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 have a place in Spain and I got a message mid afternoon to say it was a power cut , by 10pm it was back on ! It never occurred to me it was anything more - no one mentioned a cyber attack !
Perhaps your parents thought the same & presumed that as grown adult in your 40s/50s you could fend for yourself

I’m presuming there were warnings of storms coming for most of the UK blackouts, and that warnings were in place advising people to stay at home and be prepared? So just a bit different…

I can’t believe there are still people saying they saw the news and saw nothing about it. It was top story on the BBC all day, on the day, with live rolling coverage.

My DM lives in Spain and when she finally answered my WhatsApp messages she couldn’t understand how I knew about it. She thought it was just her street!

Apparently she was just chilling at home when it went off. She just got some candles out and ate salad until the power came back on about 11pm. It happens in her area 2 to 3 times a year anyway so she’s used to it. Different story if you were trapped on a train or in a lift though. Must have been awful.

you said "im also a child of the 70s"so if your not in your 50s your close enough to not be "oh poor me my parents don't care" and just pick up your phone and ask them if they heard about the power cuts? Then instead of telling everyone on MN how terrible it was you can tell your parents.

They prob thought it was just a power cut and as you were not in a third world country it wasn’t that bad!

i think it’s weird you didn’t text them and sat stewing about whether they text you or not.

assuming malice rather than ignorance from your parents is odd unless there’s some underlying back story

Not for a power cut, no. It’s not a life-threatening emergency.

Makes it no more or no less important - now if it was caused by the emo blast from a nearby nuclear missile strike then "maybe"..... 🤣🤣🤣🤣

If my mum didn't contact me in those circumstances, that wouldn't be normal.

It was!

Sorry I didn't know about it.

@PaperSnowAGhost89 ”hardly reported”? It was literally the top story on the news that day. It was even on the sports news because a tennis tournament was cancelled.

What a really nasty comment.

She did text. When phone signal was restored next day. All phone systems were down. Why don’t you even read the OP’s comments before you start WTFing her?

Not hysteria. Just a text. To your own child. Not a lot to ask surely?

Gosh. Some vitriol for people who don't keep up with the news all the time. Maybe they were enjoying the sun instead of watching TV.Gardening or walking instead of being passively entertained.
I'm sorry OP was scared that must have been awful but sometimes MN seems to be a competition to find who has the worst family.

The vitriol as you call it wasn't because people on here said that they didn't know about the power blackouts, it was because they used the fact that they hadn't seen it on the news as evidence that it was no big deal and that OP is is a big baby making a fuss about nothing and that, as is usual from twatty posters, that she should 'grow up' and 'get a grip'.

Or, judging by this thread, berating others for not being as amazing and stoic as they apparently are because heaven forbid that OP find it concerning that her entire country and another lost power and would like her parents to check in on her with a quick message. No one is expecting them to be running around like headless chickens.

The problem isn’t that they missed the news. That happens or people deliberately don’t keep up with it. That’s fine. What is annoying though is people who missed it are stating that it barely made the news when that blatantly isn’t true. It was the main story on several major news sites with rolling coverage that extended to several pages and it was on the front page the next day too when power had returned. And as someone else said it even appeared on sports news. So it’s odd to confidently assert that it barely made the news just because they missed it.

And what smug superiority from people who declare they are too busy living their best lives to listen to the news.

Firstly the op has said repeatedly that her dad does keep up with the news, almost obsessively.

secondly, you can see / hear / read the news without being the brain dead doom scrolling passively entertained motion you imply @Gingernan. For instance, I heard it on the radio during a long drive on Monday. I also had an alert on my phone, and a client mentioned it to me at dinner that evening.

i consume far less news now than i used to because, well, most of it is so bad and anxiety Inducing. But that doesn’t mean I want to live under a rock.

I can totally understand where you are coming from and I am surprised they didn't try to contact you!
My mum lives in Spain and I live in London (I'm in my 50s). We txt every day just to check everything is OK. The day of the power cut i called my mum to speak to her but it went to answer phone, so I WhatsApp'd her, but only '1 tick'. I Gave it an hour (thinking her battery had died). Same again! Started to worry if she was OK. Called her partner. Answer phone.
I had news on in background, my ears pricked up when I heard about the power cuts in Spain! It was on the National news all day and I think if you have family abroad you would be more likely to pick up in it.
They could not explain why it had happened. Yes it was 'only a power cut' but it affected millions of people and i was concerned about my loved ones.
I am very surprised your parents did not try to contact you.
I kept trying my mum the following day and was grateful when she eventually got service to call me (no power for phone service). She had no power for 24 hours. She said it was worrying being cut off from everyone but she was fine.
Hugs to you x

I think what op means is, that because rumours of cyber attack, ww3, "the whole of the western world is out" and whatever else was being spread during this power outage these rumours made it worse and scary. However it's over it wasn't ww3 people in uk didn't even realise it happened and those that did were assured it wasn't an attack of any kind, so please op grow a pair stop looking for sympathy, ring your parents if you want to know why and stop acting like you just survived a nuclear attack.

It sounds like you're suffering PTS . Do you need some cognitive therapy to help you through this? It was an awful experience for you I don't think I could of coped but you are a strong person and with the right help you can get over your bloody self!

As I don’t recall the whole of the UK losing power and it being declared a national emergency (unless it was pre my lifetime?) it’s not a comparable situation.

Also these people too busy living their best lives to have a quick read of the BBC news website still manage to have time to post inane drivel on MN.

The terrorist attacks in London on 7th July 2005 might be comparable, I don’t know? Certainly a feeling of chaos and fear prevailed then. I can’t remember if it was declared a national emergency?