We were rudely awoken out of a particularly blissful sleep at 3am on Saturday morning by our young daughters. They were terrified because the landing light had gone out and were frightened of the dark, it was a particularly dark night in darkest Dorset.

After some fumbling around trying to locate torches and checking the fuse boxes we discovered our electricity was out. This lasted over 12 hours and was caused by the high winds affecting a nearby cable.

It was frustrating and fascinating in equal measure. The weekend wasn’t easy to get going and the leisurely cup of tea first thing became a test of my boy scout resourcefulness. However the camping gas stove saved the day along with a neighbour’s offer of their Aga and a trip to the local bakery. I had two over-riding impressions of the experience:

1.Our children’s generation have no concept of how to operate without electricity. It took my youngest, a very streetwise five year old, about six explanations why she couldn’t watch TV. She just couldn’t grasp the idea that we had no power so the TV wouldn’t work. How could this be, the TV always works? There were also multiple requests to use the computer and to go online – obviously both these options were out too.

Now this reaction may be more of a comment on my parenting skills and approach – the TV being a great surrogate nanny – but it is remarkable just how vital electrical power is to the functioning of our modern lives. It shows in this insignificant incident just how critical energy security is to our nation. The outage highlighted to me that we must redouble our efforts behind renewables and local generating capacity, not just for climate and environmental reasons but to minimise the threat of being completely beholden to other nations or organisations for our power. (I also need to stop my children watching so much TV.)

2.As soon as it was clear the power was off for a while the community started coming together.  We are particularly lucky living in a lovely, friendly little hamlet, hidden away down an idyllic Dorset farm lane and so have a good sense of community.

Even so, the reaction to our little crisis was heart-warming. Instead of existing in our own little myopic weekend worlds, we started thinking and helping one another. Hot soup was delivered to the very independent 80 year old who lives up the lane, and orders were taken from all for the bakery run and super busy, rarely seen neighbours popped in for tea and chats.  Information about the outage was eagerly awaited and happily shared and the human spirit was lifted a little. 

Well done to Southern Electric for their text information update service and power was happily restored for us all to enjoy The Six Nations rugby.

What will I take away from it, apart from a potential scolding from Super Nanny? It is that we cannot leave our energy resources to chance and investment in renewable sources of supply has to be given key priority even in these austere times. Also that the relationships with people, and the positive support of one another, has to be the most rewarding element of life, far greater than any possession or object – and why does it take a crisis to make us realise both?