Preparedness for when

fuddle

Karmacat wrote: »

Absolutely! Thank you Fuddle! I liked it when I was there as a tourist, and it fits so well into the geography of what I'm going for.

Last year when I was really ill, I couldn't do plot or anything, but I still liked writing, I ended up, believe it or not, writing a 7,000 word confidential report commissioned by Wimborne parish council about how they could put in place barely noticeable improvements in community self reliance. That document acts as their road map, and when all h*ll breaks loose on the national scene, Wimborne has a high survival rate compared to other communities :j

Never that's cool!

maryb wrote: »

Fuddle, have I missed something? Have you relocated back North?

You've not missed anything maryb as I've never talked about it but yes my family have been working very hard to avert a major SHTF scenario these past 6 weeks. We are back in the North but not where we're from. We have chosen rural and high. We are expecting heavy snow Saturday.

While we've all been talking and debating SHTF I have found it extremely difficult to keep level headed as no amount of kit, money in reserve, knowledge, food in the cupboards etc could have helped in the situation. It's taken swift and grounded decision making, a strong resolve and a lot of luck to get to the happy point we are in today. Life is actually good hence my signature.

maryb

I'm glad you've come through your trials and hope all goes well. Keep warm!

daz278

My Mam was a local barmaid in a number of pubs over the years .... very well liked but character if you got her riled .... you*d be wearing the pint but she went to spain 3 x a year on her tips in late 70s ...early 80s...... i used to do a bit behind the bar mam wouldnt pay me in washers (she said) cheeers to this day im known locally as Norma*s Lad ..... then again when i first went to Germany year studying in ..91 we had 3 weeks admin leave before term s tarted..... my well to do colleagues all went on holiday . i was stuck in a strange town ,on myown....soon found a local pub and managed to get on with the locals with my stilted German and became a regular

pineapple

My cousin met a Welsh farmer at agricultural college and they settled in North Wales.
On my first visit, I stopped by an Eggs for Sale sign but was told there were no eggs. Until I mentioned who I was and who I was visiting and suddenly eggs were plentiful!
But I can definitely relate to the 'be careful what you say to whom' warning. I was warned early on and it's true. Everyone knows or is related to everyone else. It is even more true of where I was renting in the Yorkshire Dales. A fellow tenant had issues with an ex employer in Aysgarth, the next village. She complained to a random stranger !!!!!! and eventually it came back to bite her when our landlady 'had a word'. It turned out she was bezzy mates with the employer and the comments had done the rounds and got back to her.

pineapple

Lily_Blue_Eyes wrote: »

SHTF today. I was nuking beans for dinner in a sealed container when it combusted. Whole tin of beans wasted.

You have to think on your feet. Yesterday I bashed a glass of newly poured port and it broke. I carried the remants of glass and port to the kitchen where I decanted the remaining port through a paper coffee filter to remove any glass. Times are hard...

ivyleaf

GreyQueen wrote: »

I used to hate the village when I was younger as you never seemed to have your own identity, you're always so-and-so's grand-daughter/ daughter/ neice/ cousin etc.

Now that I'm older, I quite like the clannishness, as long as I don't have to live there and can just visit. The two youngest generations of the family are in towns and even cities now, no need for ag labs like us in the modern mechanised farming world. You need the thick end of a third of a million squid to afford an ex-farm labourer's cottage where we hail from - damned expensive being a peasant these days.

Mind you, there must be a genetic propensity to scrabble around in the soil, even my too-cool-for-school first cousin has taken up gardening in middle age, apparently. This is news of considerable astonishment to the rest of the family, given cousin is more accustomed to heavy metal than heavy soil. Blood will out, my dears, blood will out; hang up the keys to the motorbike and get thee down to the garden centre......

This drew my attention because I know someone from Sunderland who hardly ever goes home, because down here he can "be himself", whereas there he's always thought of as "so-and-so's son"!

ETA fuddle I'd sort of realised you were in the north atm, but had thought you were just visiting your home area for a while. So glad to hear life has stabilised. You sound happy with where you've ended up, I'm so relieved and thankful for you all. xx

moneyistooshorttomention

ivyleaf wrote: »

This drew my attention because I know someone from Sunderland who hardly ever goes home, because down here he can "be himself", whereas there he's always thought of as "so-and-so's son"!

:rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:. I must admit, as someone who is very used to people "being himself/herself" - I'd be interested to hear what its like to be seen as a "member of a family/clan" and perceive oneself that way.

Visions of this Sunderland person having to spend a lot of time saying "No - that's my parents opinion - but my opinion is x" and "No - that's my parents feud with x. I'm friends with x personally".:rotfl:

mardatha

Sometimes it's best to just keep your opinions to yourself and smile
I grew up in a tough mining village where nobody had any time for airs and graces - so maybe it's just as well that we didn't ever have any incomers

Doveling

Oh, MTSTM, you do make me giggle. For me to be considered "high" calibre I'd have to bring a stepladder to stand on :rotfl:

Thanks for the offer of help with househunting, may take you up on that towards the end of next year

A couple of my friends are Druids and one of them is trying to learn Welsh - quite difficult she says.

GQ - I too like the clannishness of the place I was born in - moreso now that I don't live there :rotfl:
A phrase commonly used by farmers in the area when they thought someone was getting a bit above themselves was

"Gi' o'er, We knew ye when ye wuz s****en yeller"

This applied to locals only, obviously

Fuddle - glad you're happy in your new place.Have you managed to get your girls into a nice school?

fuddle

Yes Mar it's best to say nothing negative about a soul. That's a lesson you learn very young in small mining villages. When my dad died when I was 10 all his mates told the young and old lads to watch out for me. That lasted until I moved away at the age of 24. It was a nice feeling to have locals watching out for me but likewise I just couldn't breathe. That along with my mam working in my secondary school and my teachers good mates/opponents of my dad in football I was extremely stifled.

I think that's part of why I was always out to prove that I was doing alright for myself.

Yes Doveling the girls are in the local school down the hill. They are settled and have surprised me at just how quickly they have moved on from their lives in Dorset. It's nice to be 'home' without being home