Power Off weekend 12/12/09 - trying life without electricity

[PlayingWithFire]

Hello there!

We are trying an experiment and an adventure, to spend a weekend without any electricity, seeing how we can adapt and find creative solutions, and enjoy ourselves, so that we know how to live should anything go wrong in the future.

If you would like to know more about this, and hopefully join in too, then please write a reply and I will gladly explain the weekend and the why and how. See link below.

We will be playing a lot of board games, scratching our heads about how to do something we take for granted, maybe even cooking with a wood fire or a camp stove. I know it will be liberating and boost self-confidence; I've done it before, and overcoming perceived problems (like defrosting freezers) is a great feeling.

Starts 11pm on Friday 11th December, until 11pm on Sunday.

Come join in and discover!

Power Off weekend 12/12/09 - trying life without electricity

http://www.touchwoodproject.com/your-ch ... f-weekend/

[Thomzo]

Hi
Sounds like you're going to have fun. At least you are getting to plan yours. I lived near the new Severn Bridge when they were building it and they cut our electricity off, without warning, at least twice a month. Sometimes for two or three days. Going without electricity became a way of life.

But then I'm also old enough to remember the power cuts in the 70's. Perhaps today's youngsters have never experienced a power cut.

Enjoy

Zoe

[Milims]

It sounds like a very interesting plan and one I'd love to try but sadly we need to have the electricity to heat the house - without it my OH would be really poorly However we do have power cuts fairly regularly so we are pretty well equipped to cope - we have one of those wee gas cooker thingies, lots of candles and the kids like to play cards!

[KathyLauren]

That's our stormiest time of year, so we may be forced to try it whether we want to or not! Three years ago, our electricity was off for eight days straight after a huge storm. You get used to it.

[Gert]

But then I'm also old enough to remember the power cuts in the 70's. Perhaps today's youngsters have never experienced a power cut.

Enjoy

Zoe

I remember those, In fact we started to enjoy them as it meant that as kids we were allowed to toast bread on the fire for our tea

[spitfire]

I to remember the power cuts of the 70's it seemed that my mum was the only one in the street who knew how to feed her kids something hot without the electric she would take some bricks and place them in a square on the concrete outside the back door, she would light a coal fire in the middle of them and them she would put the metal rack from the oven on top, she would put a big pot of soup or stew on it and we would have a great hot meal, of course the neighbourhood kids would come and get some as she always cooked enough and never turned anyone away brings back some great memories

[Odsox]

Yes, I too remember the power cuts of the 70's and the so called 3 day week.
I remember it as a non-event as far as we were concerned, in fact I quite enjoyed it.
The 3 day week turned out to be a 6 day week for me. The company I worked for had Thursday, Friday and Saturday as their designated "power on" days and instead of having Monday to Wednesday off we had to work doing jobs that didn't require electricity ... so I earned quite a bit with overtime pay, very useful as I had a young family at the time.
At home it made little difference either as we cooked by bottle gas and I brought home a tractor battery from work which ran 12 volt strip lights and our little B&W portable telly.
Happy times ...

[old tree man]

Jane and i remember the original power cuts..........................we now have seven children !!!!
mind you we are a bit older now so no side effects

[Big Al]

I'm up for this but the leccy will need to be on for the house alarm to be kept running. I know that in the event of a power cut the alarm would work for the back up battery of 12 hours but then I'd be in the house at the time to stop unwanted intruders so if I am to do this I will keep the leccy on for the alarm. Having said that i'll be honest and switch off everything else.

I'm interested in this as I'm into survival as many know on here ( with my swine flu scaremongering etc) so it will be putting into practice all my collected knowledge and stash of goods and equipment.

Mind you cooking on wood might be a bit harsh given the time of the year but I guess if you can do it in orkney I can do it in the town,lol.

Take care,

Big al.

[PlayingWithFire]

Hi Al, here is a radio clip of me on the radio last night, talking about the Power Off weekend:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/aod/mainfram ... orkney_mon

28.5 minutes in, if you want to listen to local radio. :)

Please sign up for the event - if you can go to this Facebook event page, then others will know you are involved. The more the merrier.

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=3 ... 181&ref=mf

I totally get the need to keep the alarm working. This is all about awareness raising, and pushing yourself to have fun!

I'm going to have a great big barbeque, a real feast!

You might as well enjoy it when tshtf