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?

I have enough books, crosswords, word searches, colouring books & supplies etc, to last me the rest of my life, so I wouldn't have the slightest problem.

I'm also a musician with many different instruments that I adore practising.

The apocalypse actually sounds like heaven.

Reading all my physical books, card games (I know lots of variations of Patience,) jigsaws, work through my Welsh grammar book exercises, yoga, all sorts of arts and craft materials. I could knit in the dark if it's just stocking stitch. Gardening in daylight.

I grew up in a TV-free house. I don't get bored at home.

Proper letter writing.

I don't want to cook on an open fire nor do handwashing, but I am capable of doing so.

Given the situation in Saudi Arabia which has now affected oil supply its currently important to think about heating and lighting without power.

Cosy visions of playing instruments in front of a blazing fire will only be the reality for some. Others will be cold and without a light source.

Being cold and without a light source is exactly why people went to the pub. It wasn’t twee and cosy: it was a necessity. Many people didn’t have a way of cooking at home, either, especially in towns and cities. That’s why people went to taverns to eat. It wasn’t a lifestyle choice. I think that looking at these phenomena as cosy ignores the realities that created them.

One interesting point about this is that there would be no street lights. You might have seen Morris dancers with one of the dancers having a blacked up face. This is wrongly often thought to be some sort of racial stereotyping. It very much wasn’t. There was a great deal of intimidation in the countryside and people would blacken their faces up and demand money. They literally could not be identified in the dark with blacked faces.

There was a Black Act in 1723 that made blacking a hanging offence to do this. It was a particular problem over the Christmas period, not surprisingly, because that’s the darkest time of the year.

“..if any person or persons, from and after the first day of June in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and twenty-three, being armed with swords, fire-arms, or other offensive weapons, and having his or their faces blacked, or being otherwise disguised….shall be adjudged guilty of felony, and shall suffer death as in cases of felony, without benefit of clergy.”

Interesting thread! Modern Morris dancers tend to colour up with dark colours like purple, green or (apparently) yellow and black stripes to make it clear they're not being racist.

Also, who knows how to make their own candles? I once tried to make rushlights using rushes and lamb fat from my grilled lamb chops. It was not a success...

Many years ago I had a friend at uni who excaped from the Yugoslavia. Their house got bombed and she spent a long time reading books by a candle. She had to have glasses after they escaped, and always blamed her book reading but that it was worth it because it was the only thing keeping her sane.

You can also use crayons.

Thanks! For colouring up Morris dancers or candles? Or both?

😂 The great news is both!

So order some crayons unless you already have children that age who use them! Once you’ve coloured your Morris dancers you can set fire to the drawing with the crayons. Win win.

Oviously this would be dependent on if local pub had power. Funnily enough when we had our last power cut, it was assessed it could be off all night - I know from our neighbours chat a couple of people went down to our local Costa as they were joking they'd seen eachother there. A couple were also asking if anyone knew if nearest restaurant had power.

It’s like London this summer where the only comfortable place to spend the afternoon was in the basement of M&S Foodhall 🧊

#EveryDaysASchoolday!

No kids, but will ask the Morris Dancing son-in-law of friends what his side use. As he's Cotswold rather than Border. I'm guessing nothing...

I’m happy to say that the last time I saw our lot at Christmas, one had a blacked up face but I heard a young couple say that “surely they know not not to be racist”.

I think it’s a pity if the link with our rural past goes, because it was an act of defiance to dance like this,

Presumably your lot are Border?

I only just realised that 'Border' in this case meant the Welsh border. I'd always assumed it was the Scots one. Interesting how the different rules applied.

No power would be more physical work probably. So less leisure time?

I'll remember that next time I'm at the Whittlesey Straw Bear festival. Although there's a LOT of Morris dancers. Straw bears are probably pretty flammable, mind you...

s

I’m sorry, not from the UK and it dawned on me too late that I actually had no clue about neither Morris dancers nor blacked up faces..or the talk about Border. 😬 But, I am curious now and will look it up.

My only point was that you can actually use a crayon as a candle, if in desperate times.
I feel a bit useless now tbh.😂

Watched your link. It’s nothing like London Pride, is it 😬😂 but still..good. And very flammable too. Excellent.

Please don't worry! I'm happy to learn that crayons are flammable and will be sure to tell my best friends' grandkids next time I'm visiting. We might experiment....

Enoy the Morris Dancing research. See if you can watch this Derek Jacobi film it's fab: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1029342/

😂 Looks like a daily struggle to evolve the Morris dance. Brilliant, thank you.

"It’s nothing like London Pride, is it 😬😂"

Now there's a PhD topic for someone....

Pubs aren’t going to be open in a power cut.

Read, listen to my usb radio, catch up on sleep, play uno with the kids and complain a lot.

Complaining and whinging is our go to in power cuts actually. You can spend a good few hours in a flap, moaning then go to bed still whinging. But agree, much harder when your alone. Have you got a pet you can moan too?

Honestly don't knock it. It's quite therapeutic

Actually they apparently perform in the Cotswold tradition. Sticks, bells and handkerchiefs

SSorry not to reply before I didn’t see that this thread was still live.