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Preparedness for when
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Just stumbled upon the BEST pinterest page for a SHTF-er.
http://pinterest.com/reward69/frugal/
including DIY solar oven and solar dehydrator and much more!0 -
Wait till I find my sweetie stash, I can think better on sugar !0
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Thanks for that link possession it has given my a shove to get some wicks. I have a lot of candle wax from dead candles in the loft so will set about using it.0
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THIS IS PRETEND OK!! lol just an exersize!
It's half past ten at night in the middle of January.You're starting to read rumours all over the internet of high level govt meetings and lights burning late in Downing St and Whitehall - lots of idle speculation but no real news.
7 am - You wake up to newsflashes on tv and radio asking people not to travel into work, no reason given - to stay at home and wait for "a further announcement". Plenty of speculation by the media, talk shows with defence and security "consultants" -but nobody knows what's going on.
Your neighbours are as clueless as you are. Some seem to be going to the train station as usual, kids are milling about in the street talking of going to school, but there are no buses and no trains that you can see.
What would you think? What would you do?
8.am - the elect goes off and the gas dies. It starts to snow hard. The phone has no dial tone, you try the mobiles but they have no signal. Now what? What would you think? What would you do?0 -
Send OH and DS over to Dd's and collect the 3 of them so we are all together before the snow gets worse. Run water into bath for flushing loo. Fill jugs and 3 kettles in kitchen. Light bar -b - que in back garden for drinks, fill flasks with hot water and hot water bottles. Get camping stoves set up on draining board. Do not open freezers till necessary. Set up candles and wind up lamps ready for when it gets dark. Wind up radio is ready to go for reports. Check grab bags. Prepare box of transportable foods in case we need to go.Clearing the junk to travel light
Saving every single penny.
I will get my caravan0 -
I would think maybe the national grid had gone down and the gas had been turned off due to this as well. I would already have been in touch with DDs and made sure they were in the picture and prepared for disruption. I have made my preps for just such a situation as this, I have my wind up radio and would listen to try and find out what was going on. I would stay indoors unless directed to do otherwise. I would bring in as much fuel for the woodburner as I could and wait for more information before deciding next course of action. If neighbours needed help I would give as much as possible without jeopardising our safety. Think on.........0
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I'd know it was serious if the gas went off - that's the last thing to go, because it's so difficult to restore supply and so dangerous if people have not turned off all appliances. They'd cut all the electricity first in order to keep the gas flowing. So I'd expect trouble.
Our logs are visible from the front gate, though not the main road as we take our entrance in off a side drive. I think I'd try and shift as many as possible round the back.
If it's 8 am and snowing hard DD2 wouldn't yet have left for school and chances are DH would still be at the station 10 minutes away if there are no trains. My sister could walk to ours at a pinch (about 5 miles). DD1 would also be stuck at the station unable to get to work unless she has moved out by then. That would be my major worry if she is in a flat in the City centre with God knows what about to kick off and dangerous to try and get to us - we're about 15 miles outIt doesn't matter if you are a glass half full or half empty sort of person. Keep it topped up! Cheers!0 -
I have been watching a couple of episodes doomsday preppers. Wow those people are paranoid! They also are armed 'just in case'. It has, however, got me thinking that I should be more prepared for being snowed in or suffering a power cut. Going to be sensible and buy an extra packet. tin or jar of food a week just to stock pile and also going to stock up on UHT milk and milk powder just in case. It will also help if, like last year, OH is out of work and we end up with no money because jsa are 'useful' like that. Also need to get more matches.
One thing I have recently stumbled upon is various uses for dried milk:
http://www.simpleorganizedliving.com/2011/03/09/uses-for-dry-milk/
Very OS and useful to know if stuck at home.
For those preparing for apocalypse or zombies, this might be useful:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/MIDLAND-2-WAY-DYNAMO-EMERGENCY-CRANK-RADIO-NOOA-ALERT-10-NOOA-WEATHER-CHANNELS-/271054580607?pt=2_Way_Radios_FRS&hash=item3f1c1cab7f0 -
Hmm, Mardatha's exercise............
I'd get all water containers filled and stashed, first off.
I'd get out the windup radio and see if I could get any news. If the gas was still on to the cooker, I'd bake bread and cook some hot food to eat immediately. If there was anything in the fridge which might go off (we have no leccy at this point, remember) I might cook and eat it. Better in than wasted.
As I work in local government and am 5 mins' walk from work, I might go in. I know that they have back-up plans for maintaining phone and internet connections if the whole system goes down. The council can go to the second "pipe" in fallover mode if the main pipe goes down. If the whole country is leccy-less this won't work, of course. Even if we're all powered-down, I figure their disaster-preparedness plan might kick in. I might learn something useful,or if they can get the call centre up again, I'd be needed on the phones.
I'd check on local friends in the block and nearby streets. If it seemed to dangerous to go out, I'd sit tight. I'd dress warmly and review my grab-bag in case an evac situation would arise. My nearest family are 30 miles away and my brother lives with our elderly parents. He's a big guy and they're all sensible. We'd have to sit tight separately and hope for the best if the phones and internet were down.
In prolonged civil emergency I'd sit tight indoors, lights off, as quiet as possible. Have plenty of provisions but of course would be scared and time would drag. Would very much not be drawing attention to myself. If the city went t*ts up and it looked like being uninhabitable long-term, I'd aim to head across county on pushbike on the backroads to join my family (know the way) but not well enough nowadays to bike 30 miles in one swoop although I'd've done in in 3 hours easy prior to ME. I'd go with the camping bugout, the bushcraft knife, fear and a serious attitude problem.
Folks live on the edge of a market town surrounded by woods and commons. I grew up running wild on them and know the area for several miles on all sides of town like the back of my hand. We might even see if we can get onto the MOD land......We'd be able to go into hiding if necessary for a wee whiley. Long term, with aging parents and us two "kids" needing life-saving meds, we wouldn't survive.
Better hope that it doesn't come to that.............Every increased possession loads us with a new weariness.
John Ruskin
Veni, vidi, eradici
(I came, I saw, I kondo'd)
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Don't know how generally feasible this is nowadays and with no power but one thought I had was radio hams for information/communication.
There's one near here, with a serious set up going by the size of the aerials, and is an acquaintance of my neighbour.
A work colleague back in the 70s was a very dedicated ham. He had huge number of direct contacts plus "ears" all around the world, and I think he still operated when the power was off during the three day week back then. There are still over 60,000 operating in the UK apparently.0
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