Preparedness for when

[Deleted User]

I lose track of very long but spaced posts and find it hard to take any meaning from them, they just make me skip to the next understandable one. I guess there's room for all of us but I find some posts more easily understood than others.

GreyQueen

Bob, is the light output still at useful levels, or is it more of an ambient glimmer?

[Deleted User]

More of an ambient glimmer.

GreyQueen

Better than pitchy blackness, which is what I encountered when leaving the archery venue. Discovered that my keyring maglite solitaire really wasn't up to the job required, so will have the bigger maglite in my bag next time. The smaller one is fine for finding things in confined areas, but was a bit outgunned tonight. I had been to that place several times before at this time of the year, but there must have been something different tonight, as it was never as dark as that before.

I wants me one of those 6 Cell D ones - if not needed for lighting, can be used as a cosh.......:rotfl:

Just checked the batteries on both maglites, the bigger one lives in the bedroom on a lanyard over the bedpost, in case I need to see something in the dark without alerting any onlookers that I'm awake, as sometimes happens when crime is going on outside.

moneyistooshorttomention

I think one of the worst thoughts re if TSHTF is how people would remain behaving "normally". I've already noticed some signs of worse than normal behaviour over the last few years, ie as things start to bite financially.

I do wonder if decent/civilised/fair behaviour might be at a bit of a premium if things went down the drain. An earlier comment by a poster about being prepared to be "ruthless" is a definite heart-sinker in wondering whether "normal behaviour" would continue in Society if all hell broke out.

It also makes me wonder whether the temptation to indulge in behaviour I don't approve of might prove too much for me and the price of survival would be hating myself and losing all self-respect for having turned "hard". I would thoroughly disapprove of myself if I found myself turning "hard" and think that would be a price too high to pay just for the sake of "surviving".

Wonders how peoples behaviour generally would be "if" and what they would think of themselves if they turned "hard" (ie when they haven't been previously).

It's fairly easy to avoid "hard" people now, but if I was the only one left without a hard/looking older than my age face then what.....???

[Deleted User]

I've just worked it out, and the Aldi lantern has been running for over 25 days (that's over 600 hours), on a set of £land Kodak batteries. :eek:

Nargleblast

In extreme situations (famine, society breakdown, plague etc) I think it comes down to a choice of two alternatives - toughen up or die. And prepping for such extreme situations is part of that toughening up process.
It may all seem a bit far fetched but look at what is happening in some parts of the world - lunatic barbarians invading towns and chopping people's heads off, and a nasty virus killing over half the people it touches.

thriftwizard

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

I think one of the worst thoughts re if TSHTF is how people would remain behaving "normally". I've already noticed some signs of worse than normal behaviour over the last few years, ie as things start to bite financially.

I do wonder if decent/civilised/fair behaviour might be at a bit of a premium if things went down the drain. An earlier comment by a poster about being prepared to be "ruthless" is a definite heart-sinker in wondering whether "normal behaviour" would continue in Society if all hell broke out.

It also makes me wonder whether the temptation to indulge in behaviour I don't approve of might prove too much for me and the price of survival would be hating myself and losing all self-respect for having turned "hard". I would thoroughly disapprove of myself if I found myself turning "hard" and think that would be a price too high to pay just for the sake of "surviving".

Wonders how peoples behaviour generally would be "if" and what they would think of themselves if they turned "hard" (ie when they haven't been previously).

It's fairly easy to avoid "hard" people now, but if I was the only one left without a hard/looking older than my age face then what.....???

I may be whistling down the wind here, but actually I wouldn't be surprised to see a resurgence of the "Blitz Spirit" if or when things got really difficult. One of my mother's favourite wartime reminiscences is how the people in their small town that everyone had previously avoided turned out to be just as helpful, hardworking, cheerful & friendly as their more middle-class neighbours when the Battle of Britain was raging overhead, or when the exhausted firemen from the blitz-hit East End were collapsing in their school canteen. I know we're starting from a very different place, i.e. society is far more individualistic and money/achievement-oriented than it was back in the 30s, and that we now have people living in the community who would previously have been cared for in secure facilities which no longer exist, but somewhere inside ourselves we are still the co-operative apes who know on an instinctive level that together we stand, divided we fall...

VJsmum

Morning all

Well the last few days have shown me how you can quickly be knocked off your feet and how it pays to be prepared.

Caught a tummy bug / food poisoning. Completely floored me for two days (lost 3lb in one day!! :eek: not to be recommended) and am just starting to emerge. I had also been away for the weekend but OH, DS and MiL were at my house (hate that - feel i lose control in those scenarios, even when I am well) and so were USING STUFF UP!

Luckily prepared moi meant we are ok for bread, milk, meals for a few days (for them, not me - still can't face much), packed lunches for all. THe only thing I didn't have was any kind of rehydration solution. Flat lemonade did the trick, but I will be replenishing the powdered stuff as soon as.

Honestly can't believe how it has wiped me out - I can barely do anything without having to go for a lie down! Monday night I slept 10 hours and still napped in the day yesterday.

I hope I get better soon - I have caught up all the TV i wanted to watch in the last few weeks.....

Anyone see the Banksy ebola cartoon? I'll see if I can find it - puts it all into perspective

moneyistooshorttomention

I do hope you are right Thrift Wizard.

The post above reminded me that its not possible to tell if someone is a "hardster" if they are younger (as per these ISIS members - as they all seem quite young) and its easier to spot in an older person (ie because the whole face will have turned "hard"). In a younger person, all you have to go on is the eyes, as the character isn't written on their face yet.

So hopes we would all turn co-operative, as the other "stay put and try to deal with it" option would be to become a recluse and cut off from other people unless they were ones you already knew as being "normal" and would continue to be.