When we lived in Somerset, we had frequent power cuts. We had a small
transformer that just served our bungalow as we lived in the middle of
nowhere. We couldn't use the central heating or hot water because the pumps
were driven by electricity. We had a huge calor gas (methan) tank outside,
so the cooker was gas, making cooking and boiling wate, etc no problem, and
the central heating was powered by gas (but couldn't circulate in a power
cut). The main living room had an open fire place, and we kept a small
amount of coal (plenty of wood about outside) so had an proper fire to keep
just that room warm. We slept there too if necessary. We made up a couple of
candle holders with mirrors behind so we got the maximum light from the
candle, and had a battery powered radio.

In the event of the gas running out because the gas tanker couldn't reach us
to refill the tank, we had an electric ring to use one pan on for cooking.
Fortunately the situation where we had a power cut and ran out of gas never
arose.

We had a well - never used it but it was there if we'd needed it, and our
neighbour was a dairy farm, so at least we'd have been able to get milk,
even if it wasn't pasteurised. We were actually considered quite wimpish
because we bought pasteurised milk instead of getting it straight out of the
cow as most of the old villagers did.

I forget the chap's name, but he invented the wind-up radio for use in
places like Africa where batteries are hard to come by. Now we have
available here very small wind-up torches (flashlights) with a radio
included so you can hear news and announcements in the case of a real
emergency situation. When fully wound, you get about half an hour of either
light or radio before it's fully run down and you have to wind it up again.
The radio cost about 70 pounds
when it first came out, but now the combined radio/flashlight's only about
10 pounds.

Jean in Poole

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