At 11.30am on a regular Monday morning the lights suddenly went out (which is not an unusual occurrence in this part of the world). Little did we know, this time it was to be very different; it was not just local, but a National power cut! At that point nobody knew what had caused it, or how long it was likely to last.

As it became known that the outage was likely to take several hours to restore, businesses that had not already stopped trading, soon decided to close their doors and call it a day. Shop tills were down, goods could not be scanned, and paying by card or mobile became impossible. So much for a cashless society!

After a few hours the mobile network also started to collapse. Communication was almost completely compromised, and the resultant sense of isolation almost reminiscent of the dark days of Covid. FM radio (battery operated, of course) was the only real source of information.

We had hoped that power might be restored by evening, but as darkness fell there was little else to do but have an early night.

The following morning it was not until 07.30 that the grid was reconnected, some 20 hours after the initial failure. However, the mobile network and internet was not restored until much later, the phone signal was spasmodic, and it was not until late evening that full service was resumed. It was a difficult day all round.