Preparedness for when

GreyQueen

grandma247 wrote: »

Having no phone would not really bother me but most of this town would probably throw themselves in the canal I can't tell you how many people I have nearly run over because they were on their phone and not paying attention. They just step out in front of you.

Tell me about it! I am constantly having to dodge pedestrians walking and playing with their i-phones at the same time. They walk into others, into street furniture, into the roads. Crazy. Some text whilst cycling in the city centre and while wearing i-phones. Nutters.

Casual monitoring of the city centre reveals that 50-60% of all passers-by are phone fiddling, and up to 80% of people waiting for buses. Looking through restaurant and cafe windows reveals scenes like a young man and woman having coffee (he using lappy, she on i-phone) or young man eating out with two gorgeous young ladies, each of them absorbed in their various hand-held devices.

The crazy thing is that only those of us who grew to adulthood prior to mobiles and mobile internet usage think that this is at all peculiar.

I do think that these people will suffer incredible anxieties when they are taken off the electonic teat. I've never known adults, including some of my peers, to be so needy as to have to be in constant contact with their nearest and dearest.

Gosh, can you remember when parents went to work and older children to school and they wouldn't actually get together until tea-time, and the working parent was effectively incommunicado for most of their working day? Quaint, huh?

ETA; Oh, serendipity! Went onto ZH and saw this http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-08-04/tuesday-humor-when-social-media-gets-real

Do treat yourself to a belly-laugh this Weds by reading the letter in this article, it's brief and very very funny.

jk0

Regarding people on phones stepping out in front of cars, did anyone hear Jeremy Vine on Radio 2 a few weeks ago talking about the dangers of electric cars?

He had on a poor blind man, who had been run over twice by the same car! Someone else rang in, and said that since he bought one a year ago, he has run over six cats. Poor pusses.

I now drive a diesel car, and in view of the above, am glad it's slightly noisy.

moneyistooshorttomention

GreyQueen wrote: »

We're experiencing powercuts in this city at the rate of at least one a week, taking down a couple of postcodes at a time. My team speak as if we're getting more than we used to, anyone having the same subjective experience in their area? I wonder about ageing infrastructure.

Actually, I've wondered sometimes if the way the "electrics" are in this area as a whole might be one of the explanations for the fact that the Internet working in this area isn't normal standard yet (she says meaningfully - it will be/it will be....:cool:).

I was astonished on moving here to see all these electric cables up above ground and waving around like no-one's business in the frequent (and strong) winds here in West Wales. Surely they need to be underground even more than in the (much calmer) weather in my home area? Also - I note lower maintenance levels on infrastructure than I'm used to (Home Area will totally gut and remove pretty new/fully functioning stuff - but here I can sometimes see stuff that's obviously way Past It but its still in use).

I am wondering, accordingly, whether the "electrics" in this area as a whole might be one of the reasons I am still having to kick/scream about my Internet reception not being normal at times (having had yet another blimmin' couple of hours or so yesterday where it was up and down like a tarts knickers):mad:.

Can an area's "electrics" affect how its Broadband reception in peoples homes is?

EDIT: Joke for the week - a traffic jam here is 3 OpenReach vans driving along the road in quick succession (its a rare day in this area where you don't spot at least one of them.....).

[Deleted User]

We are a resilient species, the idea of not having phones, electricity, supermarkets etc. is daunting and in prospect frankly scary BUT I'm certain that after the first few days of utter bewilderment and feeling lost we'd ALL cope perfectly well and learn ways round the situation. I am old enough to remember no phone other than a call box, no car and an infrequent bus service and just BBC on the television if you were lucky enough to have one. No fridges, no freezers no washing machines, no central heating, no hot water system, no bathroom AND no inside loo!!! We survived very well without any of the above, life was less luxurious but we were fed, healthy, fitter than nowadays and perfectly contented. We've lost sight of what is a necessity over what we're used to having and the reality is we only need shelter, warmth, enough food, a good pair of shoes and a warm coat to survive perfectly well, imported exotics, this years fashions and the latest electronic gadget are NOT necessities, just extras. We'd be FINE!!!

GreyQueen

MTSTM, you won't get the same kind of infrastructure in a rural area that you will get in an urban one. It's economies of scale. I live in a city centre all of 200 m from the exchange. Thanks to the Computer Wizard, I know where the main telecoms cabling is (runs across the nearby river under the bridge). People like me are going to have faster and more stable connections than villagers.

Amusingly, one of the mobile networks has poor coverage here (major player) and you can always tell their customers because they have to lean out of their windows to get a signal (and annoy the rest of us).

ivyleaf

jKo I can't understand why the drivers of the electric cars didn't see the blind man and at least some] of the cats? Oh, I suppose the blind man walked out directly in front of the car he couldn't see or hear... though I'd have thought the driver would have noticed him and slowed right down to be on the safe side, especially after having already knocked the poor man down once :eek:

jk0

I didn't want to bother you guys with this again, but you've had some good ideas in the past. Last year you recommended Sea Kelp tablets, and these were a revelation. I'm still taking them. I also take Glucosamine & MSM.

However, as you know, I am now restricted to a low fat diet by a grumbly gallbladder. I have not been able to eat any red meat since before Christmas, and I'm getting weak again.

At the moment I find it a real effort to do any cleaning at home. Work on my flats is suffering also. I only work a few hours a day, but the day after I am totally drained. Even my morning walk today was an effort.

I just bought some multivitamins with iron, and am trying to see if they help.

Any thoughts?

[Deleted User]

Does your surgery have a dietician JKO? it sounds as though your energy outgoings are more than your calorie ingoings and it might be useful to get a referral to a dietician who will be able to help you balance your needs for calories and suggest things that will boost your energy levels without upsetting your low fat needs. Even talking to a Pharmacist might be helpful?

VJsmum

Are you able to eat vegetable fats? Avocados, coconut oil, peanuts? or is it all fat you can't eat.

If it's just animal fat, then the above are a very pleasant way to get your calories up!

AnimalTribe

Minor rant - There isn't mobile phone coverage for most of the area around us, as we are very remote. It's not a problem except in midwinter when folk decide to have a trip out to see the countryside in snow. Then when they get stuck and can't get mobile reception they trek through the snow in unsuitable clothing and ask if we can help them out, because they haven't got any shovel or anything with them. Then we have to trek back with them to sort them out. Grrr