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?

I’m in the UK so didn’t ’properly understand’, but I read the news so could see that it was a big deal. It took me around 15 seconds to text SIL in Spain and say ‘seen the news, are you all ok?’

DS lives in Spain with his family. For them it lasted 15 hours. I think it was pretty scary at the time. DGD was at college in another town at the time. She couldn’t use her normal mode of transport and couldn’t access cash machine so that she could get a bus. Phone died after one minute. Eventually managed to get a lift by sheer chance. I was worried about them. It wasn’t like any blackouts we have had in this country which are usually fairly local. The whole infrastructure came to a grinding halt. I was so pleased when internet was restored and heard they were okay.

No, it’s not normal in a caring family.

It was a major, unprecedented incident that made world news. The nature of it could have made any health emergency, crime or travel upheaval very difficult to deal with. Even if at home when it happened, it must’ve been very difficult with no power or communication. Most people are aware how frightening it must’ve been not being able to access any information about what was happening or how long it’d go on for.

If my family or friends were affected, I’d have messaged and phoned them to see how they are. I think most people would.

Is it normal for you? Are your parents usually the sort to check up on you? If so, I’d be worried about them and why they haven’t called.

Mine wouldn’t necessarily have phoned if I was in your shoes, that’s just the way they are.

Yes, it was absolutely head line news. Where are these posters who said it wasn't - I'm honestly staggered as to what insular lives they must lead!

It was on the news (TV), all the main news app - e.g. BBC News, Apple, etc. Featured in the Times. Of course, some of the news would have come in too late to end up on the front page so it was in the middle pages. Covered in articles over several days and I saw it features in the front pages of other papers too.

OP, I think your question is more relevant if we knew your usual relationship with your parents.

So, in reality they moved closer so they could get help?

Well I think their intentions were good . . .

Indeed. Plus the same people who think it wasn't in the news telling people who were actually there that they're somehow wrong or exaggerating?

Absurd.

it's hardly a war, an earthquake or Tsunami! Definitely YABU

I am in Spain and had no power from 1230 lunchtime until 230 am the next day. Personally it wasn´t frightening as such, a bit disconcerting. My next door neighbour had a transistor radio so we were able to listen to the news. We had intermittent mobile data.
I don´t have parents any more and I didn´t hear from my brother, he didn´t know about it at all until I told him, but he works in hospitality, long hours, and doesn´t watch much news.
If I had parents and had a good rl with them I would expect a text at least. If it were my adult kids I would text them.
But, here at least, it wasn´t scary as such. Just a bit weird and very inconvenient. It became clear during the day (certainly by about 6 pm) that it almost certainly wasn´t a cyber attack.

Although there was coverage in the UK it wasn't entirely clear where was affected - they kept showing Valencia, Madrid and Lisbon on the tv but didn't really explain exactly the extent of it.

YANBU to think people should have thought of you - but it sounds like some did?

YABU to have started imagining it was a war and to compare it to covid.

It was a power cut. Having lived through a great many (still very routine in lots of places), it wouldn't even occur to me to be concerned about someone living through a one off, short one. As unsettling as it may have felt for you, from the outside looking in, it isn't a huge deal.

It was huge - for those saying it was nothing imagine if the UK had no power, signal, no internet connection, phone lines for 10 hours. My colleague in Spain said it was terrifying because she literally couldn't contact anyone and her children were 10km in a nursery and the only contact they had was from a radio.

Also, it was the leading story in the UK all of Monday afternoon.

OP, I'd be really pissed off if my parents didn't at least call me to see how I was. 100% not BU.

What were you doing on your iPad you shallow fool? You should have been out, living life. I think that means thinking deep and improving thoughts at all times while staring wistfully into the middle distance! 😆

But to all the posters saying it was just a powercut, it was much more than that. No electricity in the entire Iberian peninusla. No traffic lights, no trains, metro, cash machines, hone lines, internet.
It was a big deal. But in my bit of Spain at least, it wasn´t scary, just weird. There wasn´t panic or anything either.

We had a few days no power , water or phonelines in January, my parents only live a 5 min drive from me but road impassable because of fallen trees and powerlines. We still tried calling and texting and WhatsApp in the hopes patchy service might happen. It's not normal.

I think that a power cut that was for a maximum of 12 hours is not a reason to be checked up on. We have had several where I live that last for longer than that and we all manage. It's shit, but generally not life threatening.

That's a bit of an assumption. I have a big family who regularly discuss politics and things happening in the world. I just don't catch bbc news everyday, and no one I know mentioned this to me either.

Nobody knew it was going to be 12 hours at first. It was the unknown that was scary. The Spanish gov declared a national emergency and deployed 30000 officers in case of looting and civil disobedience!

12 hours isn't that long OP. Unless you're medically vulnerable, I'd not think to check you're OK and wait to hear.

Maybe they saw in the news that it wasn't life threatening and trusted you to be capable of managing through a power cut.

It's 60% Unreasonable, but interesting how lately, people post expecting to have everyone agree and get chewy when it doesn't go in their favour.

You don't have to agree with the majority, but going on and on won't change the result.

Wtf is chewy? 😵‍💫

You obviously weren't here so I guess there is no way you can measure how impactful it was. I was in one these countries too and only got my water supply back at 11pm last night.

Also had no mobile signal for nearly 14 hours - no idea what was happening
No water supply for nearly 48 hours - no fresh water, cooking, showering etc
ATMs and card payments down in most places - so couldn't buy food (couldn't cook obviously) and water
Traffic jams and collisions happening as very busy with everyone trying get home and no traffic lights working
No metro / electric buses running
Obviously hospitals etc running off back up generators

Not exactly a small inconvenience

There used to power outages when i was child all the time. Sometimes they would last for most of the day. They could be inconvenient and annoying, but we managed. It's hardly a life and death situation for the average person. We were also not so reliant on electronics.

Only for a short length of time in the UK though, I saw one article about it online and then no more, for some reason the media here didn’t make a huge thing about it, maybe because of the conspiracy theories that it was caused by some terrorist attack

I'll be honest, I didn't know about it either. Not seen anything on the news. It actually does sound really scary, I hope you're okay. Hopefully there's an explanation soon. As for your parents, it's quite possible that they too didn't realise the extent just like many of us? My parents were affected by a bad power cut this winter due to the floods and bad weather, it was just one of those things. So perhaps your parents honestly just didn't realise the extent of it?

If you had no access to the internet and lines went down how do you they didn't try to message you but couldnt get through so were waiting for you to contact them when everything was back up and running?
Tbh I've lived in rural Spain and the electricity or water going off was a fairly regular thing so we had a backup lan and supplies in place. I imagine it'd be more concerning in the cities.