I was in blackout and parents haven’t even texted me

[Stopeatingcrispsanddips]

I live in one of the countries where there was a power cut, it was frightening at the time and still feels a bit unsettling. My parents haven’t even WhatsApped us to see how we are (they still live in the U.K.)

Is this normal?

For those utterly smug people banging on about either their own presumed stoicism in the face of this and/or the finest examples of whataboutery, it was scary. No phone signal at all (including landlines). No explanation as many media were off the air (we have a solar radio but could only find one station broadcasting locally and they had no idea at first).

The local huge petrochemical plant had an emergency shutdown, sending plumes of black smoke and flames into the air which were visible for miles. People had to walk through metro tunnels using phone torches to get to safety from the stopped trains. Traffic lights all died. Etc.

I think the information blackout was the worst, with intermittent updates from the one local radio station where we gradually realised how huge the issue was geographically, which of course led to thoughts about cyber attacks etc.

A lot of water here is pumped from deep wells, even when you are on ‘mains’ water, and some are only just getting supplies back.

And of course we had no way of knowing how long it would last.

I really don’t think anyone should be dismissing this experience as nothing if they weren’t there and putting down the OP. Just nasty.

Maybe they assumed you wouldn’t be able to receive a WhatsApp? My uncle lives in Spain and nothing was working for most of the day including his phone network. I’d still expect some attempt at contact though, just thinking of vaguely acceptable reasons they may have thought it wasn’t worth the bother 😂

You're the one who's away. It's on you to contact people. I think you're being dramatic. I assume you're an adult. It was a power cut not a natural disaster.

My power was off for two days over Christmas a few years ago. There was snow on the ground. I would have been very surprised to have anyone text me to make sure I was ok - it wasn't that big a deal.

I know that this was on a different scale, I am reading your comments - but there was no way for your parents to know that there was so much talk of war and a cyber attack - we were hearing that Spain was saying it wasn't a cyber attack, and we knew it wasn't war. They couldn't possibly have known the effect that a 12 hour power outage had on you, because they will have been through many that were nothing like that.

OP, you've hit some sort of bizarre nerve here. Such a barrage of obtuse responses. Of course your parents should have checked in and if they watch news they absolutely would have known.

My sister is in Portugal and I immediately messaged to ask whether they were affected, how much, were the kids worried etc.

There was a lot of coverage in quality outlets on whether it could be a Cyber attack.

The govt of Spain declared a state of emergency ffs.

For those people saying why would I contact my child/it wouldn't cross my mind etc, that makes me sad for you.

I had no idea it even happened lol.

You say your parents watch the news all the time, but maybe they havnt this time? Or maybe they thought "just a power cut" like many other posters here?

You got no messages from anyone in the UK? If you mean literally then there's your answer.

I do think it would be standard for parents to contact their child if they suspect they are involved in a major event. Even I f they don't think isn't anything threatening.

Though they might:

• feel it's just a power cut and no biggie. They haven't appreciated the mass anxiety that it created. Such a non event it's not even worth a "ooh are you part of this?!" check in.
• be waiting on you contacting them when you have enough power to be able to, so not to waste any of your phone battery whilst the power cut was on.
• be having their own crisis and haven't been able to contact you.
• be sat at home miffed you haven't text them to say if you were involved or not. Because in their mind the onus of first contact is on person who's part of the event. You too could be part of a test you didn't know you were taking.

Ultimately @Stopeatingcrispsanddips, you don't know why they haven't contacted you. If you feel it's unusal they haven't phone then phone them and ask and tell them you're upset they didn't text you.

I was in the black out too, yes it was a bit alarming not knowing when everything was going to come back on. I understand you are hurt by your parents lack of response but it may be a genuine mistake on their part and is it really worth giving any more head space to. I would send them a message... jokily saying ...I Survived in case you were worried 😂....and leave it at that

Are you kidding, it's been all over the news, radio and social media!

I must say, if I had close family living somewhere where something major like that power cut in Iberia happened, I’d definitely be concerned for them and try to get hold of them asap to see if they were all right. Don’t worry, @Stopeatingcrispsanddips, you’re not being in the least dramatic, I’d be quite upset if I’d been in your position and had heard nothing from my parents or sibling. Some posters seem to be singularly lacking in empathy.

That is not very often. I text my parents most days, often more than once a day. Have you tried contacting them OP?
Perhaps there is something going on in their lives that meant they overlooked this.

i do understand how alarming the situation was in Spain, but I’m not sure why you expect the communication with your family to only be one way.

Interesting, how could they have passed you by?

I agree actually.

It WAS definitely all over the news in the UK while the power cut was happening. I'm not a news hound but I heard it on the radio and saw it online as top headline news as it was breaking. There was a live Mumsnet thread. People were speculating what caused it. It's unprecedented in modern times. The whole of Spain and Portugal, that's a big deal!

The OPs parents can't have missed it and I agree that normal people would send a message. If I'd had friends or family out there, I'd have sent a quick message!

I'm suspicious of all the replies claiming no one in the UK knew about it and it's not a big deal. I do wonder whether they are genuine.

thats awful,

Which outlets I wonder. I do think they've tried to suppress this to some extent. But the story was top of the bill on the world at one and PM on r4 the other day, the following day on ths morning there was nothing (although I didn't listen until the end)

My friend was in Spain last week and I immediately linked her to the article and discussed with her the chaos and glad she was back.

It was all over the news here - I guess on mumsnet people only take their news from this message board so this is the first the white middle class mums have heard of it!

I think it’s very odd that your parents didn’t contact you. Have you spoken to them by now??

Might have been in your news op but didn't make it much if anything to the UK news (had to goggle ) so your parents might have missed it. Give them the benefit of doubt here. Have you phoned them. It's not normal behaviour if they knew ..

ask them why
i heard some terrrible stories, people stuck in lifts, on trains, but also kindness of people

What does skin colour have to do with this?

It was definitely on the news as in headline in multiple online news outlets for a large part of the day. So if you’re a news junkie but knew nothing about it then maybe you’re not the news junkies you think you are. I can imagine it had an apocalypse vibe about it and I would also find it strange if my family didn’t contact me at all.

I’m missing the point here but you say you are a child of the early 70s yet you are not in your 50s. How can that be? Am I about to find out that “child of the [decade]” doesn’t mean what I think it does?

For my family it would be normal and I wouldn't think twice about them not asking if I was ok.
It was a power cut .

It was all over the news here. I make a point of texting friends/family whenever I hear about something happening in their area, just to say i'm thinking of them. It's thoughtful & shows you care. My parents, and my inlaws, are shit at this and it hurts.

It was. I WFH and listen to the radio. It was on every news bulletin.

It was also on the evening news on TV.

It was all over BBC app and tv news and top story and breaking news on the Times app.

Haven't seen anything on the news. Live in the UK. Watch the news with breakfast most morning. Have alerts for breaking news and nothing. Maybe they genuinely missed it.