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 To unsubscribe send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] containing the line: unsubscribe lace-chat [EMAIL PROTECTED] For help, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
