Preparedness for when

GreyQueen

Morning all.

Hi daz. you can weatherproof ordinary matches with candlewax, which may save you a bit of money.

I'm absolutely kicking myself for not buying a midge-barrier head net when I saw one at the chazzer last year, really wish I could go back in time and get my hands on that.

I have killed one of the mozzies who were plaguing us at outdoor archery last night near the river. It was a brilliant evening for shooting, no breath of wind, my first intro to outdoor archery. Using trad circular straw targets. My longbow was fine over the longer distances and the arrows were punching 3-4 inches deep into the targets and the straw is so dense compared with the foam ones we use indoors that I had the devil's own job getting the arrows out again.

The only disappointment of the evening was when Teach didn't agree to my plan for us all to have a go at shooting the hot air balloon which took off nearby. His reasoning was impeccable; it's a beggar getting the arrows back afterwards, but still, that was a big poppy thing, there were 20 of us with sharp pointy things and means of delivering them, it seemed an ideal opportunity.............:rotfl:

Have a day off today and will potter on the interwebs amongst other things but will disappear at some point during the morning as the leccy company are coming to change my meter to a new one (routine, I'm told the new one isn't a smart meter) so the pooter will have to go off - boo hoo!

moneyistooshorttomention

Just in case:

http://www.smallfootprintfamily.com/how-to-make-thieves-oil-recipe

[Deleted User]

I've renewed all my stored water supplies this morning, just in case we end up with problems when and if the remnants of Hurricane Bertha pay us a visit at the weekend. 50 litres of tapwater and some bottles of sparkling and still for drimking as water. Doesn't cost much but gives pease of mind.

I'm off to DD1 for a week to make her take a break this holiday period so I'll try to keep up with you all when I'm there, Lyn xxx.

Just announced on the news that 'EBOLA' has become a world health emergency (from the WHO), don't we live in interesting times?

moneyistooshorttomention

America has already announced that its "when" and not "if" it gets loose there. Fortunately, in the West, we don't have that cultural custom about touching dead bodies as a mark of respect, which, I believe, has been a major cause of infection in African countries, and that will slow the spread down for us.

I remember that phrase about "living in interesting times" and believe that its regarded as a curse.

I've long wondered whether those who have predicted much lower population for the world in future were correct or no and had assumed that, if they were, it would be down basically to lower fertility rates/refusal by Health Services to provide IVF.

I'm beginning to think those predictions might possibly be correct and it could be down to Ebola.

GreyQueen

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

I remember that phrase about "living in interesting times" and believe that its regarded as a curse.

I've long wondered whether those who have predicted much lower population for the world in future were correct or no and had assumed that, if they were, it would be down basically to lower fertility rates/refusal by Health Services to provide IVF.

I'm beginning to think those predictions might possibly be correct and it could be down to Ebola.

I know peeps with degrees in environmental science who are absolutely adamant that humanity, like every other species from microbe to mammals, will not voluntarily control its population. We will expand to the limits of our food supply and either die back due to starvation or be cut back to due to diseases.

And people weakened by hunger and overcrowding are very prone to diseases. I do wish that didn't look all too likely to me.

moneyistooshorttomention

I totally agree with you GQ.

I'm trying to remember the title of that history of the world book by Clive Ponting ("that" high-up former civil servant). Pretty sure it was him that wrote a history book that told the history of the world in the round and the "decline and fall" of every single empire the world has ever had, due to overuse of resources.

It was clearly written for a non-academic audience and was crystal clear in its conclusions, which were much along those lines.

You would find it an interesting read.

EDIT: "A new green history of the world" is it.

GreyQueen

I am now having brand new squeaky clean electricity via my brand new meter, and it works just as well as the old one. The only minor annoyance was having to reset the answerphone as it reverts to Dec 2012 for its day and time settings if the supply is interupted. Useful indication if there has been even a brief powercut, though.

Yes, if you look behind every conflict, what you see as the cause is ultimately population pressure causing competition for natural resources. And if you look behind every failed empire or failed city state, you will see the same; expansion until the centre cannot hold, degraded croplands, polluted rivers, salination, you name it.

Those countries which can be loosely-defined as the 'global west' inc our own, will/ already have burned through their own natural resources and will set up to take through disadvantageous trade those planetary resources situated elsewhere. The militaries of various countries will be as they always have been; the enforcement arm of the wealthy and powerful. There will be a lot of guff about various things to justify the brutal bottom line, which is that the powerful will try to take whatever they want from the less powerful. And that they will get away with it.

Ultimately, it becomes an ever more desperate scramble for resources with the powerful countries aiming to be the last ones to go without, at the expense of the rest of the planet. But go without they will, in the end.

I could scream at the crass wasting of valuable resources which I see around me every day, from the micro level of what my neighbours are doing, to the global level. It's as if we're in a race to squander as much as possible as fast as possible, and damn the planet and damn those people coming up in the generations behind us.

daz378

thanks GQ a useful tip, treated myself to pie and chips on way home last night, but the pie tasted off ..threw it away...will avoid that chippy in the future.... someone said the world will not end in a bang but a wimper.....do like think we will muddle through for the foreseeable though.....enjoy your weekend

Frugalsod

Wills106 wrote: »

They cram far to much in that not a lot sinks in and you could learn more in your back garden and a few YouTube videos.

I think I have learned quite a lot from Youtube videos. I think that the trick is to watch enough to see what does actually work. Many will have examples of things failing and why and that is just as educational.

ALIBOBSY

Interesting debates about bushcraft and the like. My OH was quite a shy teen and near where he lived could walk down to the riverbank where there was miles of empty uninhabited land. So he used to take a sleeping bag and camp out very simply under the stars. He would catch rabbits with a pellet gun and skin and cook over an open fire or take a rod with him to see what he could catch-he reckons eel is like chicken lol.

No-one taught him how to do stuff he just worked it out himself so I reckon most of us would deal with stuff and work out how to get things done in the end. The problem is how much time we get to "work it out" before things start to go really bad.

If we have a long slow decline (I tend to lean towards this happening), there will be time for people to adjust and deal with the changes a post oil world will produce.

The problem is if the change is more drastic and you end up with groups of people who simply don't want to let go of the world they currently live in and things get violent.

I suppose all we can do is try our best to prep, and maybe the best thing we can do is to be aware that things will be changing and be willing to deal and adapt to the new world we will get.

Ali x