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?

Nope. They operated on a principle of no news is good news. And that worked both ways, especially when there was nothing that could be done or there was no point in having anyone worry.

They were very pragmatic and hands off parents which I think is common for their age group. All of us knew that if we needed them all we needed to do was call.

Yes it was

This was headline news for a reason. The modern world is completely reliant on technology/power. Everything we need to function normally was instantly/ unexpectedly lost on a massive scale, and the inevitable first thought was a major cyber attack. It would be extremely unsettling to be part of it. Even if it presented no immediate physical risk to safety, it could be very scary if you were one of the unfortunate people stuck in a lift, a train tunnel or a major traffic jam with no way of communicating with anyone. My parents would absolutely have contacted me as soon as they heard (albeit I wouldn’t have received their messages/calls until later) - and vice versa if it had been them affected. I can totally understand why you’re hurt that your parents haven’t been in touch. Sorry for your bad experiences, and I do find it really strange how you’ve had so many vexatious responses on here! It could happen to us at some point, and then I think people will realise what all the fuss is about!

Which makes no difference to the OP. If was a power cur. Unless it was followed up by bombing, she was fine. She just had a few hours of power cut.

I did read about the power outages, and so I understand that they were very inconvenient and frustrating. But there's no reason to think that anyone wouldn't be OK, so expecting your folks to make a big drama of it is a bit unreasonable.
If you want to speak to them, just get in touch!

It was definitely the headline item on BBC News on Monday at 10pm - I actually commented that they were going on about it for rather longer than the story merited to DD who was watching it with me. Hope you’re okay OP.

It is quite clear some posters think it was not what it was. No matter what.

Op, just message them yourself and speak to them. You'll get the answer to your questions alot faster then you will here on mumsnet

It wasn't a couple of hours on her street...it was an unprecedented national event. Public transport stopped, airports closed, traffic ground to a halt, Spain declared a national state of emergency!
It was on every news source and channel around the world.

What the fuck is this thread? Why is everyone pretending OP is exaggerating or over reacting?

A suspected cyber attack that brings down the whole country would be very unsettling even for the most stoical. Cyber attacks are the way forward for terrorists etc

Is there a reason why you couldn’t text them?

my ddad rung me after the king's cross disaster, i heard so many sirens that night but was oblivious
dd was caught up in a dreadful disaster, perhaps they were frozen with fear op?

Not sure why you posted in AIBU, you clearly think you are not.

We've just arrived in Portugal and chatting to the villagers, have realised how scary and isolating it actually was.
This is a tiny village very reliant on technology to keep them uo to date and functioning, with a few small shops and bars and they had absolutely no idea what was going on.
I know our adult kids, having seen the news, which was pretty extensive about it,would have been pretty concerned and tried to check on us.

Easy and cheap communications mean we have greater expectatations of people constantly keeping in touch these days. I heard about the power cuts very early on Monday as I was watching the news on my lunch break and it came through as breaking news. I admit I sent Mr Monkey a Whatsapp message checking in as he was in Germany and at that point it was still rumoured that the outages were spreading throughout Europe.

However some older people have not adapted or don't feel the need to do that. It doesn't mean they don't care.

How do you know it was ‘all over the news’ where your parents live if you were in the middle of a blackout?

It was a power cut not a hurricane

The blackout is over now. And it was all over the news.

read about it then,
people were stuck in lifts, somebody died in a house fire, thought to be due to a candle
people were stuck on trains, for hours

you can see that it clearly hasnt been properly reported in the uk judging by peoples responses. It may explain why your parents didnt really get it either.

Who told you all this, seeing as there was no power? Did they use carrier pigeons?

OP, you are asking on Mumsnet where you're not allowed to expect anything from your parents. I do think it's strange they haven't contacted you. It was all over the news. I checked the Guardian news a few times a day and it was the headline throughout. If my daughter was away I would certainly be worried. I couldn't help but think of people who might be stuck in lifts, for one thing. I thought the explanation of why it happened was quite odd. What do you think?

It's totally bizarre that people assume when things like this happen, everybody is sat at home in the dark and just pissed off they can't watch the tv.

@EleanorReally They were uncomfortable but for the most part not in danger. This stuff isn't outside people's experience (although this was more widespread than normal) There was a big power cut in London in 2003 where people got stuck on the underground and a similar one in 2019 where overground trains all stopped, it was awful, uncomfortable and annoying but not life threatening.

I’m beginning to wonder if I live in a parallel universe because it was all over the news.

It was the main story on the BBC news site for a start with 7 pages of live updates.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c9wpq8xrvd9t

Sky also had live updates.

https://news.sky.com/story/spain-portugal-power-outage-latest-large-parts-of-countries-affected-with-traffic-lights-not-working-and-phone-lines-down-13357538