Power cuts: c/d, s/d

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We had one just before our Thanksgiving party last month, and another couple over the weekend (leading to gift wrapping by candlelight - awww). This leads me to suspect that someone somewhere in the borough of Croydon is doing a lot of digging where they oughtn't...

So, most memorable blackouts? Ill-advised incidents of erotic congress in the gloom? Hours of uncomfortable misery? Where's the torch?

― Michael Jones, Monday, 17 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

To kick off:

I can only just recall the 3-day week blackouts during the Heath government, but not enough to provide any, heh-heh, *illuminating* detail. So this is an opportunity for our older contributors to, heh- heh, *wax* lyrical on the joy of dinners by candlelight and no telly after 9pm. I really want to know what it was like...

During my (in many ways, utterly hopeless) postgrad year in L'boro we were without power for almost three days after a bit of snow. This is the only time in my life I can ever remember both telling (i.e. making up), and being disproportionately scared by, ghost stories - related over a hand-pulled pint in the Crown and Cushion, lit by the glow of a log fire. On the third day I began to feel very depressed indeed.

Apologies to all our Californian correspondents for raising this thread, btw - though I'm sure you've got some stories to tell.

― Michael Jones, Monday, 17 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

in Agra they have on av. 2-3 power cuts a night as far as i can make out. we just had a supply of tea lights in our room and lit them, and incense sticks, as soon as the city went dark - the citizens were very philosophical about the power cuts! they were fun though, especially as they only ever lasted 10 minutes or so. i love short power cuts (especially when they occur at work, yay!) but not sure if i'd enjoy a longer one so much!

― katie, Monday, 17 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

We get powercuts all the time. They are bollocks. I once tried to take advantage of the enforced lay-off by going to the bank, but they had a powercut as well. That is the most memorable incident I can come up with. I do enjoy shining my torch at the houses opposite though.

― Peter Miller, Monday, 17 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Before they switched the heating on in our building, all we had to keep ourselves warm whilst dedicating ourselves to the cause of sustainable agriculture strategy were plug in heaters. All of us. Every week, there would be a power cut as one too many poor shivering mite plugged in their heater and the power would go SPLAT. NOTHING! We generally just sat about and felt foolish. No-one in my office would come to the pub. They thought I was joking. I WAS NOT.

― Sarah, Monday, 17 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

dud, I hate it especially when they occur in the middle of then night and I am asleep. My stereo starts playing automatically when the power goes on again.

― Menelaus Darcy, Monday, 17 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

They had them when we were in Sri Lanka every evening about 7ish. If you are in a posh-ish hotel they have generators but if you are in a beach bar they do not and you get candles and watering can lanterns on trees and it's cool. The first time it happened I thought it was Pete trying to take advantage of me but then the lights came on and we were both still fully clothed, thank goodness.

― Emma, Monday, 17 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

in the north during power-cutz we eat coal and spit fire from our ringz to warm one anutha and lite up the hills. up-helly-ah!!!!!

― , Monday, 17 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I feel kind of guilty about the popularity of my bra thread in comparison to Mike's power cuts one. It tells us a lot about the dumbing down of ILE.

My life is so empty that I find power cuts very exciting and I get disappointed when the electricity comes back. We had loads here in the office a while ago, when some digger damaged an electricity substation somewhere out back. Our back up generator took ages to get going and was a bit feeble. Wartime spirit was required to get the paper out on time. They gave us free food.

― N., Monday, 17 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

I used to look forward to them until I realised I could neither do my homework or listen to music andinsteadwas forced to play parlour games with family. The leccy in theflat isprepaid, so every so often it is dark. Luckily I still have lots of candles from thehalloween party. The spacebar is fucked, sorry.

― alix, Monday, 17 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

"I feel kind of guilty about the popularity of my bra thread in comparison to Mike's power cuts one. It tells us a lot about the dumbing down of ILE."

Nick - I've not looked at your bra thread (heh-heh), but I suspect it's full of young women trying to excite you. In which case, if *you'd* started *this* thread, it too would've reached 169 new answers in double-quick time, and be full of arousing tales of messy fumblings in the Seeboard-induced blackness.

Which I was kinda hoping for.

― Michael Jones, Tuesday, 18 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Nick your bra thread is a masterpiece. It combines the stereotypical female desire to talk about clothes with the stereotypical male desire to hear about breasts, and it has proved of actual practical use.

― Tom, Tuesday, 18 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

Well thank you for your support [boom! boom! (and there she was)]

― N., Tuesday, 18 December 2001 01:00 (twenty-four years ago)

one year passes...

I...just...walked...up....19 flights of....stairs because the power in my building went out. It was a lot more fun walking down 19 flights in COMPLETE darkness. The reason I can still type this is back-up generators.
I do like the communalism that stuff like this brings out. Everybody is really friendly to ea. other and willing to go out of their way to help one another.

― oops (Oops), Wednesday, 12 March 2003 21:12 (twenty-three years ago)

thirteen years pass...

Imma bout to start throwing shit about here. I can cope with the lengthy occurences we were getting earlier, no big deal I'll just read Peanuts strips by the light of the actual sun. But this brief flipping on and off shit, every time I need to wait for the hub to restart then fastforward through motd2 to get to where I was, watch a few minutes then oh wait, Repeat Til Death.
When I was little power cuts were kinda exciting, they would last for 3 days at a time and we would all carry our mattresses down to sleep in living room and eat beans and hotdogs cooked from a gas stove, in between jumping from windowsills into snowdrifts whilst shouting "SPIDERMAN!". I could walk down to my childhood home but it's not even snowy now, plus anyway I think that sort of behaviour would be be a little creepy at my age. I'm already in trouble here for freaking young children out by trying to entice them into my home WHICH I DIDN'T DO, I WAS CALLING THE CAT, not my fault that you named your child the same as him. I hate this estate and powercuts and my life in general.

― Jonathan Hellion Mumble, Monday, 16 January 2017 12:15 (nine years ago)

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