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?

Yes you are right.

It might be unsettling but it's hardly a disaster. Honestly, if the power goes off everywhere and you are all in the same boat it's really not that scary. Any time the power goes off here we don't know why and yet no-one turns it into a big drama. If you don't have a medical issue which requires power then it's just an inconvenience. If everyone is frantically trying to phone or text people that just causes overloading issues.

It was declared a state of emergency

OK - it seems the state of emergency was just a silly over reaction.

I have personally never experienced a complete blackout meaning the train stops and I can't get off, or the traffic lights stop working, or I hear that whole countries are in the same position w/o knowing why. I can't say how I'd react, but I think I'd feel it more than 'just an inconvenience'.

What was frightening was that people were told it might last a week, their water supply would probably be cut off and no one knew what had caused it.
My family live in one of these countries. In the morning they had Internet access so read reports of possible cyber attack, no water or power for up to a week. Then their mobile networks went down and they had literally no idea what was going on. They couldn't look at the news online, they couldn't put the TV or radio on. They were completely cut off and thinking they may well die of dehydration in the next few days
One relative is a doctor and works in a hospital. Many of her patients rely on electricity to keep them alive but they only had enough power in generators to last 9 hours. She was fully expecting mass deaths. Her hospital was also without water.
It absolutely could have been a disaster.

That's so interesting, thanks for the intel. I know Morocco helped restart Spain's grid thanks to the undersea line that exists.

Yes, apparently that's why it took so long to restore because they had to gradually restart from power stations using hydroelectric (I think that's why they started restoring in the north and south) and had to stabilise each time before bringing a new one on line.

Yes I did. Awful for anyone vulnerable who may have needed medical care or was socially isolated. OP was fine though, she's spoken with her mum who also hadn't heard about the blackout so I'm not sure what there is to minimise in OPs situation, they had a day without power and survived.

Back to the original issue, I would be hurt if my parents did even bother to text me if they knew this had happened. I would text an adult child in those situations. I am not surprised you are hurt.

That makes sense. It was also quite patchy, my mum lives 1km away from me and she got her power back at 2 a.m. the following day whereas mine was back at 6.30 p.m. the day it happened.

Yes, even within villages. Parts of our village (that we could see) had power from 6pm and ours wasn't back until 230 am. We are on different distribution blocks or something.

Has Just Stop Oil made a statement yet? This is what they want isn't it?

If you’re old enough to live in another country this feels rather “look at me”. But I’m a different generation.

We went for a late afternoon walk in Seville and round about 18:00 I think, parts of the city by the river had power back. We assumed the whole city was back up, found a working ATM (we had no cash) and later found an open restaurant (they were still only taking cash payments). Walking back to the hotel that night, we found the city centre power was sporadic. One block would have power, the next not. One side of the street had power, the other not. One ATM would be working, the next one along (still in block with power) was not.

Our hotel had power and their internet was back up for all of half an hour before it went down again until 2AM- my DH had a mobile connection during this period, I did not.

Tell the people stuck in lifts for 12 hours, or on the metro with the generator ion fire, or the people needing ambulances, or the people on the 10th floor with no lifts or water, or, as my friend was, locked out of apartment (electric lock) with nothing but the clothes they stood up in, or the kids at school with no one to collect them and no way of contacting parents etc, no phones no information on how long it will last for that it’s “not that scary”.

It wasn’t “just a power cut” it was an international power outage.

ETA nobody could “frantically call or text”. All networks down.

Well, exactly. I can’t believe the minimising there’s been on this thread.

I don´t think they want massive powercuts, no...But maybe I have misunderstood?

Does it occur to you that, in this instance, many others were quite badly affected? How would you feel stuck indefinitely on a train or in a lift which has suddenly ground to a halt, or stuck in your house because there are electronic locking gates - especially when you have no idea how long the problem will go on for?

So far as OP's situation is, yes, they survived. However, none of her relatives knew that, did they? I would certainly want to check in on my close relatives if I had any in the affected areas.

This thread has been a massive eye opener to me and actually quite helpful.

I can see that the posters minimising the severity of the incident and also criticising and judging the OP's hurt feelings are massively lacking in empathy. They refuse to take on board any new information, won't back down from their initial opinion, can only compare to their own experience and cannot imagine that other people might feel differently to them. Not people whose opinions I care about

There have been things in my life that have happened where people, including family members, have done the same.

"It's not that bad/what are you moaning about/it's your fault/it's not as bad as X/you're attention seeking/that's not what happened/you're so sensitive/I don't believe you"

I can see how in the same way, those people aren't going to change their minds, whatever I say or do and in some cases will just double down when I explain my position or try and tell them how I have been affected and how that makes me feel.

It's still hurtful, but in a way I can see now, they just are not capable of understanding or empathising and I need to give up trying.

Quite freeing!

So, thanks idiots on this thread for the free therapy, enjoy your lives of judgement, criticism and closed mindedness!

Her mum told her she hadn't heard about it! I'd have nothing but empathy for someone who had experienced harm during the blackout but OP did not.

@JLou08 do you only give empathy if someone is harmed. No empathy if they are upset, worried, concerned or feel hurt.

I bet pretty much everyone in Spain who first heard that the whole of Spain and parts of neighbouring countries were suffering a power outage with most infrastructure impacted and no timescale for power to be returned and no reason for why this had happened would have been worried to start with. Would you show no empathy at all for them.

It was on the radio news. But wasn’t reported in a way that made everyone think oh gosh must see if -insert dear loved one- is ok. Mainly it was about travel disruption and if they knew you weren’t travelling they didn’t worry. It was only a day after that it was reported that some of France was effected as well

Jeez..get a grip

Me too.

And since when does being adult mean that your parents stop caring about you? Only on mumsnet that the moment you turn 18 you should cease to expect any support whatsoever from parents because, you know, you’re a grown up now. 🙄

it’s normal in most loving families to check in on one another.

Sorry to hear they didn’t get in touch @Stopeatingcrispsanddips Can you bring it up with them?

We have powercuts all the time why would you need someone to check on you? If it had been a bomb or an earthquake fair enough but you had no power for a day!