Move to Portugal, they, said, everything is great!
Move to sunny Portugal, I was told, great weather and chilled vibes all the the time.
So far this year (is it really just the end of April?), we’ve been hit by at least one devastating storm each month, cutting off either electricity or internet services, or both. The first storm at the end of January knocked out the electricity and fried my internet router. The two February storms brought more rain, hail and wind than anyone bargained for and I thanked my luck stars that I live at a safe elevation. March was the worst of them all, ripping off doors and roofs, along with tearing cables (electricity and internet) and knocking down posts.
Then along came April. By now all of you have read about the historic blackout that plunged the entire of Portugal and Spain into darkness on Monday, April 28, 2025, with parts of France also affected. You would think that with all my years of having lived in Asia, power cuts feel almost natural and shouldn’t upset me. But when living in Asia you almost expect power cuts and are not really surprised when the electricity is cut off in your part of the city, either due to overloading, general mechanical failure, or some other familiar reason.
I have never experienced a total cross border blackout that plunged two countries into darkness, subsequently catapulting them into chaos. My neighbours and I looked at each other, shrugged our shoulders and muttered “here we go again”. Along with the absence of electricity came the lack of water after a few hours and then the disappearance of functioning telecommunication. This is what rattled me the most. At least during the previous storms you could still rely on your mobile phone for information and communication with others, and we still had basic emergency services. This time, however, it was a total black out, and I don’t remember ever feeling this helpless and isolated. The Shire was pitch dark, and so was the valley below, something I had never seen before either.
I have plenty of reasons to feel incredibly grateful today, having relied on candles and power banks to get me through the long hours. And I had to grin at the fact that after years of reading mostly on my Kindle, or multitasking with Audible, I sat down with a good old fashioned book, yes, the real kind with actual pages to turn, (Wilbur Smith’s Monsoon) and immersed myself in England of the 1600s. When the light faded, I lit the candles and sat on the sofa in utter silence, not a creature stirring outside, not even the bats, and somehow it felt as though I had stepped through a portal and was actually in the 1600s. I even half expected a vampire to come knocking at the window!
Living in Europe you don’t really expect power cuts and if you do experience them, it is an extraordinary circumstance that sometimes merits a state of emergency in some places. If you are following the news, you are aware that everything has been restored, except the travel chaos at the railway stations and airports both in Spain and Portugal, but there is still no indication what caused this massive, historic blackout. Hell, I’d love to know as well, and in my mind I can’t help but picture an innocent squirrel who was simply trying to retrieve his loot he hid away last autumn (remember Scrat from Ice Age?) So while government officials, technicians and engineers investigate and point fingers, I made sure that my pantry is well stocked, my power banks all charged, and my stash of candles and batteries is replenished.
FrogDiva Thoughts 