March 1st 1972

“Power cuts ended midnight”
…. along with Prime Minister Ted Heath’s credibility

February 20th 1972

“powcut”
I obviously didn’t do much on the days we were scheduled to get power cuts as there’s a noticeable lack of diary entries other than the occasional ”powcut” right through until Feb 26th.
 I was just a crazy teenager wasn’t I?

February 19th 1972

“Edwin Jones 9:20-10:45 – CANCELLED”
The uppercase was me SHOUTING as far back as 1972.
Yes, it was my big Scalextric “race off” against the big boys at Edwin Jones department store in Southampton, and… and… and…. it was bloomin’ cancelled! 
However, when you think about it logically, there was no point in sending little plastic cars – controlled [...]

February 16th 1972

“Recieved letter about postponement”
I’m pretty certain this relates to our school half-term getting postponed, as I seem to remember schools being concerned that if they had to close during the power cuts, there was the risk they might never re-open.
However, this is not the primary subject for today’s entry. (Neither is my poor spelling of the word [...]

February 14th 1972

“powcut”
My power cuts documentation continues, and I appear to have made up a new ‘buzzword’ to describe them.
Of course, in 1972, the very word “buzzword” had not even been invented.
Proving I was ahead of my time.
However, in being so forward-thinking I evidently missed out on the advantages of it being “dark” and “quiet” on Valentine’s [...]

February 11th 1972

“First Power Cuts”
It seems I documented the days we received power cuts.
These were as a direct result of the miner’s strike against the government, and due to raw material (coal) not being made available to the electricity generating stations. Households & businesses throughout the UK  – in some kind of day-on/day-off rotation – had their supplies cut off for 4 to [...]