Has anyone prepared for possible powercuts this winter?

Provided I can get my car out to get to the hospital and visit my nan, I don't really mind about it being cold/ dark. I'll just light a candle, read a book and eat some cold beans.

Subsequently, my list: Snow chains, check.

Load of scarmongering mind you, the jocks will get it bad but then they always do, probably a few northerners, those of us down south should be ok.
 
Not worried and not prepared for doomsday but as in any normal household we have candles, batteries, torches, matches and a battery radio. If the cooker fails then we can still cook on the BBQ.
 
Had a 45 minute power cut last night - a quarter of Jersey was out due to a sub-station fault. It was almost complete disaster. I had just poured two glasses of red wine and was carrying them from the lounge to the drawing room when the lights went out. We are in the countryside so it was literally pitch black but I managed to find somewhere to put the glasses down and find a torch!

It has got me thinking though that I need a few more torches, candles, batteries for the lantern etc... (so, off to the spec me an LED torch thread).
 
My apartment is entirely electric, including the security doors. If there was a power cut I'd be screwed. Might invest in a few decent torches and perhaps a camping stove, just in case lol.
 
Cosimo said:
Not worried and not prepared for doomsday but as in any normal household we have candles, batteries, torches, matches and a battery radio. If the cooker fails then we can still cook on the BBQ.
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That's pretty much my take on it.

It's common sense to have things like torches and candles around the place - if for no other reason than you can never tell when some builder is going to cut through a main underground cable and kill the power to half the town ;) (it happened about 3 times in a week, on the same construction site here a few years back*).

I'm pretty well prepared (as per my previous post), but it's all common sense stuff, bits I have lying around or know I'll need (if there is a non electrical fault) based on experience of when things go wrong :)

It amazes me that in this day and age, when you can buy a torch and some reasonable batteries (well for short term emergency use) for a couple of quid that people don't have them.


*I suspect the site foreman was not amused by the likely fines/costs involved, and I suspect the electricity board was not amused by having to send an emergency repair team in repeatedly to repair a fault that affected much of a town.
 
I'll just enjoy the peace and quiet, probably layer up sit in the garden smoke a cigar and look at the stars which are normally drowned out by light or failing that go to bed.
 
got plenty of candles, anytime we go to ikea the mrs buys 100 tealights (as we might need them)

drawers in our kitchen looks like a candle factory already.
 
I've got a headtorch I bought for i49. That and a book should do the trick. Maybe I'll finally make a proper start on The Walking Dead Compendium Volume 1...
 
Gooner Leroy said:
The pubs will have emergency power sources won't they? :(
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Light - candles
Till - pen, paper, box of loose change
Entertainment - singing, board games, quiz
Beer - powered by pressuirised gas pressure anyway, it will be cold enough for no refrigeration to be needed
Food - cheese and pickle sarnies

But tbh, H&S Nazis would stamp this down in a second :mad:
 
d_brennen said:
Light - candles
Till - pen, paper, box of loose change
Entertainment - singing, board games, quiz
Beer - powered by pressuirised gas pressure anyway, it will be cold enough for no refrigeration to be needed
Food - cheese and pickle sarnies

But tbh, H&S Nazis would stamp this down in a second :mad:
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In which case I will need to find an 'old man's' pub who won't give a damn about H&S :D
 
Nothing will happen, the public will forget about it, the government will go on shutting down coal power stations and building useless wind turbines when they should be building reactors, then one day it will all hit the fan... :(
 
mejinks said:
I live in Wales, so no electricity in my cave :P

I have a 7.5Kw generator in the garage and a 12Kw inverter in the van. As long as I can access fuel, Im ok. I also have started putting together a kit to run the generator on lpg.

I also have stocks of candles, ration packs and a few S10 respirators along with some nbc suits.
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I would think kts it's weird that you have respirators and nbc suits but you live near the steel works so its kinda a requirement
 
Could be just what I need to spice up my sex life


Also, a few years back we had a powercut at home that lasted 3 days. And that was in a large housing estate where >50 houses were without power.

At least I had a few cold showers
 
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Call me unprepared, but I won't be doing anything.

I was born in this country, lived in a few different areas and haven't ever experienced a power cut to be more than a number of hours. Of course they happen now and again, but to have a proper extended power cut would require something extremely serious to have happened.

Obviously if you live in the middle of nowhere where the power supply is problematic and frequently get lots of cuts, then its more plausible.
 
Unless you're living literally in the middle of nowhere then a power cut this winter will be as likely as any other time of year, it'll also probably only last long enough to be a minor inconvenience.

We had an entire underground main power line burn out in our street last January (village, in the middle of nowhere) which needed the street digging up, we were without power for about 5 hours max. No-one died because they didn't have a candle ...
 
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