Preparedness for when

ALIBOBSY

Update from BB is that the ice crust over the caldera has dropped by around 15m which is the biggest subsistance ever seen in Iceland since measurements began in the middle of the last century.

Things may still settle and not happen, but looks more like a caldera colaspe and ice with magma means a big boom.

Not good for Iceland and the Icelandic, but also could effect us. Not world ending, but clouds of acidic fog and/or acid rain aren't anyone's idea of fun.

Read somewhere that a good emergency breathing mask is a flannel or towel soaked in water over the face, even better mix some baking soda into the water to counteract the acid.

Still a fair chance things won't get any worse, but when the scientists themselves are starting to sound worried its best to be prepared.
Longer term we would be looking at a few years of colder, probably snowy winters and cooler summers.

Ali x

ALIBOBSY

Just to show the power of nature here's a vid of the Eruption in Papa New Guinea last week

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BUREX8aFbMs

The shock wave is crazy.

Ali x

jk0

I have had my breadmaker for nearly a year now, and love the bread it produces. However, mine is now out in the garage, as the smell, though delicious makes me cough all morning.

I even have a window open a crack in the kitchen the nights it's on, but still I cough.

Anyone else had to banish theirs?

Frugalsod

VJsmum wrote: »

:eek::eek:

Thank goodness i don't rent - I'd be homeless

:rotfl:

You might be surprised. I dress like a slob most of the time, mainly because I dress for comfort and not sartorial elegance. Though my letting agent said that of all the tenants that he has that I am one of the last he has to worry about. My standing order goes through every month without fail and I actually maintain the place and fix things. Last summer I fixed all the windows that were slightly draughty. The last winter was draught free as a result. From a landlords perspective I am perfect tenant. No problems with rent and the place is maintained and improved over time.

If you dress too smartly they might think that you are able to afford more than you can in reality. It can be quite helpful in negotiating the rent down.

Frugalsod

Today I was in Aldi and they had some reflectix for sale at £9.99. Only the other day I was watching some youtube clips of rehydrating meals in cups. Ultralight campers make their own cozies for their cups and even special ones for the varieties of dehydrated meals like mountain house etc. These help keep the meals warm for the 15 minutes it takes to rehydrate them. So I had added a big roll of reflectix to my amazon wish list. It was quite expensive but now I have this roll I only need the metal tape to hold everything together. So I have saved more than £24 in the process.

I also managed to grab myself a one egg frying pan for £2.49.

Pollyjuice

I have been reading about the Sierra Leone lockdown on the 19 September. I understand that drastic action needs to be taken to try and stop the spread of Ebola. Though I don't know how they will police this. Can you imagine our goberment trying to enforce a 3 day shut down here (for any reason) even knowing it was to help us. There would be civil rights complaints and a lot of civil unrest. The run on the shops and panic buying. I have never been to Sierra Leone and don't know enough about the country to know how they would cope with this. My heart goes out to those who have been put in a very difficult position. I know they have been given time to plan, but still :eek:

On a slightly lighter note some of you have been interested in bees. I have not had good experience with the national association here. The advice from our local branch claimed that I could not collect a swarm or keep bees without their say so. Any swarm seen should be reported to them so they could collect the swarm. On this occasion I did not tell them where to find the swarm I had spotted. I have been looking at alternative groups and find this very interesting (The Barefoot Beekeeper) - http://www.biobees.com/index.php - and they are, in my experience, more friendly and open. They even have plans for their simple bee hive on utube which I am going to try to build over the winter.

I am so lucky that I was born in this country. I have learnt so much from you on this site. You have some excellent advice which I have been taking. I have been buying dried and tinned food each time I shop (so not to draw attention to myself). I have now enough food to see me through a month (and probably longer). My biggest concern would be water. I have looked at getting water purification tablets but there are a lot of people who complain about it tasting a bit odd. BsBob have you tried any of these as I value your opinion? I have bought 2 'lifesaver bottles' off fleebay, one for home and one for the car. This, along with the advice on this site, has given me a better piece of mind and feel I could cope better in a SHTF situation.

Frugalsod

I think that Sierra Leone has had problems culturally with how families gather to help dying family members. It would be very different here.

As to how the public would tolerate a shutdown of a similar nature, it all depends on the reason and the circumstances. If a plague like ebola, then I think people will accept if for a while, and would expect results for their inconvenience. Though if they tried it for civil disturbances I think people will give them the finger.

[Deleted User]

I guess if a curfew was imposed and you knew that there was the possibility of being shot if you broke it ( likely to be the case in something as important as stopping a pandemic) whatever your preps I'm pretty sure you'd abide by it, specially if a couple of folks were known to have have perished because they didn't.

Frugalsod

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

I guess if a curfew was imposed and you knew that there was the possibility of being shot if you broke it ( likely to be the case in something as important as stopping a pandemic) whatever your preps I'm pretty sure you'd abide by it, specially if a couple of folks were known to have have perished because they didn't.

I think that there would be serious economic problems from a curfew. A pandemic would have a lot more support though I think that it would be easier to isolate any outbreak rather than impose seriously damaging curfews.

Mojisola

Pollyjuice wrote: »

The advice from our local branch claimed that I could not collect a swarm or keep bees without their say so. Any swarm seen should be reported to them so they could collect the swarm. On this occasion I did not tell them where to find the swarm I had spotted.

That's outrageous! Swarms don't even belong to the beekeeper whose hives have swarmed.

They may have concerns if people who don't know what they're doing try to collect a swarm but they don't have any ownership over the bees.

I have been looking at alternative groups and find this very interesting (The Barefoot Beekeeper) - http://www.biobees.com/index.php - and they are, in my experience, more friendly and open. They even have plans for their simple bee hive on utube which I am going to try to build over the winter.

Good luck! We've got two top bar hives - they're quite simple to make and the bees are doing very well in them.