Preparedness for when

[Deleted User]

We'll make extra cider this year in that case, although some of it is so fizzy it would need to be bartered with opening instructions if you want any of it in the glass!!!

moneyistooshorttomention

Frugalsod wrote: »

I agree I do not think that who runs the country will make a blind bit of difference for the majority of us, life WILL get tougher and living standards will continue to fall for the vast majority. Prepping will take many of the shocks that we have to face and make them manageable.

I am wondering whether I will get my debt cleared before the next crash as I have heard that the entire Austrian banking system is facing bail-ins. Apparently they lent all across Eastern Europe in Swiss Francs as the interest rates were lower. As a result of the Swiss Franc ending its peg to the Euro it now means that many of these loans are now 40% higher in local currency terms, basically putting many into negative equity situations. So there will be a wave of defaults which will wipe out the Austrian banks and also the deposits of the Austrian people as they are bailed in.

I tend to agree there. Time was when I stood for election myself - but these days I doubt I'd bother ....as you'd be so darn hog-tied from actually doing anything much anyway I feel...

I'm chasing getting The Last Urgent Big Job done on my house at the moment - partly in order to make sure that another bit of my savings is safe in case (ie because I've spent it paying for that Big Job). At that point - I won't have very much left of them (ie only a few thousand £s) and I figure that's such a small amount it should be safe from any theft by bail-in if it comes to it.

Four further Big Jobs to be done to the house asap - but I wont have the money for them anyway until I've been able to save it up once I start getting the State part of my pension belatedly and I will fund each of those one by one as my (replenished) savings allow at that point. My house will be liveable-in/ready to start work on by my standards once the last urgent Big Job is done (as it started off by being pretty uninhabitable by my standards and will now be "normal" start-off point once the next Big Job is done shortly).

nuatha

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

Nice morning here today and I'm cooking rhubarb.......again! in fact I've got enough rhubarb to feed the nation several times over. Todays offering is more of the oven roasted kind with orange which we'll use for breakfasts and puddings and I've still got half the bagfull left to do something else with. It's an aspect of survival that I hadn't been clued up on that living seasonally means having the same thing over and over while it's ready and available and I'll be trying to ring as many changes of recipe as I can so we don't get jaded with whatever it is we're using at the time. I'm going to start a 'glut' recipe book and record what works and what doesn't in terms of making the glut into differing and acceptable foods that we don't feel 'Oh NOT AGAIN' about.

Especially at this turn of the season, as (hopefully) the hungry gap closes. While its easy to think of Purple Spouting Broccoli, Ramsons and Rhubarb as a start to the new season, the reality can often be that there is little other choice and there's only so many combinations that appeal.
Preserving is very much the way forward - both to have more variety during the Hungry gap and to spread the glut across the year. I look forward to your comments from prepparing your glut recipe book.

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

I seem to recall there was some sort of scandal re proxy votes before now and/or voting at Polling Stations in person and a number of people turned up to cast their vote - only to be told (wrongly) that they had already voted.

Meant someone else had stolen their vote basically as I recall.

Not so. There is some additional verification of identity, but basically what happens is the falsely cast vote is identified and removed from the ballot before counting under the supervision of the Returning Officer. This being the main justification for having serial numbers on ballot papers which are recorded against your name at the Polling Station.

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

I don't think it matters very much which political party/coalition of parties is in charge after the forthcoming election. They will all have the same problems and they will only be able to do so much in any area and will probably only be around until the next election anyway. I think what we will do is business as normal, keep on making the best of what we have and providing as much for ourselves in all areas as is possible to do.

Aside from anything else we still have the same Civil Service.
Personally I'm increasingly of the opinion that strange women lying in puddles and handing out sharp pointy things is more likely to produce real leadership than any other system.

Alongside that we'll keep prepping and keep a weather eye and a weather ear out for any happenings at home and abroad and do the best we can in any situation that arises, no one can do more, and we don't ask for donations!!!

'Zactly.
As usual very well said.

nuatha

Apologies if it appears I'm picking on you Mrs LW in quoting and replying. Your making good points and sparking ideas - and I'm trying to avoid being overly political hereabouts.

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

I'm going to make sure I get a new pair of sturdy waterproof winter shoes, I've already got a hefty waxed jacket,a sheepskin hat and gloves, thermal undies, socks and am looking to aquire a real sheepskin scarf for christmas this year as a combined present for everyone.

I've been reviewing my winter kit - a lot of which didn't get used again this winter as its been so mild. Though I've recent experience enough to convince me that clothes which make sub-zero C are worth keeping a hold of. My down gilet is on its way out, I'm debating weather I replace like for like or go for a full duvet style jacket. When I was climbing I migrated to manmade fillings for both, but find down packs down smaller and is far warmer weight for weight - providing it doesn't get wet. I've missed the relevant sales this year - life got in the way, but prices for winter kit in outdoor shops tends to rise in June/July, so hopefully there are still some decent buys around.

I know we already have enough wood to keep us toasty through the next couple of years. I have enough candles/tealights to see us through a similar period. I have food stores for at least 6 months albeit it will be plain and will get repetetive but we will have the garden, allotment, polytunnel with overwintering fresh things to give us some flavour. I've a trusty wind up radio, solar lights and warm duvets. Whatever happens re the government I know we can make ourselves comfy, might be a bit basic, but fed, warm and weatherproof will do for us and we'll make the best of what we get, whatever that may be!

To me that is the whole core of prepping.

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

A tin of beans in the hand is worth more than £1 in the bank if TPTB nick your £1. Buy beans is my message or anything else useful that will make life more comfy during the next few years, only makes sense to me!

I'd far rather be sitting on a decent food stash than trying to access money from a bank and then buy shopping when there's a media whipped panic happening - its likely to be bad enough shopping this weekend let alone with a looming crisis.

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

We'll make extra cider this year in that case, although some of it is so fizzy it would need to be bartered with opening instructions if you want any of it in the glass!!!

Dual purpose cider? Defensive weapons and/or recreational substance?
A friend makes ginger beer, several polybottles get given to local farmworkers at harvest time, who tend to keep it cool in cattle troughs. A couple of bottles must have been missed one year, one of the farmworkers commented she'd used 3l bottles for a change and it was really fizzy. The combine was abandoned in the middle of the field and everyone driven home.

[Deleted User]

I thought the hand in the lake kept the pointy thing? I didn't realise she handed it out again at an appropriate moment, 2015 years later perhaps Le Ressurection d'Arthur?' If ONLY!!!

Oh YES, you wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of a well shaken and NOT carefully eased open bottle of the good stuff He Who Knows makes .....Y'know theres been a probe to Mercury that they just crashed on to the surface? whaddyou think fueled it in the first place!!!!!

jk0

I recently acquired sufficient blankets that I have been able to make up my spare bed for any unexpected house guests.

Do I need to wash the sheets occasionally, even if it's not used, or maybe put a plastic cover over the whole thing?

Should I worry about moths?

GreyQueen

Try to think of plastic as anathema to textiles as it really doesn't help them. Moths are potentially attracted to any natural fibre but in practise prefer wool so, depending on what your blankets are made of, it may or may not be a problem. Moths (it's actually their larvae which do the chewing) are attracted to bits of fabric which are a bit grubby, so any textile to be stored long-term should be scrupulously clean before being put away.

TBH, I would not make-up a guest bed ahead of time unless guests were a pretty frequent occurance, because an unused bed will get clammy. What you might want to do is cover the mattress with a clean sheet/ protector, then fold the blankets on top of the mattress, with the pillow(s) and cover the whole lot with something like a cotton bedspread. Keep the actual bedlinen in the airing cupboard and make the bed up as needed. Doesn't take long and keeps everything fresh.

But plastic and textiles don't mix unless in the very short term. Textiles always contain some degree of moisture and containing them in plastic easily causes mildew. I'll expand the definition of textiles to include mattresses, shoes, bags etc. Cotton covers to keep the dust off them and let them breathe, plastic only for temporary things like getting things back from the dry cleaner or taking stuff to the launderette.

[Deleted User]

JKO I keep the spare rooms aired and background warm but the beds are left unmade until the day before my visitors arrive. The duvets and pillows are left on top of the matresses and the sheets, duver covers and pillow cases are kept in the airing cupboard, I know I'm lucky to still have one. Blankets, throws etc. are kept in a chest in our room and I keep herbs/lavender/herbal soap in there too as a moth deterrent. Hope that helps.

Frugalsod

Here is probably the best bug out bag video I have seen. It covers things that others do not even mention can deal with.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1bEC6Ve1HOo

moneyistooshorttomention

jk0 wrote: »

I recently acquired sufficient blankets that I have been able to make up my spare bed for any unexpected house guests.

Do I need to wash the sheets occasionally, even if it's not used, or maybe put a plastic cover over the whole thing?

Should I worry about moths?

I wouldn't personally. It would attract dust if nothing else.

Mind you...I have to "concoct" a bed for guests anyway now - as I don't have a spare bed any more.

I just keep all the spare bedding in my airing cupboard and tell guests to help themselves to however much of it they personally want - be it one blanket or goodness-knows-how-many-layers (being someone who likes loads of layers myself).