Could you cope

[rary]

With this prolonged storm the possibility of power cuts increase, but if it happens are you prepared for such a thing and could you cope with a power outage that could last several hours or days I doubt if I could, though I do have candles, a hiking stove and plenty of cans that we could open if required but no means of keeping the house warm, sharing body heat only lasts so long so would more than likely go to our sons who has a wood burner, when our kids were younger it was a regular thing to get power cuts and we had an open fire along with a spare car battery for lighting,but could you cope with having no power

[nickdub]

It's always a bit of a pain when the electric is off for a while. I do have a log burner for cooking and heating so, yes I can cope if necessary.

[veggiechicken]

Wood burner with a flat top that I could cook on - and plenty of logs.
Gas hob - assume that would work without electricity?
Candles, camping stove and spare canisters, Kelly kettle for boiling water
3 dogs with plenty of body heat.
Tilley lamp.
Woolly hat with a rechargeable head torch and several spare torches.
Piano for entertainment.

[burnie]

Our heating comes from a stove so we'd be warm, never tried heating anything on top of it though. I have plenty of lighting from my fishing/hills walking gear. We could do toast on the fire and jacket spuds in it too I guess. We do get the odd power cut as our village is fed by overhead cables due to the hilly terrain, seems they trip the circuit breaker fairly easily.

[lottie dolly]

MMMM,food for thought,got candles,matches,the gas hob flicker would not work,but matches will,got a very small BBQ,if still gas still on,am sure no central heating still,as it needs trickery mmmmm,in our younger days yes would manage,but not now,

things to do list

but matches and candles in an easy place
sort out hot water bottles
get a few more tins in,they can always be eaten cold,plus the manual tin opener,
be careful with phone usage,as when battery power gone,so have they
make sure the washing is kept done,just in case
go and have warm drinks with the neighbour,log burner
if all else fail,excersice inbetween duvet cover time,just to keep boardom at bay,and blood moveing,very important.

[Vegi potager]

If London ever went dark there would be no hope for us!!!
I have some charcoal for the bbq, could use it on the fire place (got it swept for the first time in 20 years so feel relatively safe in setting light to something.) However as I live in a smoke free zone I will probably get reported!
Fashionable candles abound, even if the house would smell funny from all the different scents.
I am a 5-10 minute walk from 5 supermarkets, 2 corner shops, 2 fish and chip shops, a kebab place, a fried chicken place and a costa coffee. 15 minutes gets me to the area supplied by the other substation.
The only thing I wouldn't survive is when him indoors has no access to the internet (and my raised cholesterol )

Joking aside, I hope that everyone is OK in this weather. We have had it pretty light round here but I know it has been bad elsewhere.

[Thelma Sanders]

I've got plenty of candles, matches, the gas cooker (assuming the supply/gas pressure doesn't rely on power?), hot water bottles and various fleeces.
I've always kept an emergency supply of dried foods, inc milk, plus tinned food - so food wouldn't be in short supply and I could also cook on the multifuel stove if I had too. I don't use it nowadays because my back/knees don't like me bending down to keep it going, but if I it got really cold - I could, there's still wood and smokeless fuel in the outhouse.
Thinking about pressure, does the water supply work without electricity for pumping stations Perhaps I need to get some bottled water in as well ….

[nickdub]

Our heating comes from a stove so we'd be warm, never tried heating anything on top of it though. I have plenty of lighting from my fishing/hills walking gear. We could do toast on the fire and jacket spuds in it too I guess. We do get the odd power cut as our village is fed by overhead cables due to the hilly terrain, seems they trip the circuit breaker fairly easily.

Our electric used to go off pretty frequently if the weather was windy - more resilient these days, they've obviously put in better kit.

I do cook on my stove reasonably often - I've got a kettle for the top, and I do barbecue type stuff inside it by letting the fire die right down + toast or sometimes crumpets of course - no wonder i'm fairly fat :-)

[Small pumpkin]

Of course we can cope. We regularly do.
Had a power cut today. Only a little one. I didn’t notice it, as I was outside fleshing a deer hide.

We have a generator for longer power cuts.

[Guest]

Yep, our powercut was for 10 hours on Sunday did you not miss me

I cooked off various meats before hand as it is to be expected where I am and the fire laid.
Torches, head torches, battery tealights and plenty of batteries.
Wind up radio and board games.
Caffeine tablets (I suffer with caffeine withdrawal), ration burner and thermos flask.

I have managed to produce something resembling a roast before much to many peoples surprise during a power cut.

When we first moved here we often used to have water supply issues as well so there is always bottled water in the house now.

[Chestnut]

We have matches, bike lights (torches), scented candles. I think the gas stove would still work, but not the heating because of electric timer and thermostat.
Mind you, can keep quite cosy under 2 duvets with hot water bottle - would have to use a jug to get the hot water from saucepan into water bottle, but it should be manageable.
Will make a point of keeping phone well charged, just in case...

[veggiechicken]

Landline phones should work without power, as long as they're not the remote handsets plugged into power sockets.
I always keep an old phone plugged into a phone line just in case.

[Bren In Pots]

We have our camping gear, stoves, Tilley lamps, power packs plus a multi fuel stove and the usual candles so we should be fine, but the freezer wouldn't be.

[Jimny14]

Landline phones should work without power, as long as they're not the remote handsets plugged into power sockets.
I always keep an old phone plugged into a phone line just in case.

This, I was searching for this. In winter 2015 we had several days with no or very intermittent power due to storms and corded land lines were very helpful. Also if you have a car keeping a decent amount of fuel in (and spare in garage if remote) won't go amiss, so many people round here got a bit stuck as petrol stations don't run without power.
We were fine last time, I stayed at home and worked as best we could (I'm a dentist and we had diesel generators in town by Monday to keep some shops and services running, so we could see some patients) and my other half stayed at friends as she works in Manchester and they still had power.
Not sure it would be as straightforward if the same happened again now we have a 2 year old.
Wood store is well stocked and we have plenty of camping kit, torches, candles, warm layers etc.
I've found in the past my scuba diving undersuit is the warmest most practical piece of clothing I have for very cold weather.

[PyreneesPlot]

We still have a genny or two from when were off grid in the early days, and the log burner, but I hate it when the power to the phone masts and internet box thingy fails - I suddenly feel very cut off!
Hope everyone is coping with the storms.