THE Prepping thread - a new beginning :)

maryb · 3 September 2016 at 7:40PM

7/7 did indeed crash the mobile networks as people tried to make sure their commuting family members were safe. DD was at school as news spread and they all swapped phones to see who could get a signal which came and went.

I was in London a few months back and one evening as I was going back to Charing X I could not get any signal at all. Taking the battery out and reinserting did nothing. I did wonder if they were jamming signals as the phone suddenly started working again between London Bridge and Waterloo. So luckily I was able to phone DH to pick me up as we live uphill from the station and it's a 1 in 8 hill:eek:

But the BBC sometimes surprises me. In general I find that it is much slower to report breaking news than it used to be and certainly slower than other news sources. But sometimes you get the story behind the story - just to give you an example, back in June we were coming back through Calais via the tunnel the day that a whole load of migrants stormed the ferries causing chaos. Eurotunnel was also delayed - by eight hours:eek::eek::eek: supposedly because of a broken down train. And there certainly had been a broken down train but that had been cleared hours before services got going again.

The BBC was the only news outlet I saw that reported that some migrants had breached the tunnel and that was the reason for the delay. It seems that the migrants who stormed the ferries drew away all the police who had been guarding the tunnel and another group grabbed their opportunity. I don't know if it was coordinated or not

[Deleted User] · 3 September 2016 at 8:24PM

herbily wrote: »

All councils are supposed to have one - in theory you can look them up: https://www.gov.uk/local-planning-emergency-major-incident

Just checked my council, and not impressed.

Looks like we'll be pretty much on our own, at least to begin with.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted · 3 September 2016 at 8:43PM

After a (very) long absence, thought I'd pop in and see what's going on here...hiya all.

Regarding rioting, I live right in the middle of one of the places that was featured heavily by [strike]SKY[/strike] EvilCorp Entertainments throughout the evening. All the time the [strike]SKYCopter[/strike] vultures were hovering over my house filming, nobody mentioned the gun shop in a nearby town that was ramraided, the other town 7 minutes' drive away or a huge number of other places within an equally short drive from the areas the rioters actually came from. But why bother when you're already showing a flaming big advert for all looters to come to Tightfisted Town Centre?

In addition, having read the findings of the enquiry, I've noticed a number of inconsistencies, even though they reckon they've got the most accurate picture now they aren't constrained by secrecy rules. For a start, they claimed nothing was amiss before people started gathering at about 4pm. Ballcocks. I was in the centre at 11.30am, thought 'stuff this, I'm getting out of here' by 12.05pm, because there was a *feel* to the place that I've never experienced in that context before. People were already meeting and hanging around with that hunting look in their eyes. And, to add to that, a friend's then soon-to-be-ex-wife was a police officer. She phoned him at lunchtime to tell him thanks for the divorce papers, but he needed to leave work and get home NOW.

I switched all the lights off, closed the blinds and went upstairs with a bucket of water standing in the bathroom doorway and a ladies' size gardening fork just inside the bedroom door, whilst keeping an eye on Twitter updates from a friend who lived slightly nearer, so he could co-ordinate his departure with babies and partner for the moment when it was most clear.

As far as I'm concerned, all the prepping in the world makes no difference if you're oblivious to a change in the atmosphere or ignore any feelings of unease. If it feels weird, then wherever you are, get out.

In a similar way, trusting your instincts works in other areas 'I should really harvest those tomatoes, but I really can't be bothered tonight' = leave it until the weekend and they'll have split or got blight by then, beans will have run to seed, the bird will have enjoyed the cherries, the slugs will have got their abseiling kit out overnight or it will have rained and rained and rained. Or the courgette will have turned into a behemoth worthy of a B Movie credit.

By the way - does buying a cheap slow cooker that turned out to be big enough to slowroast the cat count as being prepared? Or just too daft to visualise the capacity as meaning it's going to be bigger than the toaster or microwave?

[Deleted User] · 3 September 2016 at 9:08PM

Jojo_the_Tightfisted wrote: »

does buying a cheap slow cooker that turned out to be big enough to slowroast the cat count as being prepared?

How do you know it's big enough to ..........?

Never mind.

Nargleblast · 3 September 2016 at 9:29PM

(Reminder to self....next time Jojo invites you to dinner make some excuse....)

Jojo_the_Tightfisted · 3 September 2016 at 9:32PM

Bedsit_Bob wrote: »

How do you know it's big enough to ..........?

Never mind.

He's been sitting beside it watching the test chicken cooking inside it as though it's a new version of Cat TV, so the comparison is fairly easy. I hastily put the lid on so I didn't find out for certain whether he and a test chicken could fit into it at once.

Mind you, sitting beside what is effectively a small heater, having got damp in his ongoing pursuit of Small Rodents under the greenhouse staging, he's got dry, warm and so sleepy, he's now passed out on a tartan cushion on the opposite end of the sofa.

I wonder how much heat it generates in the room when left on low?

milasavesmoney · 4 September 2016 at 6:59AM

My DGD told her mom she wanted to watch the little TV. Her mom said you mean the iPad? Quoye said no, that one>>>>pointing to the microwave.
Cats and toddlers make life fun!

ivyleaf · 4 September 2016 at 9:25AM

Si_Clist wrote: »

Same here actually, despite living at the time in an isolated wooden bungalow surrounded by trees, which we had to cut our way through from the front door to get out of! Electric was off for 13 days and we had no gas supply anyhow, but we did have a logburner to cook on top of and enough fallen trees outside to keep that going for the next six years.

The main thing we learned from all that was that water coming out your tap when you turn it on is a wonderful thing. So too is mains drainage, come to think of it, but perhaps only those of us who have lived with a cesspit (as opposed to a septic tank) really appreciate that!

I remember we visited Winston Churchill's home, Chartwell, afterwards (I suppose it must have been the following Spring, as I don't think it would have been open in late Autumn) and all the trees on the slope across the lake were lying down all facing the same way. It looked most odd!

Amazing now to see no signs of that night anywhere, except that places which lost really big trees now have smaller ones. We lost most of our local "street trees" but they've all been replaced with different types which are less susceptible to damage from strong winds.

ALIBOBSY Thank you for posting the volcano info :T

Si_Clist · 4 September 2016 at 1:33PM

milasavesmoney wrote: »

Quoye said no, that one ...

Sorry, but I have to ask - how on earth do you pronounce that?

DigForVictory · 4 September 2016 at 2:22PM

I *think* it's the written abbreviation of Sequoia (that Glorious tree).

I could entrance a still fastened in pushchair tot by pointing him at the tumble drier. Years later he doesn't watch it as rivetedly knowing I expect him to respond to the beep if completed.

Finally harvested the spud crop - I have seed potatoes of 5 types sorted, and about once cereal bowl flat of 3 types & about one cereal bowl heaped of the other two. Ah well, we have the seed spuds we wanted... As well as delicious fresh spuds for supper this evening.

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THE Prepping thread - a new beginning :)

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