Power outage in the country...

I was visiting a friend in the country and the power went out.

It was horrible. Dark, cold, nasty, rainy, very windy. On top of that, I caught flu and was not feeling well at all. I was not amused. No hot tea, no heat, no nothing. It kind of amplified things. It sucks big time.


My lites kind of made things a bit more tolerable, but still nasty. I used Princeton Tec Headlamp with almost dead cells (I decided to drain cells completely) at something like 1.17V and the 5mm LEDS were useless but the Lux was kind of OK.

ON top of that, I also used a MagLite 4D, which was very nice.

Next day I was helping to fix the car and found out the big MagLite 4D is really useless for the purpose. My Mini Maglite really 'shined' there, as I could get it into small spaces.

A generator is a must, and candles... and kerosine heaters. Also, the water stops running, so must have enough water stored away. (I had to go to McDonalds to get some hot water to make tea)

A nasty experience but in the country there even more of a need for lites than in the city.

A headlamp rules of course. I wonder if I should get a bright 3W one.

Wow, sorry to read about your sucky experience, hope you get well.
I am a bit surprised that your friend wasn't better prepared. Being that living in the country side, there's always a risk of needing to be self-sufficient.

Long-throwing spotlight, long-runtime flashlight, canned foods, potable water, a small portable propane cooking stove, matches, fire extinguisher, good first-aid kit, tools, are a few of the things that come to mind as must haves.
Maybe throw in a weapon for self-defense, if it's really isolated.