THE Prepping thread - a new beginning :)

Evening all.

Been MIA due to excessive allotmenteering and several good books keeping me offline but I turn up again like a bad penny. You poor beggars.:rotfl:

I know exactly where and when I acquired my problem with crowds; on 20/08/1988. To be precise, in the Guns & Roses set of the Castle Donington Monsters of Rock Festival.

Two men died in a crowd surge that I was part of for 40 minutes. Well, barely more than boys, one eighteen, one twenty. It was a good-natured and sober(ish) crowd and people were helping each other. And still two lads died. Plus I saw others injured.

I have never been able to keep my composure in crowds since, my heart starts to race, I get shaky and get a profound urge to flee ASAP. I suppose you could call it a form of PTSD, in a moderate form and in very specific set of circumtances. It also triggered claustrophobia unrelated to crowds.

I misplaced my younger brother in the crowd surge (found him by chance about four hours later). Unforgivably, bearing in mind this gig went on until nearly midnight, and many people would be away for the whole weekend, the media announced that deaths had happened on the 10 pm national news while the gig was ongoing.

All of this happened in the pre-mobile era. My poor grandparents knew that three of their four grandchildren were in that crowd, but not that we were OK (shaken but OK). I've never forgiven that stupidity from the meeja. And I've never forgiven Axl for not managing it better (G &R should have gone offstage immediately imo, as their presence was what triggered the surge).

The dead were not named until several days later. Whilst young men matching the descriptions of the deceased were incommunicado in their thousands as people were camped out and making their way back to their homes on public transport/ hitch-hiking, for a few days.

I've never been to a big gig, indoors or out, since that day. The stress would cancel out any enjoyment, although I am up for smaller venues with plenty of exits.

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

Sorry Karma I didn't but I'm sure my waffle won't make any difference to your prepping levels petal, you've got a sensible little head on those shoulders and you'll be fine!

:kisses3: No worries

GreyQueen wrote: »

I know exactly where and when I acquired my problem with crowds; on 20/08/1988. To be precise, in the Guns & Roses set of the Castle Donington Monsters of Rock Festival.

Two men died in a crowd surge that I was part of for 40 minutes. Well, barely more than boys, one eighteen, one twenty. It was a good-natured and sober(ish) crowd and people were helping each other. And still two lads died. Plus I saw others injured.

Omigod

I'm the same with big festivals on foot, nowadays. The second time I went to Notting Hill Carnival, not sure what year it was now, me and my boyfriend were in a crush, just because of the amount of people needing to get through a narrow point in the road - maybe a car was parked where it shouldn't have been, I don't know what caused it. There were no deaths, but at the worst/most narrow point, we were squeezed so tightly, I couldn't breathe, literally, my ribcage was squeezed so tightly, I couldn't catch my breath. It wasn't panic, because the situation grew slowly until it was a problem. Didn't last long. I count myself as very lucky to have got free with no problems, and there were no deaths, no injuries because no crowd surges. Never went again, the boyfriend was extremely irritated with me, but it felt like my life had been endangered.

Monnagran, you wouldn't bore me in the slightest, you'd be preaching to the choir!! Feel free to pm me or whatever, I'd love to hear your take on things, and all about your school.

My pathetic attempt at growing food (few plants in pots cos builders working next door now, and too much chaos!) amounts to about a dozen green beans on 3 plants, hopefully a few tomatoes, and maybe 6 courgettes - better prospects from the fruit trees and brambles.

I think prepping of any sort is to be lauded, whether it's putting a few quid in a tin, storing tinned stuff, or greater exploits, and I think we're all singing the same hymn, just with slight variations in words or melody. Prepping spills into my children's education - giving them skills in cooking, looking after their home and possessions, learning in a small way about outdoor skills, and so on, and they love the prospect - roll on summer!! :rotfl::rotfl:

A xo

I was a tad peeved that Every Bloke in my house seemed to feel that since I'm the (Assistant) Scout Leader, I should show son how to splice a rope. (I got me beads & some horse sense, I did not get an encyclopedia of arcane talents installed!)

However thanks to YouTube, some electricians tape & a bit of bad language (all words learned from son), we managed to get a hefty length of manila spliced, and even neatly whipped with sisal so it's very identifiable.

Son has spent much of the day swinging on it & generally exulting - now I'm home, he's got the car to wash & valet while his brothers are treated more gently after a day in school.

Whilst devoutly hoping you never need to perform an eye splice on a rope at short notice, the good news is that YouTube is admirably clear & if you don't have a marlin spike (or very heavyweight knitting needle), delegate to someone who does.
It's reassuringly doable, sez she what did it.

Odd how once I'd done the worst stuff, husband happily taught the whipping bit.... Ah well. Ignorance is Curable. Wimping out is a right handicap, & an ongoing one at that.

Sorry to be rude and butt in when I haven't posted for ages, but currently watching this old programme about survivalists on BBC iPlayer.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p04chvm8/tuesday-documentary-survivalists
May interest some of you.



Edited to add: it has some contravertial views.