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?

But seeing as there was no power, then what made you think this particular power cut was any different to any other power cut you’ve had ‘in a regular basis’? If my power went off, the first thing I’d do is check to see if everyone else in the street had lost power too. Then I’d see if the internet was still working. Then I’d likely just potter about until the power came back on. The last thing I’d think would be ‘oh no, the whole country is experiencing a cyber attack - were doomed!’

It has been though. Many of these posters are being deliberately obtuse as they always are in these kind of threads.

Yes and an elderly couple and their son died from CO poisoning due to a generator they were using because of the blackout.

What is really going on here OP?
If you have a good relationship with your parents you would assume they never saw the news or it never occurred to them that this was a frightening experience for you ( you have plenty of experience of people reacting like this here). So no nefarious intent.

If you have a poor relationship with them, then presumably there are bigger issues that you are seeing this as emblematic of, but those bigger issues are presumably what you need to talk about.

One final thought, do you think your father is autistic, so you are asking if he is ‘normal’ , for want of a better word, in that regard? In that, he heard the news but as it wasn’t his normal time to call you, he never.

Of course, your best chance of finding out why your parents never called is to phone them yourself and have a conversation.

My parents were odd and my Father never showed an interest in my life. I found out later in life it was because he didn’t want to appear ‘nosy’. 🙄

I think that's very strange, I instantly thought of my uncle who I'm in no way close to and my dad's friend who I knew would be affected. Had I known a close family member I'd have defo messaged to check all were okay. People were stuck on lifts and trains for hours. Abandoned miles away from homes due to lack of transport etc.

If you were born in the 7os as you said on a different post, then you’re between 46 and 55. So not a child, a fully grown adult.

It was very much properly reported. This place is obviously just full of idiots.

They are still investigating whether it could have been a cyber attack, and one report states that there was unusual activity recorded here too, although obviously didn’t give rise to power outage

I can understand it was frightening it be in the midst of it, I would be a bit scared too, especially if I was in a country where my knowledge of the language was limited.

However watching it from here in the UK it quiicky became apparent that the government and community organisation was kicking in, it wasn't unrestricted chaos and people were being broadly being looked after.

In terms of being stuck - nasty and uncomfortable yes but are proceedures for manually evacuating people from stuck trains and lifts.

I saw it on the news. I get it caused great inconvenience, but it’s not like a hurricane or natural disaster. The water being cut off would be much worse!
I’m also a 70’s baby and my parents wouldn’t have texted but would have probably asked about it next time I spoke to them. In fact, if you can’t charge your phone probably best not to use it and drain the battery? I think you’re trying to make a drama into a crisis OP.

I don’t know how old your parents are but I grew up in the 80s and power cuts were a regular occurrence and just not a big deal, they probably aren’t viewing it through the same lense as you are.

I never noticed it on the news and I listen to at least some of the morning and evening news nearly every day. This thread is the first I am aware of it.

If a story doesn’t run for several days it’s easy to miss it. It just needs to appear on a section of the news you didn’t catch.

When lots of people here were not aware of this or did not realise it’s impact, it’s a bit conspiracy theory minded to think they are pretending all this for some nefarious purpose.

I’m in Seville on holiday. We had just sat down in a restaurant when the power went off. We assumed someone had tripped a fuse. Then we assumed it was a neighbourhood cut. We spent our last cash on pink lemonade 😂

I grew up in New England in the 1980’s when multi day power cuts were common in winter. However, we were able to plan. This was unexpected. We briefly had an internet connection about an hour later where we found it was across Spain, Portugal and parts of France and no one knew why.

In this day and age that was unsettling and completely different to a localised power cut where the cause was clear. There was nothing dramatic about it and no panic anywhere, but yes, it was unsettling until more information was available.

It absolutely was. For those who bother to watch, listen, read it. The willing ignorance of some people is appalling. Two entire countries (and the Basque country too, initially) without power for so long is not just a power cut. The fact that it was still unexplained the last I heard, is very worrying.

OP there are heaps of horrible people in the world and on here. Thick, nasty, goading you name it. Don't feed 'em it gives 'em thrills. YANBU.

My DD lives in Portugal. I don’t think the internet went down immediately, so she knew it was nationwide. Then the Internet went too and I didn’t hear from her until the next day. She didn’t even have water in her flat - presumably no electricity for a pump somewhere. I did message her - I think the iMessages went through when the power came back on, but texts just failed, so I wouldn’t be so sure they didn’t try and contact you. It was definitely the BBC headline news on Monday afternoon/evening and into yesterday morning.

I mean, it's not outside of experience. While it's awful that somebody died due to candles, it's not completely unheard of, either. If she's upset about the lack of contact, the OP could ask her parents to explain. Because yes, of course it was on the news.

Why is that such a big deal? Also how old are your parents. If they were old enough to remember the 70s then power cuts were a regular occurrence. I was a child but remember them. Hence was brought up to always be prepared for such eventualities.

If you weren't actually stuck on a train or something like that then it's annoying but not life threatening

All communications were impacted, no internet, rumours on the ground that several countries were blacked out including the UK, that there had been a major attack. People were frightened. When power came back, I had texts from family and friends who were concerned for me. It's called empathy and it was a welcome hug.

OP thought it was the war starting, maybe the parents don't think like that.

We regularly lose power but it's very different because we're in the countryside. The effect on the big city as a completely different event

Actually, I was in it as well. I was lucky that I was with several friends in the same area, and we hung out together, had a bbq and then went to bed early. But if I had been on my own, I would have been very unsettled - it was not just the lights not working. There was no internet or phone connection - so we had no real idea what was going on. Could have been the end of the world for all we knew. Local radio stations were not working. All the shops and restaurants closed. Unless you had fresh meat, then it was not possible to find food to eat. Water was stopped because the pumps were not working. People had arrived on holiday and had no food at all in their houses, or drinks etc. There was no petrol, so people driving home to get to their dogs and had needed petrol, were not able to get back, and also not able to contact neighbours to ask for their assistance. A friend had gone away for a few days and her elderly husband was on his own and not contactable - she was panicking. So was he as he could not understand what was happening. When it got dark it was REALLY dark. Driving was dangerous as none of the traffic lights were working. But mainly - we did not KNOW it was "an extended power cut" as you put it. Safe in your home, if you KNOW it is a powercut that is only lasting 12 hours, then you can be quite happy. But not knowing what the issue was, not knowing if it was the entire world without electricity and communication is, quite frankly, pretty scary. And I don't scare easily. So thanks for your intelligent comment, when you clearly had not thought about it with any depth.

I've not heard anything about this, my parents are in Spain and not mentioned anything, seems like a non event really.

I’m not in my 50’s

I thought you were too. I think you said you were a child of the 70s

And she could have sent them a text once her phone came back in to say she was ok, couldn’t she?
I actually knew nothing about this power failure until my DH mentioned it last night! I was busy on Monday looking after small children and didn’t watch any TV news or listen to the radio.