So how would you spend your time?

[HoppityBun]

When we had power cuts a little while ago I realised how very limited our options are if this occurs in the winter. I could probably keep warm and I could certainly find something to eat, for a while. What are you doing in those long hours?. Your iPad won’t last forever and I was very cautious about using it because I wanted the battery to last as long as possible. Same with the phone.

I did have a lamp that was powered by batteries but it wasn’t that easy to read with. No radio.

How do you pass the time?

I thought back to what I’ve read about the pre-industrial era or before most places had electricity. They sat around the fire and talked and told stories to each other. Well, I live on my own and I wouldn’t have a fire. What do you do?

In summer it’s ok: you can go for a walk pootle around. In the daytime I can definitely occupy myself. But if you’ve got more than 12 hours of darkness, I can’t sleep all that time. Thinking about this, I realised that midnight really was the witching hour because was much darker than we experience it now. It really was the middle of the night, because by then it would already been dark for several hours and people will much more aware of the dark for that reason.

How would you spend the time?

We have plenty of board games and books. Although the adults of the home don’t but luckily my daughter has just gotten into Jaqueline Wilson so that would keep me going. We have tons of craft bits and I have a couple crossword books. We don’t have a fire inside but plenty of blankets and onesies stocked incase we do have to go a while without heat. We have a small fire pit but depending on the situation would depend if it would be lit.

I've got, and it probably needs new headphones, a CD Walkman somewhere! I do also have a battery radio though.

I also have a portable dvd player, but the battery only lasts around 2 hours, so has to be a short film. Other than that, books, puzzle books, card games, colouring or crafts depending on how much light I have.

I once went backpacking and stayed in a remote lodge in a developing country. I was by myself, it was the days before smartphones and I had finished the only book I had brought with me. No TV or radio and it was dark at 6pm. Oh, the boredom!

We have an extensive library of books (real ones, not Kindle) plus a cupboard of jigsaws (a favourite pastime of ours).
That little lot would keep us going for quite a while.👍

I'd finally get round to sorting all the kids Lego pieces by shape/colour so you could easily find whichever bit you're looking for. That should keep me busy for the first 5 years 🤭

Then perhaps a book? And probably drinking too much wine.

That’s what I found! I’ve got books but it’s hard to read by lamplight. Filling in time, somehow

I’ve got hundreds of books but it’s tiring when you have to read by a battery powered lamp

I need to get a head lamp and more batteries in the stash...I've got enough books and craft materials to keep me out of mischief for at least three years!

So perhaps the question is also around the adequacy of light that people have? I have craft kits, adult colouring, crochet and jigsaws but I probably couldn’t see well enough to do them by candle light.

That is where solar & battery come into there own........

You can get LED lights that clip onto your book or kindle. Ideal for reading in bed!

I have few camping lanterns, battery run but really bright. I bought a set of 4 on amazon

Thank you @TeaAndStrumpets

have just ordered one !!

I would spin to create yarn, which I can do in total darkness. In daylight I can knit and sew.

Excellent! They are such a handy thing.
Also, we have some motion sensitive lights stuck on the skirting boards here and there, and I think it would be worth getting a few more. They only come on briefly so the batteries seem to last forever. We've got two in the bedroom to stop toe-stubbing at night! Eufy brand but I'm sure there are others.

There is often a baby boom 9 months after a big power cut so lots of people find stuff to do!

I have a solar wind up radio. Listen to that.

Sleep.

I can crochet in the dark, probably make a granny stitch something or other as I can do that by feel, apart from the last join.

Cards.

Make up games to play.

Day dream

Make up stories

Sing

Go to bed with the dark, get up with daylight.

Stargaze if it's a long night.

Plan any work that needs doing.

We get regular three-day power cuts every winter. You end up either eating some interesting combinations from your tin cupboard, or digging out the camping gear and a neighbour's barbecue. For me, I have a head torch with an excellent battery (technically, it's for work), lots of physical books, a piano to play, a spinning wheel, I can knit and sew, and also have a guitar and viola that I am hoping to learn to play. I also have a few board games, but they're not brilliant to play on your own!

I'd certainly read for as long as possible, but I know from camping and a recent power cut, there's only so much you want to read with limited light. A simple game like Rummikub, Dominoes , Da Vinci Code with clear numbers/spots works. We regularly have batteries charged, so I know our camping lights give enough like for sorting a drawer/cupboard/washing. If you exercise, you probably know enough toning moves to do in the dark. We're very lucky in that we live in a large cul-de-sac and most of us know eachother. If weather wasn't bad, it'd be ok to knock on doors asking others if they wanted to meet and chat by torch light/similar outside.

I’d probably do some yoga, check in on my elderly neighbour, etc

I have musical instruments so I’d probably play those when it was too dark to read but too early to sleep.

It would be dark and lonely though.

I use to live on a street back in the 90s that had regular power cuts. By the second night it became incredibly boring! There really are only so many books, board games, and crafts that you can do by candle light, (which we resorted to when the torch batteries ran out), and we’d all give up and get an early night in.

We have a log burner which actually puts out quite a bit of light. In the depths of winter when its dark at 4pm and not light until 8ish things would not be easy once we ran out of candles

I think you’d probably start going to bed a lot earlier too. Down with the sun, up with the sun sort of thing.

Knitting.
I've got a head torch.
Reading.
Board games.
I've also got two power banks which I'd use to access Spotify on my phone, so I could listen to music.

I think this is what would happen pretty quickly.

I wonder if people would go back to going to the pub, more, to talk in the evenings