Whirly,
We used to live like that in 1991 when the power went off up here due to severe rain ice pulling down all the power lines right back to the Trent power stations.
Took four or five days for us to get our electricity back. Couldn't go to work because the petrol stations had no power and couldn't pump fuel and I had an empty tank at the time of the power cut. Some shops couldn't sell stuff because they couldn't work the tills.
We were luckier than many as we had a mains gas fire in the lounge, a stock of large ornamaental candles for lighting (we used to live in Germany and brought back a whole load of them) and we used the caravan stove and the barbecue to cook with (in the garage as it kept snowing)! At least the freezer didn't need power as it was so cold. After about 36 hours, the water supply began to fail because our district has it's water pumped by electricity. After two days we were the only house in the street with water, a quirk of the way the mains ran. We ran a service heating water for drinks and hot water bottles for the old folk on our road.
Loved it! Just missed not havng an open fire.