency kit of candles, matches, torches and a camping stove. All kept in a designated place. It's stood us in good stead over the years, including one year when we had a power cut on Christmas day!

I sympathise as we had 4 day power cut a few years ago, we lived in the kitchen with the gas hob on - always a good idea to have some sort of alternative power. What is going to happen when we are all using ground source heat pumps?

We were fortunately OK, although neighbouring villages weren't. We just had a couple of brief blips in the power supply.

It does make you wonder, though, why we are being encouraged to rely entirely on electricity for everything.....