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Posted By: pauluk Memories of 1973/74 blackouts - 06/09/02 11:07 PM
Back in 1973/74 we had the Arab oil crisis which hit Britain as it hit the U.S.A. Fuel prices soared, lines formed at the gas pumps, and here in the U.K. some industry was forced into shorter working weeks. Power blackouts started to become fairly common.

It wasn't just the oil crisis though, because we also suffered major strikes by power workers and miners at the time (Britain in general was plagued by strikes throughout the 1970s).

At one point it got so bad that the "electricity boards" (as they were called then) started to issue weekly announcements in the form of a printed table. It was divided into rows of squares for each day of the week, with the hours printed across the top.

Each square was printed white, gray, or black to indicate low, medium, or high probability of a blackout ("power cut") in that period.

Now, as the 8-year-old boy I was at the time, naturally I looked forward to the periods marked in black with a certain anticipation and sense of adventure! The few times (very few as I recall) that a black period came and went without the lights going off was sheer disappointment! Then there were those pesky gray squares: Will it or won't it?! And yes, there was the occasional bonus of a blackout during a white period. [Linked Image]

If the blackout lasted into the evening, it meant dinner cooked on a portable gas camp stove and sitting around with candles and flashlights. If we were really lucky, it might mean a day off school! [Linked Image]

Of course, my parents probably didn't see it quite the same way, and after a while it led to my father buying a couple of RV-style 12-volt fluorescent lights and running wiring back to a spare battery and charger in the cupboard under the stairs.

The battery also served to run the little 12" portable TV that came up from our holiday trailer. (Many times the local transmitter was off as well, and it meant watching a somewhat snowy picture from a more distant transmitter, and sometimes that was off too!)

The camping stove continued in fairly frequent use until the crisis was over.

If it all happened again today, I wonder if I'd still be able to see it as the great adventure I saw it as back then. Probably not.
Posted By: sparky Re: Memories of 1973/74 blackouts - 06/10/02 01:45 AM
I had just passed my drivers license exam, i had a 64' Ford Falcon wagon , a crackerbox yet beheld as the shagwagon of the century at the time.
I ran out of gas in a long line at the pumps and had to push it along as the line shortened.
The pump jockey joked....
"you got a license to push kid.....?"
[Linked Image]
Posted By: pauluk Re: Memories of 1973/74 blackouts - 06/11/02 10:54 AM
I wasn't buying gas then, of course, but I remember the prices jumping from about 40 pence to 60 pence a gallon almost overnight.

Didn't get my license until '83 (min. age is 17 here). Gas was still only a little over £1 a gallon then, if I recall correctly. (Sigh!)

My first car? It was a 1964 Hillman Imp, a really tiny car with a rear engine, looking a little like a much smaller version of your Corvair. It was about 8 years later I discovered the pleasures of American cars when I went to the other extreme and bought a '72 Pontiac LeMans. [Linked Image]



[This message has been edited by pauluk (edited 06-11-2002).]
Posted By: Bjarney Re: Memories of 1973/74 blackouts - 06/11/02 08:23 PM
There are remnants of one hairy year at at:
http://www.caiso.com/awe/noticelog.html
http://www.caiso.com/SystemStatus.html
Posted By: pauluk Re: Memories of 1973/74 blackouts - 06/16/02 11:40 AM
The California power crisis even got mentioned on the TV news over here, briefly.

What's the situation like now?
Posted By: Bjarney Re: Memories of 1973/74 blackouts - 06/16/02 04:27 PM
paul-- It's been out of the headlines for the about the last year. Some 'peaker' plants got on line on a fast-track basis, to take care of some bottlenecks.

Here, lost power once for almost exactly one hour.
Posted By: pauluk Re: Memories of 1973/74 blackouts - 12/12/02 08:18 PM
Looking back through the forum and thought I'd revive one or two old threads.

BJ and our other California guys: How's the power situation in your state now? I haven't heard anything more about it recently.

And to our new U.K. members, do you have any memories of the 1970s power problems?
Posted By: Bjarney Re: Memories of 1973/74 blackouts - 12/13/02 12:12 AM
Except for the lawsuits covered in the press, it's like it never happended.
Posted By: classicsat Re: Memories of 1973/74 blackouts - 12/13/02 04:09 PM
Here in Ontario Canada, which has somewhat
de-regulated power, there is more or less a guarantee of power as a whole (no planned
blac/brownouts), for those that pay there bills.
Posted By: pauluk Re: Memories of 1973/74 blackouts - 12/14/02 04:58 PM
Glad to hear that CA is back to normal again.

There's been no more mention of our recent outages on the news, although I think a few people are still trying to get compensation from the utilities.
Posted By: Trumpy Re: Memories of 1973/74 blackouts - 12/15/02 04:23 AM
Paul,
Oh to be a kid again,
With being a Hunter,some of the best feeds I have ever cooked have come from a Frypan or
a Dutch oven, fuelled by fire.
But power cuts over here are slowly becoming a normal thing, as water dries up during the summer periods(Hydro-electric dams).
Security of supply,is not even mentioned in new supply contracts these days. [Linked Image]
Posted By: uksparky Re: Memories of 1973/74 blackouts - 07/10/04 09:48 AM
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And to our new U.K. members, do you have any memories of the 1970s power problems?

Indeed I do. Like you I was a boy - two years older than you - and looked forward to the sense of cameraderie and adventure these cuts brought [Linked Image]

Quote
If we were really lucky, it might mean a day off school!
Ah, well I had the advantage there...I boarded at school [Linked Image] It was great when the whole outfit was plunged into darkness; 120 boys 7-13yo with harrassed teachers wondering where the hell half of them were!!! Some of us had candles and tilly lamps that our parents brought for us [Linked Image]. It was all great fun - LOL trying to do prep by the light of the gas fire and about three candles in the class!! Fortunately the cooking was gas so we ate ok, but the heating hot water was oil-fired so it was cooooolish.
Can you just imagine the outrage, panic and absolute hysteria that would occur now under the same circumstances in a school!!?? [Linked Image] We all got on with it. It was exciting and different, and life just went on as best as possible, I suppose in those days we DID "just get over it/on with it" not like now.. [Linked Image]
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but I remember the prices jumping from about 40 pence to 60 pence a gallon almost overnight.
I wish it would do that again!! [Linked Image] 60 pence??? Wouldn't that be nice!!
Quote
Except for the lawsuits...
Uhuh...welcome to the new millennium!

Quote
Oh to be a kid again
Amen to that my friend...




[This message has been edited by uksparky (edited 07-10-2004).]
Posted By: pauluk Re: Memories of 1973/74 blackouts - 07/10/04 04:50 PM
Quote
60 pence??? Wouldn't that be nice!!
It sure would. 81.9p per liter here at the moment. I make that £3.72 per Imperial gallon (and wasn't the change to liters just a big con so that most people would lose track of how much per gallon?).

What irked me during the fuel protests was when the government had the audacity to blame the "greedy oil companies" for high prices. Nothing to do with the 300% fuel tax then, Mr. Brown? [Linked Image]
Posted By: Lostazhell Re: Memories of 1973/74 blackouts - 07/10/04 07:27 PM
pauluk wrote:
Quote
Glad to hear that CA is back to normal again.

When did this happen?? [Linked Image]

-Randy
Posted By: aland Re: Memories of 1973/74 blackouts - 07/11/04 09:41 AM
quote:
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but I remember the prices jumping from about 40 pence to 60 pence a gallon almost overnight.
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I must be a eal old codger, less than 25p a gallon pump prices were the norm when I started to drive Oh happy days! First brand new motor £600 taxed and insured on the road. Going back into my darkened room now.
Posted By: pauluk Re: Memories of 1973/74 blackouts - 07/11/04 09:46 AM
I remember turning out some of my mother's old school papers (she was a math teacher in the 1970s) and finding a problem which started with "If petrol costs 37 pence per gallon...."

I think she said it was 2/11 per gal. (or may have been 3/11) when she started driving! [Linked Image]

Alan,
Have a look at this thread: Blast from the Past

A new Bedford CA van for £475! (Probably plus purchase tax, the ad doesn't say.)

[This message has been edited by pauluk (edited 07-11-2004).]
Posted By: aland Re: Memories of 1973/74 blackouts - 07/12/04 06:54 AM
Thanks Paul now I realy feel old!!! Seems like only yesterday when I was reading those adds for real in papers and mag's.
Posted By: energy7 Re: Memories of 1973/74 blackouts - 10/12/04 11:18 PM
Boy, Pauluk, you're asking alot, 1974!!!
The event I remember most was gasoline shortages, so we had to buy gas on alternate days, even license plate number -->even day...... I was commuting 60 miles ea. way to school, so I would sometimes buy paint thinner to mix with the gas so I had enough to get to class. It works for '56 VW's with 6½ to 1 engine compression.
CA Energy "Crisis" of the last few years: I inspected some solar photovoltaic systems that were added to residences. The biggest problem with installers was making sure they had 600V DC rating for the array side disc.sw. The arrays routinely generate well over 300 volts, DC.
Posted By: pauluk Re: Memories of 1973/74 blackouts - 10/13/04 10:14 AM
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The event I remember most was gasoline shortages, so we had to buy gas on alternate days, even license plate number -->even day......
Among my collection of 45s I have a couple of (U.S.) records, one titled "Cheaper Crude or No More Food" and the other "Take Your Oil and Shove It."

No prizes for guessing what they're about or when they were recorded! [Linked Image]
Posted By: WiseOwl Re: Memories of 1973/74 blackouts - 11/07/04 03:06 PM
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but I remember the prices jumping from about 40 pence to 60 pence a gallon almost overnight.
In 1991, we went to England and visited my wife's great aunt in Shrewsbury. Thirty years after the pound's switch to decimal, she was still complaining! She said "it was the biggest con because before you could get 240 pennies to the pound and now you only got 100!"
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