)My first mistake that Monday was not really knowing how bad it was getting. Where I work was somehow sheltered from the worst of the weather and once I drove over a small hill to go home, all I saw was white, a hard horizontal snow. I had to drop off 2 guys on my way and then try to get home myself. Within about an hour and a half it had dumped a foot of snow and I had only 2 routes home, both over very steep hills. I picked one route purely because I know someone down that road, and if I got stuck I would have somewhere safe to go.
By this time I had passed a lot of vans and people carriers off the road as a major construction site got caught out aswell, and all the workers were scrambling to get back home.
I managed to phone the missus, and she said the power was on and off, and then it went off and we lost contact. We have a satellite phone set-up at home, no power no calls.
I managed to get home, needing a lift from a pickup truck the last 3 miles as the car got stuck.
3.5 hours for a 1\2 your journey.
I had warm clothing in the vehicle and drinks so wasn't to worried, and if you do get stuck here in this kind of weather you can pretty much knock on any door and people will let you stay.
At home, the first consideration was light which we have well covered with lamps, torches and candles. I lit the fire, threw extra blankets the bed and we got cosy expecting nothing more than a 12 hour blackout. A gas hob meant we could cook and boil water.
Early to bed, early to rise, still no power.
Day 2 we fired up the generator (petrol, Lidl cheap one), so we could maintain the freezers. We have 2 big chest freezers full, so didn't want to lose anything.
I dug out 3 different radios to find to the local station, but realised that they all run on Ctype batteries and I had none. FAIL....
I half remembered a post on here about rigging other batteries to do the job, so I cannabalised some torches for those little holders that hold 3 x aaa batteries. 4 of those did the job and we had radio. Local station saying poles were down, cables broken and it would be days, not hours until we were back on grid.
I then spent most of the next few days hauling wood and peat into the house for.warmth, keeping pans of water on the fire for cleaning, and boiling water for tea and coffee.
This is when I wished I had covered the peat stack like I should have done as maintaining a good fire with damp peat is hard. Another Fail there.
We got a few visits from local volunteers who were driving big 4x4 trucks, checking everyone was okay. We were fine, but they were delivering supplies, fuel and hot food to those who wernt.
We did pop to the local hall twice for a hot meal, more for updates than the food. The engineers who had shipped north to us bought a load of big generators so local halls could operate as a warm hub, and somewhere to sleep if you needed it.
The first night (monday) we slept in the slightly chilly bedroom. The second night (from here on out my wife was mostly away from the house as she.works in social care and was needed) I tried to.sleep in front of the fire, sofa sleeping bag and blankets, but quickly realised that while a.good peat fire will burn nice and hot, to bank it for the night means the temp drops fast. I decided to be comfortable and cold in bed rather than uncomfortable and cold on the sofa.
Each night then, I slept in the bed room but had roughly 20 candle lights out to take the edge off the cold. That works, but barely.
I did suggest in jest that I pitch a tent in the living room, and if the.power had stayed off for a further 4 days on top of the 5, I would have done just that.
I was house bound as we have dogs and chickens, so the isolation quickly kicks in. I kept entertained with audio books, and even had 3 full powerbanks to keep the.kindle and headphones charged. I did need to recharge after 4 days, and plugged them into the generator via a surge.protector.
Nothing can really prepare you for how cold your house gets. After no heating for a day it gets cold, but after 3 days it's cold 'to its bones'. It's hard to describe and I hope you all never experience that, but its like your house dosnt feel as safe anymore. I
Overall I kept as busy as I could, found myself getting up when the cocks crowed and was back in bed by about 6-7 pm. Feed the fire, feed the chickens, rescue the chickens from snow.drifts lol, plan meals, check batteries, fire up the genny. It all helps keep your mind active.
For those of you with petrol generators, please keep in mind the exhaust fumes. I know it is something we.are.mindful off, but when you fire your generator 'in anger' and need it for 4 days that when you find out just how.much stink they produce. Luckily we have a large garage where the freezers are , but even with a.window open for ventilation I had to be careful when I went to.switch it.off. The fumes even seeped into our porch\entrance area but luckily not into the house.
I need a better plan to deal with the fumes.
More to follow, I need coffee lol.
And did the chickens cope? They seem to have strayed quite a lot 
