What's the first thing you do when the electricity goes out?

First thing I do is put a record on my old Victrola and crank it up, then I light the candles that I have hanging on the wall. Then I sit there, enoy my music, and wait out the outtage. I have a landline, so I can sill make phone calls. I am glad I don't have internet phone, beause if the power went out I woudln't be able to use my compute. Besides, I don't hae the net a home anyway.

PLAY HID N GO SEEK!!! haha no i got lite some candles...i think itz pritty romantic went he light go out cuz if its just you n you "partner" you can lit a fire n relax but you know you can do that any time but thats a garente if the lightz go out!!!

I call FPL (Florida power and light) they have a great system to report power outages that not only tell you how many customers the outage is affecting but when you can expect to have the power back will even provide you with a callback with any updates.

The first thing I do is wait for it to come back on. My electricity goes out so often that I have flashlights and candles right beside the front door, although the only time I used them, just as soon as I got finished lighting them and placing them all around the house, the electricity came back on... that was a whole lot of wasted effort! Experience has taught me that up here in the mountains where I am, if the electricity has not come back on within a few minutes then it is pretty much guaranteed to be out for hours, and in that case I just go to bed if it's too dark to do anything, and get up later when it is back on.

Reading this discussion reminded me of a time 16 years ago when I first moved to the area that I now live in. I had previously lived in a big city and had never experienced a power cut, however when I moved it was to a small country town and they had them regularly. At the time I did not know this. I was a single parent at the time and moved into a bungalow with a friend and her little boy. From the moment we moved in strange things happened in there and we quickly came to the conclusion that the house was haunted. One night my friend had taken our children out to an event and I was in the bungalow alone, I had heard some strange noises and was a bit uneasy, well the next minute the house was in darkness, already scared witless I thought that the ghost was after me and went FLYING out of the house. Got outside, the lights came back on, so I went back in, five minutes later off they all went again, the whole house was pitch black, I flew out of the door again and sat in the garden. They stayed out this time and so did I, for ten minutes I sat there in out in the cold. My friend and the kids turned up then and were most amazed to see me sitting in the garden, when she asked why I explained to her that the ghost had turned the lights out, and she just burst out laughing. Not feeling very amused I asked her what was so funny, to which she responded "you dozy mare, there has been a power cut, the whole towns in darkness"!! I laughed and said "Ahhh got you, I knew that all along! I felt such a heel.

I hold the kids close to me as they're afraid of the dark. Then light a candle and wait. While waiting, go outside and look at the stars and the moon (if they are there) Then point them out to kids, explaining the big dipper, small dipper, the morning star. How the moon looks like up close, etc. Sometimes, having no electricity gives a chance for the family to enjoy each other's company. When the lights are back, each one goes back to their Internet, TV, gameboy, or cell phone world.

Get the batteries of my laptop... Then rush for a candle... Then pull from electrical ports some heavy machines... I forgot to check on my child hehehe

When I'm at home and this thing happens, my first response is the same as you: get a flashlight and light some candles. The next thing is get a hand fan and start fanning my kid. I really hate it when it happens because that means my arms would be aching. It's a good thing power goes out here just for a while.

When my power goes out, I grab the flashlight. Then, I grab a lighter and start lighting every candle in the house. I like the candlelight when the power goes out. It is sort of soothing and, romantic. Granted, the longer the power is out, the less soothing and romantic things are because you start worrying about all the food in the fridge that is about to spoil and, all the other little nuisances that come with a power outage. LOL!

Generally i open the blinds on our window if they arent already so we can get a little bit of light in from the outside. Then i just sort of sit around and wait a few to see if its coming right back on, if not then i call the electric company to see if they know how long til its back on.

First thing in my mind was my cellphone because its always with me and i look for a candle and go directly to the stove to light the candle.that was when my husband is away.But when my husband is with us i would immediately find my husband and make fun of him sometimes i would hide and he would try looking for me.It's fun sometimes to be a kid with your husband

The first thing that comes to mind is candles, I have alot of them so I light them up and the kids crowd around and tell creepy little stories, it's pretty fun. :)

Well when the electricity is out i always play with my mobile phone.It serves in two ways.It gives some light to the room and entertain me.

Is funny that you mention this. If you are living in any of the third world countries, electricity outages are normal in our day-to-day routine. The day the electricity doesn't go out is actually considered one of the odd days and we feel as if something is badly wrong :D. So to answer your question that what we do first? Well in order to survive in such an environment where electricity outages are very frequent, we have to have backup supply, usually known as UPS (stands for Uninterrupted Power Supply) which can give a backup for a good 8 to 10 hours. In case, if the electricity outages are extended for any underlying cause, most households have generators running up instantly. However, technologies can sometime be deceiving and very unreliable and during such times, I too am forced to use a candle. One can never go wrong with candles :D.

The first thing i do is shout.. and shocked .i am scared in the dark i dont really like dark.I cant breat w/out lights even small light.Thats why even that is notalways happen here in Holland i keep matches and candle ready each room.So in the emergency i know where to find them.. Have a nice day! Greetings from Che!

When their is a power failure, all my family will go out to have a walk if the weather is not bad. All the neighbours will come out and we can chat together. If the weather is not good, we will sit together and chat. And we will go to bed earlier than before.

The first thing i do.I will get first match then light our small lamp that we have. Also light candle that we always prepared in times of blackout or no electric.My mom always prepared that 3 types of things match,lamp and the candle so even we don't have a electric we have some light to help see each other on that kind of situation..

First i make sounds like "offf"/ "oopps"/ "oh no"..and then open the fold of my cell phone to have some light,and go for candles.

If it is daytime when the electricity goes out,I would probably go out to shop or meet my friends.But if it happens at night,I would find some candles and then light them.I will sit by the candles and read some interesting book or magazines.I like it when the electricity goes out because we can experience a different life from the one when the electricity is on.

The first thing I will do is get my phone and turn on its light. I did it before and accidentally send several messages to my husband. he actually freak out and called me.