Spanish power cuts take me back to the seventies dark ages - Vladimir McTavish

Who needs electricity? How we coped with power cuts and three-day weeks in the 1970s. Picture: Getty

A power cut across almost the entire national grid left much of Spain and Portugal without electricity for all of Monday. Many were left without power for over a day, people were stranded in airports and railway stations.

I think I heard somewhere that four people had spent 24 hours trapped in a lift, but that may well be an urban myth.

Any Brits on holiday would probably have been pining for the cold back home, having to endure the stifling heat without the aid of air-conditioning, fridges or even electric fans.

Of course, without internet access, they would not have been able to see how nice and warm it was back here at home.

This sounds like a nightmare scenario in an age when we are so dependent on electricity, particularly as we are fazing out fossil fuels to meet our net-zero targets. We need electric increasingly for transport, communications and shopping.

While folks under 50 years old were trying to get their heads around how they would cope were such a situation to happen here, British people of a certain age were wallowing in nostalgia.

We were casting our minds back to the early seventies, when nationwide power cuts were an all-too-common occurrence.

Two miners’ strikes, in the winters of 1971-72 and 1973-74 led to severe coal shortages. Coal being the country’s main source of electricity in those days meant that power cuts were inevitable.

I remember both of those winters clearly. In the first, there were a series of planned power cuts, which usually took place in the early evening although we didn’t always receive much advance warning. Suddenly, the house would be plunged into darkness, and the television would turn off.

There wasn’t much we could do but light a candle and go to bed, hoping that the power would come back in the morning.

Two years later, things were a bit more organised. Industry was put onto a three-day working week, and the scheduled power cuts were more widely advertised.

TV had to shut down at 10.30 every night and the electricity would go off soon afterwards. We had to wrap ourselves in blankets to stay warm, boil water to wash in and try to read by candlelight. There was not much else to do.

Well, nine months later, it appeared that a lot of folk had indeed found other sources of entertainment to while away the cold dark nights. Towards the end of 1974, there was a boom in the birth rate.

A similar power crisis in Scotland in the 21st century would doubtless lead to widespread panic as we are all so dependent on electricity. Yet it could be no bad thing long-term. It could help the nation stem its slump in population, and also help us reach net zero much quicker than predicted.

So, as the weather turns colder this weekend, why not have a romantic night at home with your nearest and dearest? Lie back and think of Scotland.