Could You Cope in a Power Cut?

Grim warnings of winter outages

Let there be lights (My own image)

The current energy crisis is a hot topic on the news these days. Whether it’s soaring fuel costs, the enormous profits made by private energy firms, or the disruption to supply caused by the situation in Ukraine, concerns about the continuation of gas supplies, and keeping up with the cost of our gas and electricity is never far from the headlines. There have even been murmurings of possible power outages this coming winter.

While the power cut option is a worst case scenario, it is still a real possibility. If outages do become a reality, then I’ll be at least some way towards preparedness; not because I’m a paranoiac who has stockpiled survival equipment, but because I have things lying around the home that will be of great use if the lights go out. Plus, I have previous experience of power outages.

I’ve Seen it All Before

When I was a young lad, the entire nation went through a period during which there were regular power cuts; a knock-on effect of a national miners’ strike. These outages lasted for four hours at a time, and local newspapers printed details of when the power cuts would occur, in the manner of a TV schedule.

Of course, those interruptions were a great inconvenience, the more so for families like mine who…