During the early 1970's, the Minors strike caused major blackouts across Britian ...... there were controlled blackouts by the Government.   Workplaces had what was called a 3-day week while homes were without electricity for between 6 to 9 hours, all of which was planned.  

So Britains stocked up on candles (using them sparingly due to increased prices!), went to bed earlier (TV finished at 10.30pm usually) and wrapped up.  World War II was still a memory for many and the British spirit took it all in it's stride.

Shops stayed open - by candlelight - buses ran but there were no streetlights.  The powercuts were rotated from area to area for 3 hours at a time.  Dinners were cooked when the electricity was on and then the job of keeping them warm/edible for dinnertime came about.

Now fast forward to 2014.  Today it would be a very different story.  Our daily life is a constant back and forth between us and some kind of technology.  No TV, no computer, no phone charger, no laptop/ipad etc., etc., the world of computers would come to an blinding halt.  Children literally would not know what to do with themselves - leaving us parents to struggle to keep peace in the house!

The main thing people seem to remember (bearing in mind they were children at the time .....), was how very cold it was indoors but mainly just being scared of the dark!  Candles or no candles, a house is full of frightening dark shadows that morph into terrifying monsters when you are a child in a dark house no matter who is with you!