Preparedness for when

ivyleaf

GreyQueen wrote: »

My part of Provincial City is effectively the old town, with lots of labyrinthine alleys between the ancient streets, some of which are on a 1,000 year old streetplan. I walk the alleys regularly, to keep myself refreshed about exactly where each one runs.

Ah, now I've worked out where you live!

Ankh-Morpork!

Karmacat

thriftwizard wrote: »

GQ, you may need a bigger shed on your allotment...

Camper you can tow by bike!

Bedsit_Bob wrote: »

Of course, you could also tow that mini camper behind a 125cc or larger motorcycle.

GreyQueen wrote: »

:T Oooooh, covetable!

The motorbike was my first thought too, at my age, and level of fitness and health. The camper is so beautiful!

I spent a big chunk of yestereve on the place with no name website, reading Shane's story about evacuating from New Orleans the day before the hurricane struck, with his wife driving their second car and him driving their two children, the youngest 3 months old.

I've read a few books about Hurricane Katrina, including a memoir from someone who was trapped in the Lower Ninth Ward, with her family, so wasn't coming to this stone cold. What struck me is his description of how, once they had decided to evacuate to family in Houston, it took two adults 12 hours to pack their two cars and two children.

He freely admits that they were disorganised, and even important things like his social security card were unfindable, but it still messes with my head that it took so long. And that they then, being so exhausted, had to sleep for a few hours before taking off in the early morning. This loss of hours in that situation nearly undid them.

It's chilling to read how tired they were, as a 5.5 hr journey in normal circs took 15.5 hrs in these ones and how they barely dared stop for more than fuel and comfort breaks as they realised traffic was solidifying only a few miles behind them in what he memorably describes as a 'freezing wave'.

I found it absolutely mesmerising, that someone with a background in prepping but a real-world preoccupation with little kids would write so truthfully and in such realistic detail about what happened. Its been really helpful to me.

One thing I have found credible to believe would happen, in some post-apocalyptic fiction, is that cars would be abandoned all over the place. In James Lovegrove's Untied Britain (excellent read) the M25 is effectively a ring of steel around London due to abandoned, fuelless cars, a perma-jam of rusting metal.

Not read that! Got the Amazon page open now

moneyistooshorttomention

Whew! and the thought for the day being "I really must remember to check whether my energy supplier has gone and changed my monthly direct debit without telling me".

They had changed it up to a LOT higher amount at one point and that's what its currently and I hadn't been told. They'd had a bi-yearly review of my usage since the time my house became more fuel-efficient and my account was now a LOT in credit - but they hadn't told me.

Woulda thought I shoulda been told - though it has to be paperless bills (as paper ones cost money for me to receive). I'd been told before.

So - a bit of inefficiency (some of it possibly mine:o) but errrm....they are the German firm and that's part of why I chose them (fed-up with chasing British firms...). That's the second bit of inefficiency I've caught them out on since changing to E-on years back (suppose that's good by British standards??).

So = well worth us all checking regularly (even if they're the German firm) and the second point being just how MUCH the energy efficiency of this house has improved since I've been doing all my thick loft insulation/thick carpets/etc. Average fuel bill a year odd back for a little house like this I believe was £80 per month for both gas and electric and I'd been using quite a bit more than that?? My average monthly bill is now £73 and I don't stint - ie the central heating is on when I want it on (and I'm retired now....so that's a lot of daytime hours too). Cant recall if that £80 is over all houses - with mine being detached, so I expect to pay more...

Whew! That sent my blood pressure up for the morning (good job its on the low side normally:rotfl:).

lobbyludd

gosh - 12 hours? takes me 2 hours to leisurely pack the car to the rim to go camping as a single adult with 2 kids (who need to take everything!) - obviously leaving and not knowing if you'll return or have anything to return to is different but twelve hours?

they were fleeing to places that would be intact and expected to remain so?

Karmacat

lobbyludd, a lot of his 12 hours was spent running about like a headless chicken "where's the GPS", "where's the paperwork for the insurance", that sort of thing, and he makes no bones about it. Its a really good read.

lobbyludd

thanks KC - I'm reading his blog now - it really is very down to earth and well written

GreyQueen

lobbyludd wrote: »

thanks KC - I'm reading his blog now - it really is very down to earth and well written

I'll second that.

Hell, I've moved the entire contents (inc furniture and appliances) of a single bedroom flat into a van and across the city with change from 6 hours, and that was including waiting for a CORGI engineer (it was CORGI back then) to disconnect my gas stove, cap the old meter, and rejoin me later in the day to reverse that process at the new flat.

Bearing in mind that the rear seat of Shane's car must have had the 2 child car seats, the amount of cargo he could have carried would have been limited, and quite a bit of that must have been child perquisties like stuff for their 3 month old baby (they did think to take a collapsable cot as well as an inflatable mattress for the adults).

Baffles me how the decision-making and finding process for the amount of stuff to fill one-and-a-bit cars took 12 hours, but he's telling it how it was, and more power to him for his honesty. Lived experience, like his, and like Fer FAL's, is much more valuable than fiction.

Also interesting that he noted the strange and rather inappropriate burdens some cars were carrying during the evac (couches, BBQs, other bulky items) which were then appearing as jettisoned alongside the road.

He is definately on track with taking the minimum of two towels, though. Mr D Adams Esq would've approved.

Re Provincial City - like most ancient cities, Ankh-Morpork being no exception, it is essentially cannibalising itself as it accrues additional layers without properly disposing of the underlayer each time. Which means putting a spade or a digger into the ground anywhere inside the old city walls is apt to turn out an interesting experience.

Shoebox Towers sits of thousands of pylons (SG saw it being built in the 1970s). I do know what was here for a few centuries prior, but won't put that out here as RL identifiers. I did once get some edjimercation on one ancient site and also once worked on ancient sites where gardeners used to turn up human remains in flowerbeds and anybody digging a trench had to be warned about the dead monks just under there...........:rotfl:

I'm delighted if I see civil engineers with the ground opened up here and skip over and look into holes and discuss what they've found. There's invariably bits of building and misc underground and they're very interesting people to talk to and kind to nosey-parkers like myself. You can even go spelunking under the city.

Well, you can if you like, I'm a severe claustrophobe and wouldn't do it on a bet.:D

Softstuff

I like that bicycle camper... and I can't even ride a bike!

lobbyludd wrote: »

gosh - 12 hours? takes me 2 hours to leisurely pack the car to the rim to go camping as a single adult with 2 kids (who need to take everything!) - obviously leaving and not knowing if you'll return or have anything to return to is different but twelve hours?

they were fleeing to places that would be intact and expected to remain so?

Much like GQ, we moved everything we own in less than 12 hours. I suspect in an emergency we could be out of here in less than an hour, that would include 45 minutes of me freaking out and 15 minutes of actual activity.

I guess that getting the heck out of dodge gets firstly more complicated naturally with children, but would also be much harder with a strong emotional attachment to stuff.

Over here as far as roads go in an end of the world type scenario, roads here barely survive a year of the extreme weather here before becoming seriously damaged. I'd give it 5 years of inattention before many were unusable. We were only commenting yesterday at the speed weeds can grow here and how fast they'd cover houses if left unchecked. Again, I'd guess at only a few short years.

GreyQueen

Softstuff (and others) if you haven't read it, Alan Weisman's book The World Without Us is absolutely fascinating. Its premise is that we human beings just vanish. No nukes, no plague, no global war, just all gone. And what happens to what we leave behind.

He investigates areas where humanity has been excluded such as around Chernobyl. He checks out buildings and roads, dams and power plants, things we've made, animals we've bred.

The long term survivors are feral cats and stainless steel cookware. I swear I didn't just make that up, either.:rotfl:

[Deleted User]

Yup, I guess there were so many less vehicles in use back in the 1970s but today, when many families have 3 and we all live away from each other by quite some distance most folks first thought will be to 'get' to wherever their loved ones are and that's likely to cause gridlock in most urban areas and on the major trunk roads. I think you're right Nuatha in that perhaps the country roads/lanes will be less congested and passable.

I wonder if the canal system, using horse powered towing will be the way our goods will be distributed and the rivers again become the major arteries of commerce that they once were? I could also see a resurgence of steam railways if there was no electricity or diesel fuel available.