Electricity Out for almost 24 hours What would you do?

United States
June 23, 2011 11:40am CST
Last night our power went out for about 18 hours. I couldn't sleep cause I was hoping the power would come back on. But after 4 hours of waiting I said screw it and went to bed. During that time I read a chapter in a book and laid down staring at the candles. OH and I also played with the flashlight with my cat. Crazy kitty loves chasing flashlight's light. He at least kept my amusement for a little while. Talk about completey utterly boring. I didn't know what to do with myself. Just completely quiet and boring. I didn't realize how depended we are on power. I mean watching tv = power, computer= power pretty much anything in our society requires power. Worst part it wasn't the worst storm we've had. So if you were home by yourself no one else here with you. And the power went out what would you do? Any tips or ideas?
3 people like this
19 responses
@sjvg1976 (41134)
• Delhi, India
24 Jun 11
Hi neededhope, I know much it sucks when there is power cut for almost 18 hours.People these days are more dependent on the things like TV.Internet,Acs etc which all get operated by electricity and we feel helpless if we are not able to see TV for 18 hours conterminously. I my area if there is such a long power cut happens at night if it summer i go to the terrace with my cot & bed sheet & make arrangement to sleep there as nothing much we can do without power but at least we can sleep & in winter we don't have to make arrangement. And if it is in day time i go for outing to a mall,seeing movie,to a friend house if power is there.
@mantis36 (4219)
• Philippines
24 Jun 11
as you assume to hit the enter key on keyboard to submitted your long response to myLot and suddenly the power is cut off..... hahahaha
@mantis36 (4219)
• Philippines
24 Jun 11
well, i have mine too before, sad to say, submerged in typhoon flood...
@sjvg1976 (41134)
• Delhi, India
24 Jun 11
Hi Mantis i have UPS installed with my PC.
@SIMPLYD (90727)
• Philippines
24 Jun 11
We really are so dependent on electricity. However, we should always be ready in cases of brown outs, specially when there is a storm. If i were you with no one else but me, i would most likely, take it as a good time to pray, since the candle is lighted. Then, after that, i could read the bible until i feel sleepy. When i am already sleepy i will blew the candle and go to sleep. Before i knew it , it is already morning. Nice thing though, is that i am never alone at home. I am with husband and my parents in law. When daughter is on vacation, she will add to my entertainment while there's no electricity.
@mantis36 (4219)
• Philippines
24 Jun 11
how about attaching your laptop to the UPS? when a power failure occurs, you still have your automatic UPS power, and when the UPS power depleted, you still have your laptop battery power, and when your battery power of laptop depleted, you may now rest and take a chance to sleep unto the power backs again....
@marguicha (214294)
• Chile
18 Jul 11
When we had last year´s earthquake, we were without electricity where I live for a llittle over 3 days. Fortunatly it was Summer so I did a lot of gardening. My range is gas so the only trouble I had was the water heater and I used a pot. But the real problem was later on because I had to clean up and throw away some of th food in the freezer. Most of it did not suffer, but I didn´t dare eat the fish and seafod.
@bounce58 (17387)
• Canada
27 Jun 11
If there were some lights, a battery opeated lamp, or even candles, then I would certainly grab a book. I may not be transported physically, but at least my mind would be. If there aren't too many lights, then I would grab the next best thing. That would my son's DS!
@polaris77 (2040)
• Bacau, Romania
23 Jun 11
It would be extremely unpleasant for me to spend 18 hours without power,as I'm sure it would for all people;the only thing I could do in such an undesirable situation would be to read for a few hours and then try to sleep,I honestly have no other idea what to do in such a situation.Anyway,the truth is we are addicted to electricity and without it we feel powerless!
• United States
23 Jun 11
I completely agree!! I'm a huge addict to the internet that is where my down fall is. No power it's like omg what do I do lol. Anything I think of has to deal with my computer. lol.
• United States
24 Jun 11
Hmmm--good one! Depending on the lighting, I'd find a few board games to play with my family and play to our hearts content! Afterwards, perhaps tell some stories such as what was everyones best day (minus birthdays as that is often too easy) whether it be an individual or family. Another? Go through the closets, try on whatever, and involve your family in whether it works or not. Sometimes you need to go through the closets/under the beds period and just re-discover it. Be creative!
@blindedfox (3315)
• Philippines
24 Jun 11
Well, the best thing to do is sleep. Let the hours pass. :) But in my case, I have lots of hobbies that doesn't require power. Guitar, reading and re-arranging things. Yes, I do have some of the weirdest hobbies. :)
@SomeCowgirl (32191)
• United States
24 Jun 11
When the power has gone out for me in the past because of a storm I have just done nothing, just read a book or sat there and thought. Usually it's the latter, thinking up stories of my own and / or taking naps. It doesn't really bother me when the power goes out except for when it gets hot and I am a bit afraid of the dark, however, power outages are no skin off my knees!
@megamatt (14292)
• United States
24 Jun 11
A few hours with the electricity will be going out is enough of a cause for a full scale panic. Not just myself granted, but with many other people. Pretty much everyone affected would be completely losing their minds a lot of the time. And there would be people madly rushing to the stores, in frustrated moods, to get ice to keep their food from getting ruined. That is really the worst part with a long time power outage, especially during the hot months, as that it can get pretty unbearable rather quickly and it is really going to spoil a lot of your food. That is one thing that people do not think of all that much, beyond computers, but the inability to keep your food in the fridge cool is going to be problems. You do have to eat and you have to open the fridge to do so, and even if its cool, that's going to really be something that is going to be a problem. Not to mention everything else going to problems after a few hours. That is extremely frustrating to say the very least. So yeah a long term power outage, a day or more, its going to be lead to some problems. We are dependent on electricity, for better or for worse.
@veganbliss (3895)
• Adelaide, Australia
23 Jun 11
Home by yourself with no-one else with you? Perfect opportunity! We should generate our own electricity & live within the means that we can each successfully do so. We can very easily & for a very, very small cost in junk-box parts, achieve this for ourselves today. We need to become self-sufficient again. We need to take responsibility, personally, for supplying our own energy & not exceed the extent that we can supply by the demands we make. The simplest, cheapest, best design I've seen put into practice uses the same principle Tesla discovered in his 1896 experiments in Colorado Springs. Tesla's work is being carried on today in a very practical sense, particularly by John Bedini who has published a book of free energy generation circuits & schematics that people can build for themselves. It's also available from any large Library should you choose to read it. You can also read up on the principle at http://cheniere.org/ You can join up with a free yahoo group & there are over 3000 members there who have already built & tested the John Bedini Monopole Mechanical Oscillator Energizer with Simplified Schoolgirl Circuit. This was named after a ten year old school girl who built & tested this model successfully. These 3000+ people are from just about every country in the world & are standing by, ready to help you with free 24/7 support. You can also buy a kit of parts from places like http://r-charge.com We should never just idle our time away in this world. Every moment is precious. I pray you are able to use every moment to its fullest.
@asyria51 (2861)
• United States
24 Jun 11
Call and complain to the power company, even if it was caused by weather. It is currently nice enough out that we can live without the a/c or even fans running. Everything in my house is electric, the water heater, the stove...everything. Guess I would have to dig out the camping gear. We have flashlights, lanterns (both oil and battery run), we have a propane stove and a grill to cook on. We also have a little crank radio. you do the work for it, but it is still fun. I admit that i love my internet, keeping in touch, getting work done and just for entertainment value, but I still know how to keep busy when the power is out. Clean...use the time to get the floors swept and mopped. Fold that laundry that never got folded. Sort through toys and clothes. Spend time playing a game, telling stories, or reading books to the children. Have them tell stories.
@iklananda (1202)
24 Jun 11
Hey you are still online right now that is great coz if you use laptop or something like that it will be great. But if the condition really like that i probably going to sleep and sleep and eat and sleep. There is not much to do so better to get slep and take a good rest whole day. This will eliminate the sorrow. This condition remain me about nyepi in the bali island when i was there the electric is shut down 24 hours and we cannot go out from our house. Worst than electric shut down right. What i do cook and eat then sleep that's all
@mantis36 (4219)
• Philippines
24 Jun 11
your hands are aching because there is no electric power, you already want to log-in to myLot nyahahaha, but 24 hours passed already and still no power yet.... Determination to wait is the key to success hehehe
• United States
24 Jun 11
You go to bed veryyyyyy early when the power is out. There's absolutely nothing to do in the dark. You can't read unless you have enough light and you can't do anything on a computer. If you had a laptop you could watch dvds or something. A few years ago we had a hurricane where I live and our power was out for 2 weeks. It was horrible. Luckily, we had a little handheld tv that got only a couple of stations and I would watch that at night for a few minutes. I just go straight to bed though. Mostly because I'm scared of how dark it is.
@anklesmash (1412)
23 Jun 11
I dont know what i would do we arent that prepared for a powercut as they are uncommon in my part of the world maybe if there is a storm and powerlines are knocked out but this has never happened to me personally.if we had a powercut we would have heat in one room from the coal fire and be able to cook on the gas hobs but not the oven which is electric we also wouldnt have much light as we have no candles and only a couple of torches.
• India
23 Jun 11
If power go off regularly then i think it is better to get an inverter.Here in my place power goes off even when there is mild storm.We have an inverter so we don't need to worry about power outage.
• United States
23 Jun 11
If you lived all your life with electricity I believed it must be hard if the power is off even just for an hour. I suggest it is better if have some battery loaded radio and you can play turn on and will make some noise when its quite because of brownout. Also, a batter loaded flash light is very helpful. I grew up most of my life without electricity so if there is not electricity will not bothered me at all as long as all the cellphones are fully charge in case of emergency and will be able to contact our families in other places.
@a98231 (238)
• India
23 Jun 11
Ohhh power cut off for long hours can be really annoying!! my guitar keeps me occupied until the the power comes back...but if dont have anything to do listen to music or you could always read ghost stories in the candle light :P hope this help :)
@jhaidro (877)
• Philippines
23 Jun 11
I think that if you are in the city then it will be total confusion. Everything just runs with power as you said. However, if you are in a little town with less of the technology we have now, I think that it will be fun. It will be dark and quiet but at least you will see how nature works without man's inventions.