Given that there’s a possibility of power cuts this winter I wonder how many of you will be adding candles/nightlights to your shopping lists?
I’m certainly not going into panic buying mode but I’m a strong believer in being prepared and making sensible provision.
I remember during the power cuts of the early 70’s it came to the point where you couldn’t buy a candle anywhere, the shelves had been stripped bare. 
There’s always the alternative of dynamo operated camping lights or, rechargeable lights or, if one wishes to go all retro…battery operated torches.
Oh yes…we have those!
It’ll give me the opportunity to did out my gung ho mega maglite, the batteries for it cost a fortune.
Does anyone know if itll just be domestic electrickery that might be turned off, or will streetlights also go?
Don’t buy fork handles by mistake
I have some candles, although I’m not a huge fan of using them. I have a couple of torches, headlamps, and a couple of usb powered lamps. Personally I think it’s disgusting we even have to tolerate such thoughts, but hey ho…I’ll probably get a few more torches before the clocks go back.
More importantly for many of us is that ITV hub no longer works on several devices which we might have been using (like my Panasonic tv box thingamajig), which means that if the power goes off, you might not be able to access catchup.
This is surely against our human rights!!!
I`m investing in some solar panel lights,they work well at the caravan we have.
I have candles already thankfully.
I think though theres a bit of scaremongering going on.
If there is a power cut think of the number of stranded electric cars and abandoned. 
This is nothing new!
Some of us can remember the power cuts and shortages of the 1970s, and before that there was the occasional power cut caused by accidents, storm damage, etc, so I’ve always been prepared for winter
I also went hiking & backpacking, though I’ve slowed down as I’ve got older, so yes, I have plenty of candles, and a few torches & head torches
The big improvement here is LED torches instead of the older tungsten filament bulbs, it’s well worth getting one or two if you’ve never used them. LED torches are smaller, the bulbs last longer, and they use less energy so you don’t run down the batteries very often.
Shop around and you can find them very cheaply in discount stores, quite good enough for occasional use
There is probably a bit of scaremongering and predictions of doom & gloom, but I am well stocked up with food, gas cartridges for my camping stove, and all the rest of it
I’m not expecting complete Armageddon, but I reckon I can survive power cuts of a few days here & there, and also price increases & shortages
Search YouTube and there are loads of videos about stocking up, managing, frugal living etc, often called Prepping; it just depends on how far down the rabbit 'ole you want to go,
I agree with the scaremongering bit…and I am sick and tired of this being used as a tactic to deliver news. It’s disgusting and has damaged the mental health of so many people up and down the country.
I have seen a few “prepping videos” and yes, you could spend all day on them 
I’ve go a wind up radio torch thingy that also charges from solar if there’s any sun……
And a wind up lantern
I always have candles anyway because I love them but I did restock when we went to IKEA on Saturday
Because we’re all going to be heating our houses like this, aren’t we? 
I don’t burn candles indoors anymore, since a tea light badly scorched a wooden shelf - it made me realise how dangerous lighted candles can be!
I still have a drawer full of candles and tea lights from the old days and a long “candle lighter”, so I guess I could resort to those if I really needed to.
I still like the soft glow of candlelight, so I use battery-operated candles now. I have quite a lot of them, large and small, and a good stock of batteries to power them - and a wind-up torch for emergencies, so I think I’ll manage for lighting if there’s power cuts.
Heating and cooking is another matter - I have gas central heating and everything else is powered by electricity - I don’t have any kind of fire in this house for heat or emergency cooking.
If we start having lots of long power cuts this Winter, we may be moving into our narrowboat, where we have a cooker run on bottled gas, a cosy solid fuel stove and a free stock of well seasoned firewood - the stove is only small but the top of it gets hot enough to boil a kettle of water and cook a simple meal on if we need to.
We have some solar panels on the boat roof which keep the bank of electricity batteries topped up and a tank full of red Diesel, so we could run the engine to create more electricity and hot water if we need to.
It can be quite cosy in there during Winter, so the idea of hibernating there this Winter is beginning to sound quite tempting!
This is fine if its a choice you are making, but the media and government are trying to “normalise” it so that nobody gets fed up enough to protest and create civil unrest.
I have the feeling that it’s only a matter of time before civil unrest kicks in, how it’ll manifest itself remains to be seen, assuming I’m right of course.
At this point in time I believe that any power cuts would be up to three hours, but hey ho, expect the unexpected
Scare mongering , always negative and saying , this might happen , be prepared , prepare for the worst . Be afraid , making us anxious .
What a bloody awful situation this country is in
I agree, Susan. But the thing is, we can’t avoid it really because the situation always seems to be changing. I swore I was only checking the news in the evening for an hour, but gosh…so many things happen on a daily basis, its impossible to keep track of.
I dislike the TV news , I don’t read newspapers , I do listen to the headlines , they are always awful , disheartening, upsetting , frightenening , so I have to switch off . It distresses me so much , it makes people fearful and scared. Our government is a disgrace our world is unjust and life feels insecure .
What happens happens , if I have to sit in the dark ill go to bed , if there are food shortages ill cope , but the media foretells things that may not happen to scare us .
I don’t think anything I read in the media will “normalise” power cuts for me but they won’t scare me either.
I’d rather know if it was a possibility - forewarned is forearmed.
A bit of forward planning can prove useful without going over the top or worrying unduly.
I grew up in the days when the gas and electricity would cut off if you didn’t have any money to feed the meter. We were very poor so we got used to going without power for long periods of time.
When the power cuts of the 1970s happened, we took it in our stride as it was more or less “normal life” for us to be without power most weeks for a day or two before pay day.
The difference then was that we had fewer gadgets powered by electricity, so the impact was less - no central heating, no fridge or freezer and no home communication systems to miss.
The bonus now is that my home is better insulated and it’s easier to keep warm.
