Sitting in the dark and cold last Friday should be a good lesson for all of us. Luckily, it was a fairly warm, sunny day and little danger but many of us on the west coast were caught wanting when the power went.
Why the power went at all — considering the problem was in Holyrood and the storm that caused the outage was hundreds of miles to the east is a question for another day — but too many of us just weren’t prepared for being left in the dark.
It’s testament to the reliability of our power grid ... but we all have to do better if the same situation returns.
The outage could have lasted for days and temperatures could have been bitterly cold putting the lives of many at risk.
It’s of little use to wake up and discover your alarm clock is blinking away and you have no idea how to boil a kettle, use your phone, get cash or heat your home so you and your water pipes don’t freeze.
There is plenty left to winter and more storms are almost guaranteed to make life difficult.
Get moving on creating a plan and get an emergency kit ready.
It doesn’t take much work or money and it could save you some discomfort or serious damage to your home.
At the very least gather a few food staples, a phone that works without power, a few dollars for when the ATM machine dies, a couple of candles, a battery radio and a flashlight.
With any luck the kit will never be needed but at least you’ll have the comfort of knowing that you are prepared to look after yourself if you have to until help arrives.
