There was a sigh of collective relief that things were grinding back to normality – but still no clarity was shed. — Bloomberg
MADRID: At 12.33pm, in the span of five seconds almost two-thirds of Spain disappeared off the grid. It wasn’t just that the lights suddenly went out.
In the age of cashless payments and with virtually everything on your smartphone, millions rediscovered the joys of analog technology.
By the time Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez finally addressed the nation six hours later, people in downtown Madrid were gathering around the old-fashioned transistor radio to get the latest news.
Many spilled outdoors into the sidewalks to share drinks in the spring sunshine.
No one was going anywhere. Trains stopped running. Hundreds of flights were cancelled. Some went into panic-buying mode for groceries.
Tennis play at the Madrid Open was suspended. But trading at the stock exchange wasn’t affected – perhaps down to back-up generators.
Sanchez had no explanation, despite the hours spent in emergency meetings with Red Electrica SA.
By the time the power had returned and cell phone reception was back, it was dark and Spaniards were ready to turn in earlier than the norm.
There was a sigh of collective relief that things were grinding back to normality – but still no clarity was shed.
“What has caused this sudden vanishing of supply?” Sanchez said in his second address at night.
“That’s something that experts have not yet been able to determine.”
What is certain is that the mystery around a blackout that affected large swathes of the Iberian peninsula and even parts of Southern France has yet again exposed Europe’s energy vulnerabilities at a delicate geopolitical moment.
More than two decades ago, Italy succumbed to its own dramatic outage, and it’s still learning the lesson about being over reliant on a neighbour for its energy needs.
In Madrid, hours of chaos suggested how modern society and major capitals will react to the unexpected scenario of being stripped of all that keeps it nominally safe and connected.
By 6.30pm on Monday, the Serrano metro station on Madrid’s Golden Mile shopping district was still sealed off with police tape and staff in the Loewe store were taking down the designer handbags from their display to stash them away safely.
At Michael Kors next door, the shelves were already empty, a pair of steel step ladders bearing witness to the precautions the shop had taken as a pair of mounted police trotted along the sidewalk opposite.
Only in Prada were the thousands of euros worth of designer goods still in their usual place.
“Because we have armour-plated shutters that seal off the whole shop front,” said the manager as he locked the door.
The blackout led to a total collapse of phone and Internet services.
Some 35,000 people were trapped on trains when the services collapsed.
At the bus stop outside Madrid’s City Hall, the line of people waiting to get home snaked across the neighbouring plaza and along the street.
“It’s one of many,” said a policeman watching.
The queue ran past the Naval Museum toward the park outside the old stock exchange building, where three students from the Instituto Empresa business school were lying on the grass soaking up the last of the sun and joking.
“For the apocalypse,” laughed 18-year-old Gabriela Vara.
“I love it,” said Ernesto Cabrera, 20, from Cuba. “Never in your life are you going to get another day like this. We just met in the street.”
Between them, they’ve got €65 in cash to pay for dinner, though everywhere is closed anyway. — Bloomberg
