The following are some of their answers, unaltered. I hope it inspires you to take the plunge and join in too! Remember, this coming weekend, starting 23.00 on Friday 19th – flick the switch.

Note – alcohol and fire do NOT mix – accidents will happen. If you are going to get drunk, don’t do this.

What did you enjoy most about the weekend?

The quiet, for both of us, i.e. no fridge, radiator noises, no TV.

Being made to think and value electricity and power rather than just use it because it’s there. We have left the lights off much more this week!

The quiet and knowledge that machines didn’t need to be attended to!

Early to bed and late to rise

All the candles and the secret scent of freedom that comes with no power.

Being released from relying upon clocks and reflexively going online when there are so many other things to do (I read an entire book on Sunday!)

No TV and the peace that came with it. We played pictionary and had fun. Seeing my initially reluctant teenager actively take part. I also quite liked the low lighting from the candles.

Time spent reconnecting with friends, over mulled wine and loud singing and poor guitar playing, oh and devising new ways of doing toast without finger burning. Loved settling in to the early evening with candles and space to think.

The liberation of not checking email!

Difficult to isolate just one thing … I loved the gentle light, I appreciated the daylight more, I loved the calm and quiet, spending quality time with the family without the distraction of the TV, and I really loved the special exciting feeling almost like being on holiday

What did you miss most or find most difficult?

Worrying about the freezer.

Sadly I had to turn the computer back on for work

Heat … I missed heat and hot water.

I really needed to get some work done – so ‘cheated’ by going to someone else’s house to use their power when my laptop battery ran out. So I missed power for my laptop and internet connection the most.

Sometimes balancing the ‘essence’ of the weekend with what needed to happen was difficult – for example we had a flour spill on the carpet during our cooky-making extravaganza, and really there was no choice but to get the dustbuster or else have flour ground into the carpet and strewn about the apartment.

Being able to grab the vacuum when we dropped something, the ability to flick on a light and the convenience that comes with electricity.

Most difficult was finding where I’d left the camera! Didn’t find it too difficult, all in all.

It took a few hours to get used to the lack of immediate light, but that was all really.

I think for me personally I found cooking the most difficult as we don’t have a fire and we were limited to a small camping stove, which was somewhat limiting.

I think the hardest thing was keeping a fire going for heat. I missed my cell more than anything I think.

What tips would you share with others trying this in the future?

Have light sources available for forgetful offspring who come home to a dark house.

Plan your weekend several weeks in advance!

To be honest none – let them find out for themselves.

It’s a good chance to catch up on sleep, or go out and be sociable! Invest in a gas stove!

Begin to make a family aware of activity months in advance – and have resources to run light and heat from non gris sources.

If you’re turning off the fridge/ freezer, don’t go food shopping for at least a week prior. Run out of something in that time? Too bad.

Don’t dismiss it because you can’t do 100% power off. You can still contribute. Something is better than nothing right?

Go for it … lanterns save the worry of naked flames and be sure to tie glow sticks to the dog.

Get a heat source! Our log burner made the whole thing an almost breeze, lots of heat, hot water and cooking facilities!

Organisation is the key, if you plan your meals and empty the fridge and freezer in the run up to the event, you won’t go far wrong.

What advice would you give someone considering doing something like this but unsure if they can actually do it?

Don’t be anxious, don’t take it too seriously, enjoy the experience of living by candlelight etc for a while, finding things to do without electrciity. It’s up to you how you do the weekend.

Go on, give it a go. if you fail like we did you can always flick the switch back on but you’ll appreciate having that switch back on much more than you did before!

Try it for a day, or 24 hours first.

You are in control. GO for it – if it all becomes too much just flip the switch.

Come on – challenge yourself! What really do you have to lose? The benefits far outweigh the discomforts over the course of one weekend.

Baby steps. Stat with something – anything – and build on it.

If you can’t do it all then do what you can. You’d be surprised.

48 hours can be a whole lot of fun. Be creative, get others involved, bring a candle parties are handy – after 48 hours you can say I did it and you will be sooo proud.

It’s two days! What’s to lose?

Go for it! Keep an open mind, be creative, don’t be defeatist and have fun!

Here’s the brief clip and some challenges Tom has posed to us:

Power Off Weekend BBC Scotland Tom Morton

Tom, here’s answer #1:

Simply crank the handle and you've got electricity-free radio!

No worries, Tom. We’ll simply crank the handle on our handy-dandy wind-up radio, and we’ll be able to listen to BBC Radio Scotland all we want.

As for your other worry that without electricity, we’ll all be crashing into one another…hmm. I think we’ll be just fine with the lantern and candles — and of course the lamps made from scallop shells.

Our scallop shell lamps in December, last Power Off Weekend

Others are using torches (that’s flashlights for the Americans) and some may just prefer the light of the moon. Whatever works.

Never leave a naked flame unattended, always have smoke alarms, fire extinguishers and never put things like candles directly on top of flammable surfaces like plastic or wood. Accidents happen if you don’t make it safe.

One risk we will not be exposed to is electrocution, so we’ll be listening to the radio in the bath, with romantic candle light.

Hope that puts your fears to rest, Tom, and thanks for mentioning us on your show.

The Power Off weekend is 48 hours, from 11pm on the Friday night to 11pm on the Sunday (19-21 March 2010), without electricity.

Playing board games by candle light, surprisingly wonderful fun!

Power Off is all about having time to have fun, play games, talk to people, have friends and neighbours round, spend time with your children – and all the other things that suffer as a result of 24/7 computers, emails, TV, games, chores, noise, 24 hour bright light and one endless season inside your artificial world, called home.

It is also a wake up call to how much we now use electrical items, how much we rely upon electricity generated far away by carbon guzzling technologies, how heavy our footprint and how little time we have left.

Keeping warm and reading by daylight, mid December Power Off

Power Off weekends are like mini-holidays at home. There are so many things you cannot do (and you might initially twitch at the prospect) but once released from their continual demand you are free, on holiday. It is fun, different, memorable, challenging, good for you and good for the planet.

Everybody’s situation is different – where you live will determine weather, alternatives (wood burning stove, summer in the southern hemisphere), support (neighbours) and limitations (like living in a block of flats in a city). However, this makes everyone aware of their relationship with electricity (especially those things hardest / impossible to give up). That is no bad thing.

Best of all, everyone who has done these before has been glad they did it, for some of us it is now a regular thing.

Our temporary kitchen and heating during the Power Off

So please, why not join us? It feels great to do this with like minded people, all over the world. Together in spirit on an adventure in our own homes.

We are aiming for at least 200 people to sign up.

Even if you cannot do it yourself, please forward this to everyone you know, sing its praises and maybe join us the next time, or just think of us on the weekend – March 20-21.

To sign up either email us at malcolm@touchwoodproject.com or go to our Facebook event and group for the Power Off Weekend and sign up there! Tell your friends, local media, and help this grow.

To find out more about previous Power Off weekends, discover hundreds of suggested things you can do, FAQs and lots of pictures, go to our earlier Power Off posts - and don’t miss the Radio interview!

Power Off Weekend - March 20-21, starts 11pm on the 19th