It was an ordinary sunny day in Spain, the 28th of April. A Monday, so it was John’s day off. We were working on our kitchen extension, when suddenly the lights went out. As John was working on the new electrics in the extension, I asked him if we should check the fuse box. We did, no problem. Then he looked at his mobile phone and saw a WhatsApp message that had been sent before, which said that there was a major power outage all over Spain, parts of Portugal, and the south of France.
Then we could not get any more information from our phones as they could receive no signal, so it was emergency calls only. That left us wondering how long we were going to be out of power, as there was no way of knowing.
The next job John wanted to do, he realised he could not, as he needed a power tool for the job. So, he continued doing what he could, that required no electricity. Meanwhile, there was nothing I could do, so I sat on the chair in the kitchen, so we could be together, and I read a book.
For lunch I fixed us some ham rolls, so that was okay. However, I did mention to John that I had taken some butifarra, a Catalan type of sausage, out of the freezer for the evening meal. As we were all electric in our house, we had no alternative means of cooking, except for the barbecue. I suggested we could barbecue the sausage and perhaps bake some potatoes as well.
However, as it turned out, we only had enough charcoal to cook the sausages. So, I asked John if he would mind if we had rolls with it, yes rolls again the same as lunch, but he did not mind at all. I always say his belly is not a beer belly, but a bread bin! He loves his bread.
I heard a sound, someone was ringing our doorbell, no not an electric one, a physical bell. It was a neighbour from down the road, asking if our electricity was off, as theirs had been off for hours. I assured her that she was not alone, the whole of Spain was out. We both said we hoped it would come back on soon, then she went back down the road.
When the light got too dimpsy, ha ha ha there’s a Devonshire word for you! When the light faded too much for John to continue working, he suggested that we moved outside with a bottle of wine once he had cleared everything away. Then he would light the barbecue and give it time to be ready to cook on.
We sat there in the garden, and as it got darker, and the solar lights came on it was magical. However, in the time we had sat there, we had finished our bottle of wine, so I went and opened another one, which we easily finished with our delicious sausage and rolls. Then, after finishing up the ice cream, which had gone a little soft! but was still delicious, we decided to go to bed, and hope that the power would come back on in the morning.
The next morning, after breakfast, John said there was really nothing more he could do without power. So, we decided to get in the car and see if we could get any information, from the radio. I had commented that it seemed strange how many cars were driving back and forth, until I decided they were probably listening to the radio.
Unfortunately, we did not know which radio station to tune into, so we were just letting the radio scan the stations when I noticed a shop was open, one of the businesses along the road we were driving.
“Their lights are on!” John said, “Have they got a generator, or is the power back on.”
“Look!” I said in excitement “That small shop is open too, and has lights, they wouldn’t have a generator, surely?”
We decided to continue, into the town of Vera, where we found that, yes, the power was back on.
We had coped, but I am not sure how we would have got on if the outage had continued much longer. John commented that now, with the electricity back on he could continue with the kitchen except that, unfortunately he had to go into work instead!
We had managed for 23hours to cope without electricity, and it was lovely to see all the wonderful posts when Facebook was available again, about people enjoying themselves, sitting outside bars who were supplying them with anything but coffee! and cold tapas etc. In the end the 23 hours was an adventure, but not one I really want to repeat!
How would you cope? Could you manage for nearly 24 hours?
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