another point raised by blackout

[Bucket]

Ok, like Highlander, 5 days without mains power (especially in winter) is common here.

I'd be completely off-grid if the planners would let me have a wind turbine.

But in the city, yes, five days would be anarchy.

there would be a lot of "offings" of people, and dumping them places (in my experience, best place is embankments, middle of roundabouts, disused buildings- out of the way spots) .

At the moment the police are just about staying ahead on things, they'd be overwhelmed after something like that.

Oh, and the DNA database- ha, that's just one big hard drive connected to the network- it's been taken out in the past with a strong cup of coffee (think it was the three sugars that did it in), a power cut of over a week would kill it.

Or an EMP, which fries circuit boards- literally, it melts the band gaps in semiconductors (which allows them to pass electricity).

But yes, turn the power off for a while, and it would be very much like Blackout.