Preparedness for when

Frugalsod

nuatha wrote: »

Actually one can be very poor and not qualify for any grants - most of these are based on benefits - but its quite possible to fall through the cracks in the safety net or just earn enough to take you out of the benefit system yet not enough to do more than survive day to day.

Yes there are already too many holes in the safety net and we will have a lot more poverty before this government are finished. I do think that we need to be looking at helping those at and above the minimum wage to get decent help with insulation.

short_bird

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/mar/31/ipcc-report-world-lose-habitats-climate-change

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/mar/31/why-wont-george-osborne-collect-fair-tax

Keep on keeping on...

mardatha

I second what has been said re older homes being better to live in. My house was started in 1939 and finished in 1946 - left for the duration. I keep my coal stove on 24/7 and that means the solid brick walls stay warm. I use an LPG cooker which runs on the big 47kg cylinder. One lasts me 8 months and I always have a spare. I really feel for people who live in cardboard boxes in towns, esp in new builds. They seem to be tiny and always either too hot or too cold.

Si_Clist

D&DD wrote: »

OH decided he wanted his own cobnut as he never beats the squirrels to the ones on the field

Let's hope they don't beat him to this one as well!

D&DD wrote: »

another lord derby cooker as they're brill apples

Oooh aren't they just! You also need a couple more eaters - Lord Lambourne and Crispin

Anyhow ... one of the simple pleasures in my simple life is perusing the Biased Broadcasting Corporation's news website of a morning, seeking out new examples of the way in which the English language can be mangled. I didn't spot any this morning, but by way of a consolation one of life's little mysteries was cleared up for me.

I never knew why potatoes don't count as a vegetable for your "5 a day". Now I do, and if you never understood it either, apparently it's because They thought that if spuds were included on the list, everybody would stuff their faces with even more crisps and oven-ready chips than they already do, thereby defeating the object somewhat ...

D&DD

I've already told him I'm not keeping watch for the blighters Si
This Lord Derby will now bring us up to 3 and I already have a lord lambourne,2 x gala,1 Spartan and sunset dual tree,um..a golden delicious and a Charles ross. Adding in the bloody ploughman,and bramley I think I have enough apples now!


We also have a damson,greengage,blueisland plum,victoria plum,conference pears x 2,cherry,a lemon,kiwi,apricot and two nectarines..


I'm so lucky as my boys all love fruit so none is ever wasted,they're already waiting to pounce on the strawberries etc.


I'm still getting used to my new cooker but its been brilliant so far and I just adore the slow cooker oven,whoever came up with that needs a pat on the back.I've packed my slow cooker away in the loft for now as I can fit two dishes into this one or a batch of smaller ones.

boultdj

3D, you allready have an orchard, the 'offical' amount being 5 apple trees.

Mine are all patio fruit,a duo apple and a green spur apple,a parent of confrance pear[sorry can't say the name & even worse at trying to spell it] stella cherry and a czar damson, as for the bush's.... 4 types of gooseberry,5 types of blackcurrent,summer and autum fruiting raspberry, blueberry,main crop and everbear strawberries and last but not least,victoria,tempton early and champagne rhubarb plant's

Wyre

Hi everyone,

I've not really had much to post but do so love reading this thread.

We finally managed to buy two trees, an eating apple and a plum tree. So long as I don't manage to kill them off, that is a start on my little orchard - it will have to be little as the garden isn't very big so the trees are the potted kind! I am also giving garlic, onions and tomatoes a go this year. I haven't grown anything since I was a teen for my guide's gardeners badge so this is going to be interesting. Any tips for a novice?

This is all part of the plan to have food even when prices rocket - as they are bound to do with all the weather and political issues in the world. Baby steps I guess but we'll get there.

boultdj

don't worry Wyre,all mine are in pot's,as I said I'v gone for the patio type,they only grow so high so are easy to harvest, just feed 'em tomatoe food once a week from when they start to flower and they will do fine, you just need to re-pot every 3-4 years to keep crop level's up, oh! and remember to water if we get a good summer.hth

nuatha

jk0 wrote: »

Bl**dy hell Nuatha. Where did you find one of them?

Regarding old format stuff, I think there's a lot to be said for keeping the old hardware that used it. I have a brand new Super VHS VCR mothballed for just such a need. Also new walkman, two 8 track players, record player, and cd/DVD player.

I was part of a team that built a few EMP generators as part of testing disaster recovery scenarios for some large institutions.
The problem being where do you stop? (Says he who has a wind up gramophone and three modern turntables)

Bedsit_Bob wrote: »

Regarding format for long term data storage, would I be correct in thinking, PDF is going to be the most likely data format, to still be available, in decades to come?

It may be, though PDF is a collection of formats or iterations based on earlier versions. Originally it was a printer description language interpreted for screen readers. Later versions added a whole host of interacrive features - the very things that cause it to be targeted by malware writers.
The other problem with PDF is its a one way street, you can put anything into a PDF file, getting the text or images back out is a lot more problematical.
Text I currently store in Ascii or RTF if I need additional formatting. I'll generally have epub copies for use with an ereader as well. Images are jpeg, but any manipulation is done as bmp. sound is ogg unless it was originally bought as mp3, in which case it remains high bit rate mp3.

jk0 wrote: »

Of course, the one exception to this is coins which are debt free money. Would coins still be accepted if the pound collapsed? I seem to recall reading that in Weimar Germany coins were no longer used, as of course they were only a small fraction of the value of a worthless piece of paper. I guess gold & silver coins would have been okay though.

Coins are tied to the paper currency they are part of, otherwise they are worth their weight as scrap metal - assuming their is any economy to support scrap metal trading. Gold and silver are scrap metal - the intrinsic value is limited to fairly high tech applications and whatever people agree its worth.
Old copper coins are useful for casting as they are a bronze almost identical to that used in the UK pre iron age. Of course that only applies to pre 1992 coins, since then they've been copper plated steel.

Butterfly_Brain

Bedsit_Bob wrote: »

I only have a small fridge freezer, so not much to run down.

I have 22 cartridges of gas (enough for about 50 hours of continuous use on one stove) for my two stoves.

I have 50 Litres (10 days+) of stored drinking water, and 5 Litres of Sodium Hypochlorite solution (aka plain unscented bleach) for water sterilisation.

As for the computer, I have a small notebook, which I can run off the Jumper Pack, and a 3 Dongle which (assuming the mobile phone towers still work) will get me on t'internet.

I use Milton fluid for water sterilisation