A power cut! Light hearted!

Most definitely not prepared! I realised that after the last storm when we had a few power cuts. I couldn't find a torch and my battery operated candles had run down. It's definitely something I need to sort out.

We often get power cuts when I’m at my partners. Always have candles to hand, with matches of course. Whenever the wind seems to be picking up we make a flask of hot water and a hot water bottle. I bought us both one of those beanie hats with a LED light in which lasts for ages when charged up so we can read etc. Have got an ancient transistor radio so I can hear the local news, but I must invest in a better one. Going to buy one of those kettles that you can put on a log burner. Mind you, we’ve never been without power there for more than24 hours. I was without power for a week once, and it was just after my husband had disconnected the gas fire so me and the kids were freezing. I think we sat on the sofa under a duvet for the duration. What added insult to injury was that one half of the village got their power back but we were still in darkness. After a few days the rest of the county seemed to be back to normal and we felt as if the whole world had forgotten us. The power came back on just as my husband had managed to borrow a paraffin heater from someone. I’ve never eaten mint ice cream since that week as I had a load of it in the freezer and we had to eat it all up. It’s awful not being able to have a cup of tea when you want one.

Yes we have strategically placed torches throughout, fleece dressing gowns to keep warm and a gas fire. We would have to eat cold food though ☹️

I bought a few lamps off Amazon for such events they’re really brilliant and not expensive

I have a wind up torch by my bed and one of those pull the cord battery operated lights there too belt and braces

While power cuts are less common than when we first moved here, we're still prepared. Torch, battery-powered lamps, candles, two small camping stoves (they currently cost something like £15 to £20, so not a terribly expensive investment). And we have one of those power pack things - but haven't yet fathomed out how to use it to charge our phones!

Because we get a lot of power cuts here (for some reason not known) I'm fully prepared. Camping gas stove. Candles and matches, spare batteries, torches, LED lights, etc.

Oh, meant to be light hearted.. Well, I think Bear Grylls would be proud of me.

Yes, we know all about power cuts. I am less bothered about torches, but I have a big lap top computer on my desk, plugged in so the battery is always fully charged, I also have a Kindle.

We have a wood burning stove which is invaluable for heating and cooking.

A few years ago, in November we were without gas for a fortnight. Water was getting into the mains and the gas company couldn't find out where.

Obviously we had power and light, an electric kettle and microwave, but a gas cooker. We lit the stove every morning and kept in going all day. Ours is an old house with a huge brick chimney and bread oven and over the days the whole brick edifice heated up like a great storage radiator and effectively heated the whole house, the chimney heated the bedrooms it went through and downstairs the chimney and bread oven, plus stove kept the whole of downstais warm.

I am afraid we became like two children, working out all the things we could do. We slow cooked casseroles and heated kettles on the stove, put foilwrapped potatoes in the stove to cook. The only problem was the lack of hotwater and we used to go round to the local sports centre every few days to have showers.

Boil water on the Gas cooker, for a hot drink, or cook your Porridge on the stove.
If cold weather put gas burners on and sit if you can in the kitchen.

I'm so well prepared for emergencies that my friends have actually called me anal. But when the power goes out or there is a food shortage (the Covid lockdowns come to mind) they all bleat at me that they wish they'd got a working torch, an oil lamp, a little camping stove, a few spare tins of food, an unopened pack of loo rolls, etc... Maybe I am anal but I've never been caught napping (nyah nyah). We've never lived in a house with gas, so maybe it's been easier for me to know that I won't be covered in a power cuts (all the advice here to use the gas stove instead made me laugh!).

We've chosen to have a replacement gas hob rather than an electric or induction hob.

Having lived through ths Seventies with babies and toddlers and coping with all the power cuts, at least I know there's an alternative if there's a power cut.

No gas unfortunately.Visgirl

We have strategically placed torches, a camping gas stove, two portable calor gas heaters and plenty of candles. One mobile phone gets reception in the house, the other older one doesn’t, but both always fully charged. Plenty of tinned soup, tomatoes, baked beans, pasta and eggs for quick hot meals, bread, butter, long life milk, tea and coffee and plenty of cheese, ham and salad stuff in the fridge. Wouldn’t want to open the freezer obviously. We could survive for a few days, albeit not very comfortably.

My son in law informed me that anyone without a mobile phone who relies on their BT landline will not be able to use it to call anyone in a power cut unless they have carried out instructions they will have received to swap the service to Digital Voice.
Lord help any older person without a mobile who didn't understand the instructions re the landlineand has a burglary or fire.

Forgot to say, he used to be a BT engineer.

I've just read about a national power cut in Sri Lanka. Apparently it was caused by monkeys fighting at the power station. Well that's one thing we don't have to worry about here. Phew.

What energy source do your motion sensors and alarms run on OP?
Would they not have been equally affected by a power cut?

When I lived in Scotland I had a wood burner. We often had power cuts. Actually having a fire saved us many a time. We used candles for light and even cooked food on the fire. There's something to be said for old fashioned heating, as it had a back burner that heated radiators.

I'm lucky that I don't usually get power cuts unless they only last for a few minutes as the last one did about a month ago but I always make sure I have candles, lighters and torches.

I can easily survive on cold food and cold drinks so it it's off for several hours I'm OK.

I live alone and so does one of my neighbours so as a joke ... we're besties and can joke about anything... I rang her one late night when everything went completely dark and put on a dark low tone ''horror'' voice and asked ''are you all alone....and in the dark?!'' She screamed the place down, called me some names I can't repeat here then we both died laughing!

We have just had our emergency lights replaced, they come on automatically in the event of a power cut, we had a lot when we moved in. Have power packs for charging phones and more powerful ones for laptops. Gas hob and plenty of candles. Our air con can act as heaters if the central heating is playing up.

RosieandherMaw

What energy source do your motion sensors and alarms run on OP?
Would they not have been equally affected by a power cut?

They were my neighbours alarms, my motion sensor turns into a torch and comes on when the power goes off and is fully charged not sure how long it would last. Quite as I found out.

lucky we do not seem to get them here but the outlying villages do.
I must admit the power cuts in the 1970s have lovely memories for me.
I was about 7 years old and the junior school I was at shut earlier as the power went off at a certain time.
going to the supermarket we saw the staff busy covering the freezers with paper
At home it was candles and we had a Rayburn so least had a nice hot meal
best of all evenings were spent playing cards by candlelight or we got together with my 'auntie' and kids then went for a long moonlight walk up the woods with the dogs! I so loved those walks staying up late just laughing and running free.
one night my lot older sister was looking after me while parents popped to a neighbour to help her. Being naughty she decided to read from her ghost story book! needless to say I was freaked out especially when she blew the candle out and we were plunged into the dark! Dad could hear me scream next door! my sister got well told off!
another time my dad who was a lorry driver was taking trees to Norwich and took my sister with him. we had a big open fire in the lounge and a big sofa bed a massive iron framed thing in moquette which if you caught your leg on it or put your head down hard on the arm certainly knew about it!
mum folded the bed open then we slept in the lounge so lovely and warm watched the flames flickering on the ceiling as I went to sleep it was so magical

albertina

My son in law informed me that anyone without a mobile phone who relies on their BT landline will not be able to use it to call anyone in a power cut unless they have carried out instructions they will have received to swap the service to Digital Voice.
Lord help any older person without a mobile who didn't understand the instructions re the landlineand has a burglary or fire.

Can you check that? as I understand it, if you swap to digital voice it is via your broadband and that will not work in a power cut.
not sure what they are going to do for those with no mobile signal but over the next few years everyone will be switched to VOIP i.e. digital