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 going to have to hide this thread because of the utter cluelessness on here. It’s like an epidemic.

Even during the apocalypse we are all going to have to cope for 48 hours without electricity before the zombies restart it and you can phone home to mum and dad.

Hi strivingtosucceed, because shorter power cuts say up to 24 hours happen every year or 2 here, I have some contingency plans in place. Firstly I have a camping gas stove and a few extra cannisters plus a stove top kettle, so this allows me to heat up some basic canned foods or say fry some sausages/eggs, plus make hot drinks. I also have a small electric generator which allows me to keep my freezer topped up by switching it on for about 3 to 4 hours a day and run some lights and the tv at night.
The problems were much worse this time because although some neighbours and I jointly own a big capacity petrol generator which can recharge the electric ones, we couldn't get fuel for it as the fuel pump on our island was off plus the ferry couldn't sail for several days so we couldn't go off elsewhere in search for fuel. This meant we had to ration using our electric generators. My biggest problem was the cold as my cottage was only about 8 degrees centigrade for days. I spent a little while at a friend's house every day who has a woodburner just for a wee bit of heat.
Going forward I am looking into installing my own woodburner and if that doesn't prove practical I'll buy a calor gas heater. Storms are getting more frequent so I think it pays to be prepared.
If you live in a town or city it's unlikely you'd ever be off for anything like that long so I'm sure electric generators and such would be overkill but I'd seriously recommend having a camping stove. The one I got was only around £25 from Amazon and packs away into a small neat carry case. Having a way to cook/warm some food and make a cup of tea just makes you feel a bit more in control.
I'm old enough to remember the rolling ongoing power cuts of the 1970s, so at least this was something I'd experienced before as a child. The nicest thing about it all was the way my community all pulled together and made sure the most vulnerable were OK.

Was it zombies who got it going in Spain?

Well was it the end of the world or just a prolonged widespread outage?

Of course it’s normal to text your kids, however old they are, if there is a major incident in the country they are living in.

Some people on this board are so weird and suddenly detach themselves from their children on their 18th birthday. It’s all a bit try-hard.

I’m sorry, your parents did not message you. I find that very bizarre.

If there’s a blackout most people would assume the phones were down or saving power

did you text them

If I had close friends in Spain or Portugal, I would message them. People’s social skills on this board never cease to amaze me!

That is terrifying and incredibly serious but for the majority of people it would have been worrying, inconvenient but not dangerous.

I suspect this thread has gone bonkers and I’ve only read the first and last pages, but the thing that popped into my head was that when there was a significant earthquake in the area my relative lives in, she texted us to let us all know she was ok before it even hit the news here. It seems a bit passive aggressive to sit and wait and then be annoyed that people haven’t behaved as you want them to.

It was very strange tbf. My mil messaged but that was it so I don’t think that everyone knew about it. The thing I think that made it scary (after having power cuts here so often that is actually really normal) is that the mobiles all went dead so unless you had a battery radio you couldn’t find out what was happening. I found it quite unnerving too so I can understand how you are feeling. Like I say the infrastructure is not always great here and we have had many a day with power cuts 🙄 so I’m used to getting the candles out and a torch to the bathroom 😂. It was the fact that mobiles just became useless that made it feel frightening and I am going to buy a battery radio.

Exactly- I have friends in Spain and messaged them as soon as I read what was happening. No reply from them until networks were restored several hours later. I was glad when I heard that they were ok and I would of course also have messaged relatives if I had any there. It wasn’t just a standard power cut, there was a huge amount of fear and uncertainty, due to people being completely unable to get information.

Again, have you read the thread? How the hell could she text them with no signal? It was a nationwide blackout.

Also, if you read the thread you’d know that she has texted them today.

It was the headline news on BBC at 6 and 10pm. It was widely covered on the news

This is a case of the wrong thread title setting the tone for the thread.

Thus was a historic, catastrophic collapse of national infrastructure.

There is no power to restart the power. It usually requires going back to hydroelectric dams to gradually build up power across the grid and could take days.

In this case, the cause was unknown.

If anyone wants some interesting reading go and look at our national risk register or Google “black start”. This is very high on the list.

Power cuts in the 70s were planned in advance.
You knew to get candles and matches.
Buy a camping gas stove if you needed to be able to heat up food.
You would have either had cash in the house or pop in to your local bank (remember them?) to withdraw cash.

Only a handful of locations per country have black start capability. It is incredibly complex and difficult to do.

Oh and by the way, the U.K. is in a far worse position than Spain, as we have decommissioned most of the power stations with black start.

If they grew up in the 70s then it was a regular occurance, so they probably thought it wasn't a big thing.

It was never a regular occurrence to have a nationwide unplanned outage

No. You can be born in the 70s and be 45

Is the power back on?

And then they wonder why they have no friends 🤷🏻‍♀️

I think @Malagaseis responding to all the shrugs of “it was just a little power cut, get a grip” comments.

Yes. People did not know why it had gone, how long it would be for and were unable to get information. That’s unsettling at best.

I’d be hurt too op. I’m 49 and my parents are in their 80s. They would definitely contact me.