Preparedness for when

[Deleted User]

My company is a high priority fuel user, and we also have onsite generators, so, provided I can get to and from work, everything should continue as normal.

GreyQueen

Morning all.

My mother has fond memories of the three day week, all bar the three day paypacket. My job is pretty much un-doable without electricity; computerised telephony, computer programs to order repairs, stuff entirely on computer.

Someone from elsewhere wandered into our dept last year and asked a colleague if they could borrow a stapler. They were out of luck; we don't even use paper.........:rotfl:

My employer has a back-up to our telephony system in another part of the city so we could just decamp there is the main building became unusable (such as a gas leak) but that one would rely on electricity as well.

Hmm, imagine if a nationwide power outage caused BACS salary payments to fail............ and you didn't hold some cash at home and had no groceries by you. Not good, not good.

I was only thinking the other day about how the loss and inconvenience of a power cut is much greater now than it would have been for many households in the early seventies. Like lots of people, my family didn't even have a fridge-freezer until the 1980s, so no frozen foods to worry about. I've lived for years without a fridge in a bedsit and can testify that it's do-able albeit a right PITA.

Hokay, stuff to do, see ya later.

[Deleted User]

GreyQueen wrote: »

Hmm, imagine if a nationwide power outage caused BACS salary payments to fail............ and you didn't hold some cash at home and had no groceries by you. Not good, not good.

I have to say that, anyone who has absolutely no cash on them, and doesn't even keep a few day's worth of food on hand, deserves everything they get.

mardatha

I think anybody in here who has no cash at all and no preps should really think hard about getting that sorted now before anything does happen.
WCS we had one powercut of 5 days a few years ago, that was the longest. But we sorted things out and it was fine, esp if like me, you don't watch tv lol. The RV was climbing the walls because he was missing the soaps :rotfl:
It was really bad weather in wintertime and all the elect workers had been sent down to England to help out there, so we were not pleased at all
Even the AA have a centralised system now and we had to wait 5 hours once because down south had floods!
It does pay to be a prepper now, because systems are starting to break down.

grandma247

I worked in a mill office as a junior in the 70's 3 day week and I seem to remember the accountant telling people they had to fill in forms to get the two days money from a gov. department. Does anyone else remember this?
We had to continue working because we were "staff" and in the office I was in we had a sump heater for warmth, It was smelly and not warm. I worked in my coat and had gloves on most of the time. We were allowed to have hot drinks whenever we wanted which was usually not the case because of paperwork on the desk.

mardatha

I wasn't working then, I had 2 toddlers, but the husband says Social Security made up your wages to basic level. But in those days you got SS and you got dole money within days of being laid off, not like now.

thenanny2die4

I really should remember the 3 day week issues, having been born in 1963 but, do you know, I don't think it really affected us in a massive way.

Dad was a full time gardener in those days and Mum was a part time domestic cleaner so I don't suppose work was disrupted for them. We didn't have a car (neither of my parents could drive) and we had a Rayburn in addition to the electric cooker. We had no central heating and water was heated by the Rayburn.

I think it must have been just a minor inconvenience for our family.

[Deleted User]

grandma247 wrote: »

and I seem to remember the accountant telling people they had to fill in forms to get the two days money from a gov. department. Does anyone else remember this?

I may be wrong, but I think you might have been putting in claims, to the benefit office, as "Temporary Stopped".

grandma247

Thanks mardatha, I wasn't sure if I dreamt it

Getting your giro was a bit hit and miss years ago because of the post so I always had two or three days food and a mountain of porridge in the house in those days.If there is nothing else porridge will keep you alive.

Dh was only out of work during recessions but the length of time got longer with each one. The one in the early 90's was the last straw (he was a joiner) so as soon as another kind of job came his way after 14 months jobless he took it. Never worked in the building trade since. They are always first to be laid off.

[Deleted User]

thenanny2die4 wrote: »

I really should remember the 3 day week issues, having been born in 1963 but, do you know, I don't think it really affected us in a massive way.

Being born 2 years earlier than you, I do remember the 3 day week, and power cuts.

In 1977, I'd just started my first job, when the power cuts began.

I remember finishing early, and travelling home, on a lighted bus, through pitch dark streets.

I remember cooking on an open fire (we had an electric cooker), and lighting the house with 2 or 3 candles.