I'm back

[Pebbles82]

After being in the 1930s for a few days! Due to Storm Arwen which hit the north of England on Friday night. We were without power for 3 days and nights. No heating, no lighting, no phone, no mobile signal, no wifi. Just a coal fire and cooking over the fire. Not a fun experience after the first 24 hours.

I am sure others were affected too. We still have people in the area who'll be without electricity for another 3 weeks. But thankfully ours is back on now - fingers crossed.

Pip is in the room with the coal fire so I sat up late and kept the fire going for him at night because the temperature was sub zero otherwise. Mind you he must be very confused as it was dark most of the time - apart from torch light - no lights going on and off.

Positives were - we played monopoly and listened to the radio a lot (something 21st century teenagers aren't in the habit of doing).

[Ria P]

No, i don't envy you for that experience. I read that Robos are the hardiest of all hamster species and the way they burrow themselves in Pip would have been the warmest and cosiest of you all.

[Pebbles82]

Yes it's nice to have lights and wifi again. But have to say there were moments it was rather nice with just a fire and radio and no tv and internet. If we'd had proper lighting as well it would have been nicer. Cooking over the fire was a novelty at first but became hard work!

[Ria P]

Must have been like camping indoors. You are lucky to have an open fire to cook on though. Do you have a heater with a big gas bottle on standby?

[Pebbles82]

No we just have the coal fire - which is the fallback - provides light and heat. But may invest in a camping gas stove in case it happens again! Although I'm really not sure they're safe to use indoors (and it was deep snow outside).

Yes it was like camping indoors. We could have got takeaways but I didn't want to waste all the food after the freezer was off for more than 24 hours.

[Ria P]

Would the take away shops have had electricity or a generator?

I didn't mean camping gear but a heater like i had on standby when i lived in the Scottish Highlands. Until i moved there i thought snow blizzards and powercuts only happened in Alaska, lol. It was a big square thing that needed a big heavy gas bottle. Can't remember the name of it.

[Pebbles82]

There is an old one of those in the loft, but not sure it's safe it's so old. We'd have had to have driven to a town further away for takeaways. A couple of the towns still had power - different grid I guess. Although we didn't know that till we got there.