O/T power cuts and 3 day week around the 1970s

[mechanic]

'leccy'? Also perhaps:

[James Wilkinson Sword]

You said "The d*****ad who posted it thought it was "fun""

[James Wilkinson Sword]

Sounds nothing like me. I'm a perfectly nice guy unless someone does something stupid, then I make fun of them.

[Mr Pounder Esquire]

Yes, that is what the d*****ad said. Is there anything else I can assist you with Mr Hucker?

[James Wilkinson Sword]

Sounded rather like you disagreed with him.

[Mr Pounder Esquire]

You have a mind like a steel trap.

[Bob Eager]

Strangely, we just had a power cut. The screen gave me enough light to continue using Facebook and the web, and it only lasted a few minutes.

[James Wilkinson Sword]

Sorry for getting the better of you.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Intriguing. So What was powering the broadband router then?

[Bob Eager]

One of the three UPS units.

[charles]

my router also has a small UPS. A legacy from frequent overnight brownouts when the router needed to be re-booted in the morning.

[NY]

Agreed: anywhere that does not have a gas supply will rely on electricity for cooking and for heating (fairly basic human requirements), and everyone needs electricity for fridges/freezers if they can't buy fresh food from the shops every day, which has become unnecessary/impossible with the demise of most "corner shops" and the reliance on fewer but larger supermarkets. That's leaving aside our dependence on electricity for the internet. OK, so a power-cut of a couple of hours isn't going to damage food in the fridge or freezer.

I can remember an earlier set of planned power cuts in the late 60s or very early 70s, presumably as an energy-saving measure because of Yet Another Strike. I was around 5 - 8 at the time, so I wasn't aware of the full background, though I think it was either coal miners or power-station workers that had gone on strike. All the parents of infant-school-age children where I lived organised a rota so groups of children would all have their "tea" (as in Yorkshire word for evening meal) at the house of whoever was due to have power that evening - with those people who cooked by gas getting called on a lot more! I remember that the zones for cutting off the power were fairly small: it was common for several streets to be turned off but nearby ones still to have power.

Because my parents cooked by gas and our living room had a gas fire (in addition to gas-powered central heating) we got called on quite a lot to "do our bit" :-) We were lucky to live in a town, where there was a gas supply. Out in rural areas (eg where we live now) there is no gas so there's no way of cooking or heating when there's a power cut - unless you go to the expense of a backup bottled gas supply or paraffin heaters. Oil central heating is no use without power to the pump. That's where an open fire comes in useful - our present house has no gas but we've got the fire to keep us warm during power cuts and we can even toast bread on it!

[Terry Casey]

Early 70s. The miners and the power workers seemed to do it on a rota basis - miners one year, power workers the next.

I was working in London, so copped the annual ASLEF disputes as well, which were always in the coldest months of the year.

In London, the LEB published a schedule so that you knew when the power was going off but back home in Essex, the EEB weren't so helpful ...

Coming home one night, everywhere was inky black on the approach to the station - except the station itself which was still gas lit! - so there was no point going home which was a perfectly good excuse to head for the Railway Hotel!

Candles were getting a bit short by then and most in the bar were out or nearly exhausted. I and another chap went round collecting them and melted the remains into an ash tray which had a nice deep oval basin shape. We realised that the wax would be a bit thin on the ground if we used all of it, so we built a dam using a beer mat and did a pretty good job of filling most of half of it.

We added about 4 or 5 matches as wicks and had a wonderful light! Despite that, the amount of wax being used was remarkably low and we estimated that it might survive at least another night, if not two.

The following night was a repeat blackout performance, so back to the pub it was. We looked around amongst the dim flickering flames and enquired where our monster candle was. "Oh, that - we threw it away!" was the answer ...

[Clive George]

No mains gas here. The heating will still heat the core of the house and water without power (stove), and the (bottled) gas hob will still work (albeit with manual ignition).

(13kg propane bottles last us between 4-6 months, possibly longer, on a conventional 4 burner hob).

At some point I'll get the tuit to get the new battery for the UPS and plug the router into it.

[James Wilkinson Sword]

No, luxuries. Requirements are things you need to survive. Which are oxygen, food, and water.

[carolwiles7]

last question first, yes they were all over the U.K. 3 day week began when you stated. the power cuts began in February 1972, the reason i know for sure is my you ngest son was born on the 1st February, i came home from the hospital to th e first DAY of power cuts, midwives in our town came out in force checking on new mums and elderly for heating and cooking facilities. i was one of th e lucky ones i cooked by gas and had coal fires. i remember electricity goi ng off every teatime, so baby was bathed by candlelight, as was cooking, I still have the original candles I bought.

Carol

[Steve Walker]

I was almost 6 at the time. We had a coal fire at first and a gas fire later. I remember us having a car battery in the corner of the living room, powering a small light and the portable TV from my parents' caravan.

Candles were reserved for the kitchen, bedrooms, etc.

Our cooker was electric, but we had a two burner camping stove from the tent that they had before the caravan.

SteveW

[Broadback]

I worked in the computer industry and we were exempt the cuts, so it had very little effect on me!

[Graeme]

In message , Broadback writes

I was 19 in Feb 1972, and cannot really remember how we coped at home, although we still had open fires, so presumably kept warm. Cooking was electric, so I suppose planning was required. What I do remember is working in a large office in the City, and the Heath Robinson efforts to provide light. People who drove in brought car batteries which were wired to 12v bulbs all over the place, using crocodile clips and Sellotape. Management applauded the ingenuity, but today, H&S would have apoplexy. No real need for further power - we were still using manual calculators, Monroes.

[Chris J Dixon]

At the time of the 3-day week and power cuts, GEC (as it was then) had 6 completed diesel-electric locos at the Preston factory. They had been ordered by Pakistan, but for complicated reasons they hadn't taken delivery.

As I recall, the locos were split between the sites at Trafford Park, Sheffield and Preston.

The pair sent to Trafford Park were placed adjacent to the main electrical test area, and connected through one of the rotary converter sets to feed back into the site supply. Together with the existing diesel sets, they enabled work to continue without interruption.

To reduce the heating load, our large office gained a few fairly fierce Calor gas heaters.

As we had a particularly large window area, we improvised secondary double glazing by taping together 4 foot wide rolls of plastic sheeting (1), with a slightly blue tinge. It was surprising how quickly the eyes adapted to the unusual lighting.

(1) Actually available on-site because it was used as the release film for producing mica-based insulation sheets.

Chris