Apagão in Alcochete

(apagão = blackout)

Left the house promptly so the family could have time to shop at the Outlet place in Alcochete, the town this side of the Tagus from Lisbon.

Ha. When we got there, very strange atmosphere, shops closed, shop assistants sitting outside, everyone on their phones, a general air of bewilderment. We were into the twelve plus hour blackout of electricity on the Iberian peninsula. Managed to message family before we lost internet, but just missed getting cash out of an ATM.

Eventually decided to see if we could check into our hotel early, realising we weren't going to be able to eat anywhere else. The manager at the hotel restaurant was obviously as bewildered as everyone else, but said she could serve us salads and sangria, so that was good, and didn't need cash, as we were guests.

The scary thing was, of course, not knowing what had happened, or how long it would last, and no internet to find out. Mike thought of listening to the car radio, so we knew Lisbon airport was closed - would their flight leave in the morning?? Or would they be stuck for days?

Hotel couldn't serve us food in the evening, but said Lidl was still open. Off we went, but just after getting in, told it was closing and we needed to evacuate. We all grabbed things off the very empty shelves, and thankfully, we could still pay with our card (but not Sam's phone). Ate a strange but good picnic in their room by the light of my phone (which I knew I could charge in the car).

Eventually, around midnight, lights started coming on, seemed their flight was going...

The big lesson for us is to take seriously the advice to all European citizens to have an emergency kit for 72 hours, here for a humorous video about it (because humour is always good). Of course, we'd have been fine at our house, with our solar power, and food - but it could have been miserable, especially for the kids. We'd still not have had internet to communicate with family, though. Hard to know what to do about that.

Gratefuls:
- that it ended
- knowing we had enough fuel in the car to get back home (no petrol stations were working)
- always being provided with what we needed at the right moment
- a walk along the derelict salt pans with Deb and Zion (photo)
- the kids seeing it, in the end, as an adventure