Preparedness for when

GreyQueen

CTC, I think that's just talk.

Russia and Ukraine are side-by-side. It'd be like bombing yourself in terms of radiation. I don't think Putin is a stupid man. Vile, but not stupid. I think the Ukrainians are trying to whip the west into fighting Russia on their behalf and that this is part of that strategy.

A nuke in Ukraine would impact Russia itself, plus other countries around the Black Sea. I'd regard that as a herring rouge, so to speak.

moneyistooshorttomention

Certainly raising some difficult either/or questions at an everyday level here.

The ones crossing my mind personally are:

- how to dress like "me", ie smart/casual/obviously reasonable quality AND be Grey Person

- how to be Grey Person AND "achieve anything"

- just the handbag-wearing. I see SuperGran's point re handbags and personally wear a shoulderstrap one with a long enough strap that it can be slung across my body. Harder to drag one off me when it would have to be dragged over my head and I have one hand grasping hold of the strap firmly and wouldn't be planning on letting go of it.

When I was on holiday in Sicily with a friend there, I recall her saying that I shouldn't think that the interior of the flats there gave any clue as to what the interior was like. She said that the outsides had often got a deliberately-neglected appearance, but inside them might be a very different story. Certainly one I stayed in looked very ordinary outside, but was positively sumptuous inside. Another "look out for the M*fia" thing was that she told me to bring an inconspicuous money belt with me and, when we got to particularly dicey areas, would tell me to put most of my money in that and wear it under my clothes.

I don't think I could dress like Grey Person indefinitely. At the moment its not worth buying "me" clothes because I'm a bit overweight temporarily and anyway only on part pension for the time being, but once weight and income are back to normal, then I do want to buy some "me" clothes and wear them around. It helps morale to look reasonable, which I interpret as "reasonable quality, a bit 'individual', etc". I cant "square that circle" personally, so will just have to hope "bad 'uns" cant tell the difference between a £15 cardigan and a mid-price range cardigan for instance and would only really be aware of expensive clothing. I'd be fine about mis-telling people how I got lucky in a charity shop and that was why I was wearing mid-price range clothes (rather than telling them how much it actually cost), the "Oh...this old thing....." type comment;).

I am following my friends' advice about the outside of my home and trying to get all outside work done on it and already in place before things get really sticky. That way I'm hoping not to have to spend large sums of money on work outside the house after "It all goes pear-shaped", as evidence of money to spend would be there for passersby to see.

Will go off and think some more on how to remain "me" AND be safe.

moneyistooshorttomention

On a different topic, ie missing airliners.

I've found my way through to the following article:

http://freebeacon.com/national-security/missing-libyan-jetliners-raise-fears-of-suicide-airliner-attacks-on-911/

re further airliners going missing.

I don't recall reading anything about further airliners going missing recently in the Press anywhere and my lead-in that I went from to this is a biased source (judging by one of the adverts. up there), so am wondering if there is any information from a more unbiased source about this anywhere? This article is from an American media outlet too.

Has anyone seen any articles re further aircraft going missing recently from more unbiased sources?

COOLTRIKERCHICK

if SHTF and you cant bug out anywhere and got to stay in your own home.. it will be irrelevant what you dress like then IMHO as people know you locally, so if you have a nice house, nice clothes a posh car, flashing the cash etc local people are going to know anyway..


and if it does get to crisis point, people will break in to any house/home regardless of where it is... there is a local -ish estate where even now, they are be best buddies with you this morning, an the 'duff you up' in the afternoon, to nick that £5 they seen you with earlier...


Me... I look like a slob regardless of how much money, or what I own... so even if I got money, or skint I have always looked and acted the same throughout my life....

vivatifosi

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Has anyone seen any articles re further aircraft going missing recently from more unbiased sources?

I can remember hearing about the airport being taken over by militants, it was on Sky News a while back. IIRC (and I'm not certain) they said that the planes had been extensively damaged in the fighting. So the militias would need plane repairing skills (that extend for example to holes in the fuselage) to get them airworthy.

Even if - worst case scenario - they got in the air under hostile control, I think that they would be shot down over the Med. Same with MH370... obviously evidence now suggests that it took the southern route, but if it had taken the northern and taken off again, I think that would have been shot down too.

vivatifosi

COOLTRIKERCHICK wrote: »

if SHTF and you cant bug out anywhere and got to stay in your own home.. it will be irrelevant what you dress like then IMHO as people know you locally, so if you have a nice house, nice clothes a posh car, flashing the cash etc local people are going to know anyway..

Unless it was impractical to do so, I'd always plan to stay in my home. Its nondescript and neither the first nor the last place people would target. It doesn't have a chimney to suggest that there's a fire on and its reasonably well insulated if there's no heat. Plus it is easier to defend yourself if you are in a building that you have control of than in the woods somewhere that someone else will undoubtedly know better than you... For example, I'd know if someone broke into my house. Even if they got past the alarm, they'd need to know which of my stairs creak. Your house can work with you if you know it. I'm not a true prepper mind!

jim-jim

Hello :wave:

In preparing for power cuts, could you please tell me if the solar lights/lamps from !kea will charge on a damp, dull, rainy, manky winters day. If they are sat on the window sill or outside weather permitting (no rain)

Thanks

[Deleted User]

Yes they will JIM JIM we've had our Sunnan lamps for a few years now and they live on the windowsill folded flat and turned off so that the solar cell is completely ready to use whenever needed. It's best when you first get one to do a full charge in the sunniest spot in the garden and you can take the solar cell out and move it around to keep it in the sum without having to take the entire lamp outside. They're brilliant things are solar lamps.

I am a grey lady, I don't have smart clothes for everyday wear and what I do have are neat, clean and mended but I really don't stand out in any collection of people. I never shop with a handbag, I have a shoulder bag that goes over my head and on to my shoulder on those very rare occasions when I'm out in the wide world and need not to carry the back pack that I normally have, the back pack takes a surprising amount of shopping and leaves my hands free for other things which is very useful and has a chest strap so it's not easy to remove from my person either.

The cooking smells thing is relevant and also the disposal of packaging without drawing attention to them, I don't think heating up tinned food gives off anything like the aromas from freshly cooked food so reheating will be done upstairs on the landing with all the windows closed tight and any smells will filter up into the loft and hopefully dissipate well away from the noses of anyone at ground level. Packaging is something else, we would burn as much as we could on the woodstove but tins and plastics would be squashed as small as possible and either buried in a corner of the garden after dark if it was safe to do that or made small enough to pop into a pocket one at a time and disposed of as far from the house as it was safe to do so in a very discreet way so hopefully no one would know.

COOLTRIKERCHICK

I think listening for that creaky stair, or a house alarm wouldn't make any difference if Anochy/unrest broke out..




I should imagine how far do you prep??? can you actually prep for civil unrest?? Me as I have said before, I am prepping for the rising cost of living, and power cuts etc... I have tried thinking and prepping for unrest/war etc and it makes me physically/mentally ill, which we talked about a few days ago...


I take my hat off to people like QG who live in places where there is always something going on with neighbours etc.. I just couldn't cope in those situations.. even though I am a gobby mare lol..

Cheapskate

Morning all

Some interesting posts over the last few days (just been reading back cos the littlies are now at school and I have some time! ), and a few more ideas to put on my list - you're a resourceful bunch!

I've been decluttering over the summer, not done yet but much better, and have discovered more space to store preps at last. I'm hoping to be a bit GQ and hide things in plain sight but heavily disguised, or behind boring items in cupboards or drawers. Also planning a few cash purchases of preptastic equipment that I can hide in marvellous places.

A friend has bought a dehydrator which I'm going to see in action; seriously thinking of getting one but want to see one in use first.

MrsL, I like your plans for cooking/reheating upstairs, and disposing of packaging rubbish - very ingenious!

A xo