Victoria S

Arg, power cut frustrations and stresses.

For most people their budget can allow for some food waste but for us at the bottom of the food chain one power cut can leave us without food for weeks.

And I did my grocery shop yesterday! 😭

The power cut started in the night, so I woke up this morning to texts from neighbours asking if my electricity was working. It wasn't. Went on the power grids website, the powers been out 4.5 hours before I woke up. Meaning most of my fridge is no longer safe to eat. According to Food Safety regulations on the govs food standards website, food in my fridge is safe up to four hours into a power cut, and in a standard freezer up to 24hrs, smaller time for smaller freezers. My freezer is basically a drawer, it's tiny at the top of my fridge, can hold about two bags of meat and two bags of veggies, and its already dripping water with the door firmly closed, so not looking good freezer wise for me either.

All that food I just brought yesterday, that was meant to last two weeks. I know it's not any one persons specific fault but it just feels so unfair. There's no help available for situations like this, not in my area anyway. And can't take out a UC advance I til last one is paid off. So I'll just have to go with what I have in the cupboards, toast, some pot noodles and baked beans I have for "incase of emergencies" but it's only one week's worth. Most of my food is on fresh produce like cheese, pies, quiches, pastas, yogurts and milk, etc. I've got an electric oven so i cant even cook up the meat n veg quickly to then refreeze when cooled and electrics are back on. There's nothing I can do to save the food. Just sat waiting for the electrics to come back on hoping the freezer doesn't fully defrost by then. I could just cry.

My neighbour has a new born, so she's having to go to her in-laws so she can make and warm milk for her baby. Another neighbour is elderly and has the same food issues as me. And no electric also means no heating cos all our boilers are the newish combi gas and electric ones, so don't work with no electricity either. So it's cold, no heating or hot water, and I'm watching my fridge freezers slowly growing puddle wanting to cry. What a great start to the weekend.

And according to my neighbours it's only the council properties in our area affected, which makes no sense (it's true, I can see lights are working at some properties that are clearly private owned) but surely it's the same electric grid for everyone, why are some houses in this largely council estate working but most aren't? A lot of my neighbours feel it's deliberate, targeted at council homes for some unknown reason. It's a natural fear to have when we are hit doubly hard by something that's a small inconvenience to most people. I can't see any benefit to the power grid in doing that, but I can understand why people are feeling so paranoid these days, when the gov is repeatedly spewing anti-poor rhetoric these days, if often feels like the world is actively against us or even out to get us.

Mostly I'm just so sad, all that food waste and it's the important food items. The meat and veggies and diary. Means it'll be two weeks of even poorer diet than usual, which will probably mean I'll have a fibromyalgia flare up from the poor diet, which will have a knock on effect into the winter.

Think a lot of people don't understand about chronic illnesses and disabilities is that recovering from one event can take months, especially when that event is timed at the start of winter. I normally start buying extra food items to squirrel away for winter, in case of emergencies, but I've not been able to do that this year cos the cost of food is already so high. And no food bank in my area than I can access.

To most folk, a power cut is a mild irritation but once resolved it's no biggie. But when you live payday to payday one bad day, one small inconvenience becomes an emergency level event and You're left with few options. Could either borrow and be stuck paying that off, or go without and your stuck with the consequences of that (the latter is the option I'll have to take, I can't afford to borrow cos then I'd have no money for groceries for the next few months anyway cos of paying the borrowing back). Not like the power grid will send vouchers to replace food lost cos of their error.

It's such a small thing but feels massive.

And it reminds you how vulnerable, unsafe and unvalued you are.