Preparedness for when

GreyQueen

sorryImoved wrote: »

Big winter storm here in the US. Over 250,000 people in Texas without power. I don't know how many more in other states are going through the same thing. I just want to say thank you to everyone on this forum because of you I have been getting in stores of food, alternative lighting and other supplies. I live in Florida and have been reading your posts since this forum started. We do have a lot of similar websites for the US but they tend to focus on weapons, bugging out and possible mayhem. On this forum common sense seems to rule.

It's great that the thread has been helpful to you as well as (I hope!) entertaining.

I don't know if you've ever visited the UK but we're a very small island with an extremely high population density. I read somewhere that you could put the UK and several mainland European countries INSIDE Texas and still have room left over. We won't be able to bug out en masse to the hills. Heck, some of parts of the country are pretty un-hilly.

And our wilderness areas are pretty small and uninhabited for fairly good reasons; thin, poor peaty soil, unpleasant climate etc. Head into our upland moors with a BOB and you'd die of starvation/ exposure before you were very much older.

I do enjoy some of the American prepper websites but the preponderance of guns is a bit of a turn-off in a country where most people will go an entire lifetime without ever seeing a gun unless it was on the TV or in a movie.

Hope the Texans get their power back soon.

Karmacat

GreyQueen wrote: »

Makes you realise what an entirely artificial and managed environment and urban area is and how quickly things start to decay without contstant management and repairs. If we had a post-SHTF situation, I could very easily see that after a handful of years of abandonment that it would be very dangerous to venture into an urban area, for stuff collapsing under you and on top of you.

Oh! All that stuff in Day of the Triffids about taking an ATV into London years afterwards, to hunt for baby clothes - its rubbish isn't it, lots of trees in London would be down after 8 years or so of no maintenance!

GreyQueen wrote: »

I do enjoy some of the American prepper websites but the preponderance of guns is a bit of a turn-off in a country where most people will go an entire lifetime without ever seeing a gun unless it was on the TV or in a movie.

Its true, some of them are really interesting - I was absolutely fascinated by https://www.theplacewithnoname.com, written by a semi-lapsed prepper who just managed to get it together in time for him, his wife, their toddler and 4 month old baby, plus his wife's cat, to get out of New Orleans 3 hours before gridlock.

Hope the Texans get their power back soon.

Seconded - hope you're doing okay over there in Florida, sorryImoved

GreyQueen

Because I work in a city's local authority call centre, I am part of a team taking incoming calls from the public reporting all sorts. I know the outcome of just one night of windy weather, and how much work has to be done just to keep the roads clear.

Add to that scheduled inspections and maintenance of highways, trees etc by the local authority, work by the water company, plus the National Grid, BT etc etc and you realise what an exceptionally complicated matrix a constructed human environment is. It's not fanciful to make the analogy of a human body, all the way past the bones, the muscles, the veins and the very cells.

If anyone hasn't read it, could I recommend The World Without Us, by Alan Weismann? The premise of this fascinating book is what would happen to the works of humanity if we just vanished one day. It will scupper any notion you might have about living in the boonies many decades post-SHTF and venturing into the urban environments to forage for supplies.

Cities can also gridlock with frightening speed. We have one man who selfishly parks on a double-yellow outside a shop during rush hour. From his point of view, it's only 5 mins. From the point of view of the rest of the city, the chaos fans out in a minute or two and causes gridlock over an area greater than a square mile. Which is why we put the blinking double-yellow on that road in the first place.

One tiny decision, by one person, can have far-reaching consequences in an urban environment. Imagine what would happen if several thousand frightened people tried to flee the city in their cars all at once........:(

grandma247

Look how traffic comes to a standstill due to people slowing down to look when there is an accident on the motorway. The knock on effect can go on for miles.

GreyQueen

Yeah.

I was once on a city street, on the corner between the big road (a major artery) and a very minor side-street. A driver pulled off the main road and stopped just around the corner on the side street.

I guess they thought the double-yellows were just decorative or summat. Anyway, in less than 5 seconds, they had caused a traffic jam and they weren't even on the main road!Wouldn't have believed it possible if I hadn't see it with my own eyes.............

People driving may well be irritated by restrictions on where you can pause or park but I don't think they'd like a free-for-all, either.

Just having a cuppa with the leftover tea from the pot I made the flask from and then off to the lottie for some preptastic gardening prep for 2014. I may just fall thru some charity shop doors later today - dunno why that keeps happening, but it does.

Hollyberry

Karma - thanks for that link. One I hadn't read, and looks very interesting. Will hunker down happily in front of the fire and browse more thoroughly later.

Some interesting points about gridlock there. I remember many years ago (before traffic was largely re-routed around rather than through the city centre) waiting for more than two hours for a bus home. There was no point in getting a taxi, as they were sitting in the same traffic, and at the time I wasn't on a train route. Sadly in those days there was not much open after 6pm, so no real chance of doing something interesting. Perhaps I should have gone to the pictures, but instead I spent the time writing a short story about gridlock, and wondering idly how long it would take before the entire bus queue gave up and walked home. Eventually everything suddenly freed at once, and I travelled the 4 miles home quite quickly. That was my first lesson in avoiding vanity shoes (ah, the days when I could wear heels - not that I miss them, but it would be nice to have the knees that could take them )...

bluebag

mardatha wrote: »

O god I love semolina.....

But....do you like it like I make it... with LUMPS ???


( I keep hoping I'll get barred from the kitchen, but it never happens...sigh)

bluebag

Hollyberry,

occasionally I indulge in pure torture and try high heeled shoes on that I have no hope of wearing (well dodgy joints) and no way could afford.

I put them all back and sigh a lot. A girl can always dream.

bluebag

grandma247 wrote: »

Look how traffic comes to a standstill due to people slowing down to look when there is an accident on the motorway. The knock on effect can go on for miles.

Rubbernecking they call it, often causes another accident on the opposite carriageway.

ginnyknit

sorryI moved, glad the thread helped and you were prepped. Its good that our waffling about stuff means more people are just that bit better off in a crisis.

Those £1 fairy lights are actually pretty as well as useful, I picked up a set with little icicles on in blue, I love blue lights

sat here in total peace aaaah DS has taken OH to watch Manchester United play. The tickets were a gift off a friend so even better! It means hubby can have a few hours feeling like his old self even though I have wrapped him up like a teddy bear and stashed extra meds in his pockets. Dgs is staying with his Daddy for an extra few hours as he doesnt see him much now he has his new job. Am going to defrost the big freezer and do an order for Mr S online as they are throwing discounts at me - 15% off a £60 shop plus £10 off delivery!