Preparedness for when

thriftwizard

Had an unexpected day out today; the forecast was grim so I'd planned a day of catching up at home, but when I got up, the sun was merrily blazing away, so I hauled the girls (DD1, DD2 & TDiL) out of bed, packed them into the car & we set off to a little town about 35 miles away that's well known for its "Vintage" scene, as well as excellent local food. We had a great day; the weather held up, we had a treat of a lunch very cheaply at a cafe a friend had recommended, and we found some lovely stuff amongst the overpriced tat just like wot I sell!

But my pride & joy for the day is a large yellow & orange insulated water carrier for £1. We already have a red & white one, which is slightly smaller & originally belonged to my brother when his kids (now parents themselves) were tiny. It's marvellous; keeps water cool all day (longer if you add ice, which is easy as it has a wide mouth) and holds a useful amount, with a push-tap that even small kids can operate. Because there were & sometimes still are 7 or more of us, I bought a more recent one a few years back, which needless to say sprang a leak after 5 years & is now pretty useless, but the old one is still fine. I've just tested the one I bought today, which has clearly seen a fair bit of use & is probably about 5 years older than our original one, going by popular colours, and there are no leaks & the tap works well. So I'm a very happy bunny, having more than doubled our cool-water-carrying capacity! Might be a bit obvious in a bug-out situation, but brilliant for the beach or picnics anyway.

daz378

found a box of mash ...in my prepps ran out last year..... edible? but really would only eat that product in an emergency any way.... feels like ive been punched in the back all day... hope its not a kidney stone.... going to buy some plastic storage boxes weekend to sort my prepps in terms of dates... and how many days food in terms of calories.......is it worth doing a bushcraft course ... how can you determine if the instructors are competant? .... stay safe

GreyQueen

Morning all.

Bushcraft courses are fun, but as to whether you need to do one, that's debatable. I would say that if you think you would really enjoy it, and you could afford to do it without strain, by all means go for it, but it is a bit of luxury item, especially the multi-day courses.

Ray Mears' outfit Woodlore are very well-reputed. Otherwise, you could go by personal recommendation.

If the money/ time for a course isn't available, or you're just not one of life's joiners-in, you could break it down into categories and work through them in your own time, at your own speed.

A book of wild plants and trees, could accompany you out on walks, to familiarise yourself with those parts of nature. If you have somewhere to practise firelighting (I know you live in a flat like me, does your Dad have a garden?) you could perhaps practise firelighting techniques. There's a lot more to a successful fire than just getting it started, y'know.

Other bits and bobs you can educate yourself on from books and the interwebs and then find ways of getting out there in nature and practising them until they become familiar. I'm going to try and get on a mushroom walk kinda thing this autumn, must research ahead of time as I normally only think of doing this when I read about them in the paper after the event and think dammit, Janet, that would have been interesting!

There's more than one way of going about things, after all.

If we had a major societal breakdown in a country as small as the UK, with such a large population, heading for the hills/ woods/ high moorlands/ mountains would be a very dubious prospect, anyway.

First off, there'd be people there already, as in the permanant residents, in the best spots, and why would they be thrilled to see strangers? Then you'd get the other refugees. You'd be in environments which only support population at pretty low levels naturally, and exposed to extremes of weather, which is itself life-threatening.IMO, 'going bush' wouldn't be viable in most cases.

Where I think you might get away with hiding out for a while, as long as not too many other people get the same idea, is in river systems/ marshy areas where vehicular access is severely limited. Something like a kayak or a canadian open canoe is low-slung, silent, light enough to be dragged out of the water, strong enough to carry you and a fair few supplies. But potable water would be a problem.

I live by a river which threads its way through marshes and my plans include the further exploration of the area by getting out onto the water, not just exploring from the banks. Human beings, like all animals, operate under the principles of conservation of energy, which is often misread as laziness. Which means that the harder something is to get at, the less likely it will be got at. I'd rather be swatting gnats in a reed bed downriver than running from looting mobs in the city centre.

[Deleted User]

There are many ways of learning skills that are useful and relevant to surviving any disaster, I think a day out with a 'FORAGER' would give you the basics of safe edibles and usually the cooking techniques to utilise what you find. Some of the living history museums do very useful courses and some of the 'Eco' centres also. The things that you need to know are how to build a shelter to keep yourself dry and warm if you are away from civilsation and the weather is bad, hypothermia happens very quickly and is a killer. How to feed yourself safely and more importantly how to find and make safe drinking water. All other skills are useful but those 3 are the basic necessities when the chips are down and you're on your own. Bushcraft courses are a good idea if you find a good one, the trouble is the other people on the course may not be there for the same reasons that motivate you and you might, as I did, find that the level is too basic for the knowledge levels you already have. It would be worth running that past the company you choose and asking if you need basic or secondary level courses depending on your experience level. Take things on from there and you can learn many useful things like flint knapping, cordage, basketry, tracking skills for game, cooking skills and firelighting, food preservation etc. all of which will only give you more chance of surviving whatever it is that has caused you to need them.

Frugalsod

GreyQueen wrote: »

Where I think you might get away with hiding out for a while, as long as not too many other people get the same idea, is in river systems/ marshy areas where vehicular access is severely limited. Something like a kayak or a canadian open canoe is low-slung, silent, light enough to be dragged out of the water, strong enough to carry you and a fair few supplies. But potable water would be a problem.

I live by a river which threads its way through marshes and my plans include the further exploration of the area by getting out onto the water, not just exploring from the banks. Human beings, like all animals, operate under the principles of conservation of energy, which is often misread as laziness. Which means that the harder something is to get at, the less likely it will be got at. I'd rather be swatting gnats in a reed bed downriver than running from looting mobs in the city centre.

I would think that as long as you are not in a tidal section of the river fresh water will all around, you will need to filter it but it will be a lot easier to get than elsewhere.

As for laziness. I would refer it to as maximising energy efficiency. If you are minimising energy usage on many tasks it will allow you to go for longer than someone thrashing away at some task.

If I expected to be in the reed beds in an open Canadian style canoe then I would think about some form of insect proof mesh net so you can sit in the canoe without being eaten alive by mosquitoes. Depending how you have packed the canoe you could sleep in it for some time. Cooking might be a problem but if you have prepared for that by having somewhere to place and use a gas cooker then you should be fine.

daz378

thanks for the info...... better to try and find a survival course......can only do it when i have the spare cash......so its a way off... and i have to pay off my debts.... which will take at least a year..... only a few hundred now instead of thousands 6 years ago... so i am getting there.....take care

Frugalsod

daz378 wrote: »

thanks for the info...... better to try and find a survival course......can only do it when i have the spare cash......so its a way off... and i have to pay off my debts.... which will take at least a year..... only a few hundred now instead of thousands 6 years ago... so i am getting there.....take care

You could start by buying a fire-steel and then practising using Youtube videos to help. As you watch them it will help you work out what to do and what method works best for you. Start with just tinder to get a basic fire started and repeat until you can do it very easily and then try elsewhere to see if you can maintain the consistency of fire starting.

Then you could try in a small stove or to get a small fire going. As you progress if you are doing well you could treat yourself to a stove or Kelly Kettle. This is what I am intending to do. It will give me an incentive to save harder for that next tool.

Frugalsod

I found this for those who might need additional sustenance for a bug out situation.

ww.geniegadgets.com/beer-belt.html



Cheap and best of all comes in camo as standard.

thriftwizard

Thank you all; I've been entertaining myself in traffic jams this morning, seeing myself paddling stealthily through the swamp, weaving hats from British bulrushes & sleeping underneath my canoe, complete with dayglo insulated water carriers - well, I'm not leaving those behind for the zombies!

GreyQueen

Loving the image of thriftwizard in her homemade bulrush hat, sculling through the waterways with her lairy water coolers for company. I can see you now as a new-age trader in archane items salvaged from the ruins of a dying civilisation, ably supported by your progeny...........

I'd be chary about drinking river water here, not because of tidal issues (too far inland) but because of what already happens on the river near Shoebox Towers. When something causes a problem we have an overflow from the sewer into the river. There are several pipes in the banks where this is set up to happen as an emergency option. I suppose the alternative would be exploding drain covers.

Last week SG saw some of the alkie guys by the hostel lifting the sewer cover in the road to put their bottles down in (they referred to this as 'tidying up' btw :mad:). This helpful act caused problems in short order when the sewer got indigestion and started to pour sewerage straight into the river. The local water company attended asap and had the sewer covers up all along the road as they traced and removed the bottles.

That was just one example of a lunk-headed action causing a problem. I would expect a crisis to see the water mains and the sewage compromised pretty quickly.

But yes, biting insects would be a problem, but it might be the case of the lesser of several evils.