Preparedness for when

RAS

Siebrie wrote: »

The S has HTF right next to me. I live a 5-minute walk from Brussels' airport, and work at the other side of it.

Siebrie - glad your family are safe. Hugs as it is a horrid experience even when you are not directly involved.

I think they will respond to every "success" by acting out as quickly as possible to remind people that they are still there.

maryb

My personal SHTF last week. I tripped, went down on all fours but the forward momentum continued and the crown of my head hit a door frame - hard. The shockwave travelled down my spine and fractured the lowest vertebra in my thoracic spine.

Fast forward a week and courtesy of a back brace I can do a lot more than I could last week. But I cook from scratch every night and I couldn't do much in the initial aftermath. Thinking of things that the family could cook without much input from me was surprisingly hard. And it's not that they are completely incompetent either! But if I hadn't been able to direct operations I think they would have struggled

So one resolution for when I am back to normal is to have some meals in my repertoire that can be rustled up easily from stores by someone who has to step in at short notice but which don't depend on me being able to supervise

NewShadow

maryb wrote: »

My personal SHTF last week. I tripped, went down on all fours but the forward momentum continued and the crown of my head hit a door frame - hard. The shockwave travelled down my spine and fractured the lowest vertebra in my thoracic spine.

My word, that sounds quite horrible - I'm glad to hear you weren't worse injured. Hope the recovery continues well.

Karmacat

Mary - thats horrendous :eek: what an awful thing to happen. And thank heavens you *could* supervise. Very good idea to get a few "staples meals" planned.

I'm trying to build a storecupboard cookbook - a few recipes from here, some online, some from my own cookbooks, and fiddled with a little bit to use as few implements and bowls as possible - in problem times, all our effort (all my effort, anyway ) will need to go on other things.

boultdj wrote: »

Thank you for the link Karmacat and the head's up from Lyn Lurchwalker, now I'm woundering how hard it is to get the new design coin's out of my piggy bank.....

You're welcome for my bit in it - on further research, it's apparent that they know how many vending machines, supermarket trollies etc all use £1 coins, and all of those will take a long, long time to change over - so our stashes still need the current £1 coins for a while yet

maryb

Thanks NewShadow - I know I have been very lucky.

TBH I thought to start with I'd just done my back in a bit worse than usual. I got an appointment with my osteopath not next day but the day after and it was she who diagnosed a compression fracture and sent me off to A&E. Lucky she did - it would heal anyway and I knew I hadn't damaged any nerves, but it would have healed in such a way that I would be bent forward - that's how old ladies get a dowager's hump.

But it did give me pause for thought that my household's functioning depends on me functioning to a larger extent than I would like. We never know what's round the corner.

NewShadow

Just wanted to share I've just had confirmation a couple of friends working in Brussels were safely been evacuated to the embassy and will (hopefully) be shipped home tomorrow when they reopen the metro links.

Might I recommend anyone living or working near government buildings, stadiums, or mass transit hubs considers this - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jxOXbpTmnk

It's been doing the circuit around work since christmas and it does make you think.

ivyleaf

GreyQueen wrote: »

Yeah, always check the tyre pressure on your spare when you check the other tyres.

I can't get over modern cars apparently not having room for a spare tyre, or a full spare tyre, what's all this about? I used to have Metros and Fiestas, not exactly supersized cars, and they managed to fit a proper spare into the well under the hatch.

We recently ordered a new Motability car, a brand/model which normally comes with only a repair kit; we've paid extra to have a spare wheel put in when the car's being made, which costs £175. If we wanted one put in later it would be much more complicated (something to do with having to move a fusebox) and would cost £400 :eek:

Siebrie, GQ and NewShadow I'm very glad to know you and your families/friends are safe.

maryb What a nasty accident! I'm glad you'll soon be on the mend.

There's a thread on Mumsnet which was started by a lady with M.E., asking for suggestions for low effort meals - these would probably also be useful in circs where meals need to be prepared by people who aren't the usual cooks!
http://http://www.mumsnet.com/Talk/food_and_recipes/2514575-Very-low-effort-meals-needed

maryb

Thanks Ivyleaf, I'll have a read of that

GreyQueen

(((((((((maryb)))))))) owww!!! That sounds horrendous. Sending you all best wishes for a full and prompt recovery.

Brings home to you how what starts as a minor stumble at home can end with a severe injury.

I once asked two very adventurous women, in their late forties with lots of years of outdoor adventuring behind them (professionally), what were the worst injuries they'd sustained and how they got them.

I was expecting tales of falling off the Alps or the Hindu Kush. And you know what? The worst they'd suffered was one had broken her big toe in her living room (argument with a rug and a coffee table) and the other had been playing back garden rounders with young rellies, slipped on wet grass, and badly damaged her knee.:p

NewShadow, I will check that link out after work today when I have time. I do know we've recently taken away street bins from the roads outside our local government buildings. Our buildings, our bins, done without fanfare, but because of a perceived risk that bombs might be left in them.

I deeply and sincerely hope never to hear my workplace's bomb alert alarm deployed in earnest. The protocol for that is instant evcuation and re-grouping in a distant building. Customer Services peeps like me need to get up and running asap or the council goes deaf and blind to and from the public, so we have claim on another yet more distant building with the backup telecoms and pooters.

Occasionally, they pretend an emergency and deny us access to the workplace and see how fast we can get to and go live at the new location.

Cappella

GQ - how far away are you from an alternative location, and how easy would it be to get to it?
The prospect of terrorism is frighteningly close. A friend who teaches in a primary school called last night and said that they'd just had a series of meetings about how they would handle being in or near the site of a terrorist attack. They have to have a clear policy in place for dealing with issues like evacuation, caring for the children (360 on roll, hers is a big school) in a lock down situation and handling minor injuries. Three staff members are being sent on a St. John's ambulance course, to cover the possibility of one or more being injured in a bomb blast. Absolutely chilling listening to her. The training is being provided by the LEA in response to requests from national government apparently? Does anyone know of it happening in their area or is it mainly larger cities at the moment? I've no idea what will happen when all schools become academies but presumably they'll still have to respond to government directives?
In the meantime I'm checking our preps and planning to add more to our tinned foods dried goods. Manchesters already been hot once by the IRA bombing and the supermarkets were hit heavily by panic buying.
And my thoughts are with those in Belgium who've lost friends and family this week.