Preparedness for when

GreyQueen

Sounds like your daughter could do with a time travelling visit to days of yore (aka the Seventies) which have many happy memories for those of us who were around at the time.

Power on and off, shortages, bread queues, sugar panics, bogroll famines, standpipes, the dead unburied and the rubbish piled in the streets for weeks on end, the three-day week, stagflation, jolly japes with the oil supply.

It wasn't all warm beer and bad haircuts, oh dearie me no. I have got a book from the chazzer called "When the lights went out; Britian in the Seventies " by Andy Beckett which I am going to read to give me a thorough grounding in the whys and wherefores of what I experienced as a nipper.

Still, life has a habit of smacking people upside the head with experiences and it may be in a decade's time not all of them will have been positive, and she'll see the wisdom of her Mum's preps. Here's hoping any lessons to be learned won't be too harsh.

Perplexed_Pineapple

I was only a youngster in the 70s but I remember the blackouts and the rubbish collections (lack of). We've lost electricity and water here in the last couple of years, never for more than a day but enough to raise awareness. It's worth realising that in the event of widespread disruption TPTB would have to prioritise restoring services to major centres first, so if you live out in the sticks it might be a while before they get round to you.
I like the idea of the emergency bag, my problem is that I seem to need more than one. So the bag that I throw into the car for long car journeys in winter needs different stuff to a emergency bag to take along if evacuated to a distant school gymnasium, but also a lot of the same stuff (warm clothing, torch, high calorie snacks, small stove). You might wonder why take a stove in a "civilised" type of disruption but my view is that no matter what is going on, being independently able to make a cup of tea is key to psychological survival
So I have to double up on some items, have an unecessarily large affair, or keep repacking it all according to demand. Actually I do a combination of all three, but it isn't ideal.

[Deleted User]

Make a couple of Spirit Stoves, then decant from a Litre bottle of Bio-Ethanol (4 quid at Asda) into a couple of Poundland aluminium bottles *.

Job done for 6 quid. :cool:

* Make sure to label the bottles well. You don't want to risk mistaking them for bottles of water. :eek:

JayneC

Perplexed_Pineapple wrote: »

I was only a youngster in the 70s but I remember the blackouts and the rubbish collections (lack of). We've lost electricity and water here in the last couple of years, never for more than a day but enough to raise awareness. It's worth realising that in the event of widespread disruption TPTB would have to prioritise restoring services to major centres first, so if you live out in the sticks it might be a while before they get round to you.
I like the idea of the emergency bag, my problem is that I seem to need more than one. So the bag that I throw into the car for long car journeys in winter needs different stuff to a emergency bag to take along if evacuated to a distant school gymnasium, but also a lot of the same stuff (warm clothing, torch, high calorie snacks, small stove). You might wonder why take a stove in a "civilised" type of disruption but my view is that no matter what is going on, being independently able to make a cup of tea is key to psychological survival
So I have to double up on some items, have an unecessarily large affair, or keep repacking it all according to demand. Actually I do a combination of all three, but it isn't ideal.

Just a thought but what about having a 'basic' bag with items you'd use whatever the scenario and then additional 'pouches' or small bags that you can add to the main bag depending on the situation?

JayneC

I don't recall much about the blackouts in '70s. I have one memory of playing a board game by candlelight lol, but I do remember having to get water from a standpipe in the drought of '76

nuatha

Came across this:
http://www.takepart.com/article/2012/02/21/its-not-fairytale-seattle-build-nations-first-food-forest

and thought, large scale community prepping?

daz378

split shifts are very tiring ...thankfully rare , no celebrity appearance in newspaper ... might be in council mag salford life later this month... dads overdid it on the gardening all aches and pains.... wont let me help him...got enough diet coke till saturday. take care

Perplexed_Pineapple

Thanks for the suggestions Bedsit Bob and JayneC. I think it's going to take a bit more working out, I like the idea of having a main bag and then smaller bags for specific situations, it would take a bit of serious organising though, will have a ponder and a play around with it. I'm thinking about maybe the bulkier stuff like spare clothes in a backpack (already have) and then situation specific things in a extra pouch (would have to find a couple).

ginnyknit

Am happy to report its raining and has been most of the day - of course I went to a funeral(just the burial bit) so it was bound to rain. My garden was so dry it was ridiculous and I live in Manchester! Global warming must be bad if its not rained here for months.

daz you are prepped up then if you have stocks of diet coke, I am yet again cokeless, terrible situation. Have been looking for you in the MEN but cancelled it tonight as we have to cut back, such a shame I love reading the paper, it was a luxury though.

Been busy sewing for the last few days, re-using and repurposing stuff until you could no longer see the floor for thread. Am busy prepping Dd's new house for next winter, her old stuff doesnt fit this house :mad: but was a bit worn out anyway. Neighbour passed on some beautiful curtains her daughter had bought her and were not to her taste. She simply put them up for a few weeks to please her daughter then bagged 'em off for me. Even got some for my house too and loads of valancy things that went with them which arent use to us as valances but will be unpicked and used for other things. Have got back into patchwork but using the machine not by hand and am now addicted to it, DS had better look out as his old work shirts have all been cut up and am now looking at his new ones :rotfl:

thriftwizard

ginnyknit wrote: »

Have got back into patchwork but using the machine not by hand and am now addicted to it, DS had better look out as his old work shirts have all been cut up and am now looking at his new ones :rotfl:

Shirts are THE best value for patchwork material! I regularly raid the 99p rails of the local charity shops & swoop on any cotton shirts in interesting colours & patterns; just the back panel of a single shirt contains more than a fat quarter of fabric which would cost at least £2.50 on its own, in the local fabric shops. And there's plenty more smaller pieces & the seams make an interesting yarn to knit, knot or crochet into sturdy rugs. OH has just about got over losing two of his shirts into a quilt top now... well, he'd left them on top of a pile of fabric so I assumed he'd donated them!