Preparedness for when

[Deleted User]

MAR on your bad days lovey I designate you official SOCK KNITTER for the post SHTF community, in the depths of the UK winter I can't think of many things that will be more needed than a good pair of warm snuggly woolly sockies to keep our feet warm! I can't knit so I know I'd be very appreciative of a pair if that was what you were up to because your ME was heavy on you love.

dragonette

Mar, that is exactly what I try to do, ty for the push to keep improving I think it's the independence bit that worries me. I rarely stay in bed if I can get up. Apart from when it's ice cold

I'm now really regretting I don't have space for a loom, even if it took a week to set up is a new skill to me

mardatha

Well knit instead, it's a lot easier!

[Deleted User]

Y'know on reflection I think a VERY useful contribution to any post event lifestyle would be to be able to entertain in some way be it singing, music, story telling, magic tricks, comedy, story writing even. We're used to having touch of a button TV, radio, music station etc. we have theatre, cinema, live music, ballet, opera, circus whenever we want to be entertained and I think if none of that was available anyone who could sing you a song or tell you a story would be valued greatly. Even more valued if we have no electricity and therefore had to spend long nights with nothing but candles to see by which would limit any handicraft or reading to the daylight hours.

nuatha

The spoons thing
http://www.butyoudontlooksick.com/articles/written-by-christine/the-spoon-theory/
Its a very useful way of explaining something which is very hard for healthy people to grasp.

There's several of us who have ME/CFS, so you aren't alone in those issues Dragonette. As Mar points out, some of what gets us through day to day will help us get through SHTF as well. Its popular in Post-Apocalypse fiction to portray a dog eat dog world where only the fittest will survive, whereas we have thousands of years of human history that shows societies coping with a huge range of differing abilities and health problems. (Possibly the worst example being Victorian England though)
Lyn (MrsLW) is right, entertainers will be prized, the ability to perform a "party piece" is still treasured around these parts, and a repertoire of songs or stories would be very useful to have.

nuatha

Gogette wrote: »

I feel the need to de-lurk and thank the contributors to this thread as the advice on here is fantastic. This thread has also made me feel more normal in my prepperish tendencies, (I have my bag-in-the-boot) and that I may not be the only person on the planet with an obsession for torches.

You aren't

I also love the way different opinions/disagreements are made with very little aggression for what is a public forum.

The OS board in particular is generally friendly and cooperative, so discussions tend to happen from within that culture. From time to time there are less genteel spells, and some regulars get concerned about possible repeats of historic patterns. There are also some real friendships among the regulars (in some cases with Real World and Online elements) and a generally welcoming attitude, it all helps.

I feel like a fraud though, I haven't been able to contribute to the thread as all my skills involve the use of Microsoft software and I would be completely useless if the brown stuff did hit the fan and I had to use any "hands-on" skills. Put it this way, if my tortoise was relying on my skills as a gardener to feed her, she would have starved to death by now! The only tortoise edible weeds to grow on my patio are the dandelions, and that's only because they were there first and they want their land back.

Right, back to lurkdom.
Gogette

You don't have to disappear back to lurkdom, you'd be welcome to contribute or ask questions as you wish, as MrsLW regularly says we're a friendly bunch and new friends are welcome (paraphrased badly)
Microsoft skills may not be directly relevant post SHTF, depending on how the brown stuff goes. IT skills and data retrieval abilities could be vital. You have a wider skill set than just Microsoft though. Assuming you organise your own life, get out of bed, clean and clothe yourself and interact with other humans (I work in IT, there are some very successful people who can't manage these things) then you have the basis of a lot more skills than you have previously thought about.
Don't limit your potential.

milasavesmoney wrote: »

For some reason all this has made me think of my mother. She was born in 1916 and grew up on a tenant farm in Texas. There was no electricity and they hauled their water. She said they used kerosene lamps for lighting. They had a metal curling iron and would heat it over the flame to crimp or curl their hair. She said if you got it too hot you had singed hair!:eek:

I know people who only got mains water in the last 15 years, only to find their cold water feed had been connected to a waste line (they continued using their well, as the tap water tasted off, until the problem was discovered several years later).
I know several people who don't have the option of mains services. Windmills, solar panels and generators provide electricity, springs or boreholes are the water source and septic tanks (or reed beds) deal with waste. The don't live on remote islands but with 25-50 miles of major cities (and even closer to large towns).

milasavesmoney wrote: »

Thrilled to have a nice list of new (to me) authors. Thanks to all!

Gogette spoke if having a bag in the car. Do most on here also follow this practice?

Currently I have 4 bags in my car (and 2 in Herself's - my wife) in both cars we each have a civilised bag that will cover an unplanned night away or a short hospital stay or for that matter evacuation to a community facility . I also have an emergency change of clothes/get home bag, which lives in my car. In addition my camera bag contains a full set of low temperature clothes as well as my camera kit - that goes in whichever vehicle I'm travelling in.
All the bags contain drinks and food. My Every Day Carry contains documentation (digital and hard copy) a small selection of tools and other kit. My EDC consists of trouser pockets and principally a multi pocket waistcoat (down filled in colder seasons, leather in cool seasons, and fabric in summer.
In addition the cars have breakdown and emergency kits.

Possibly overkill, but it saves wardrobe space (:) ) and works for the way we live our lives. The civilised bags get used and repacked from time to time. My get home kit has been tested but (thankfully) not needed. The camera bag has elements which would supplement either of the other bags or provide me with clothing that would enable me to sit tight for several days in the worst that British weather can throw my way (in conjunction with the sleeping and bivvy bags that live in the car).

jk0

Sadly, I just had to order a new shaver. My present one will no longer charge. I see from my emails that I bought it in October 2012. That's not long ago, is it? I replaced the batteries last year. I've had it apart, but the circuit is too tiny to fault find.

My old shaver is still for sale on Amazon, but now £110 rather than the £46 I paid for mine: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Panasonic-ES7101S512-Triple-Silver-Shaver/dp/B004MS3VN4?ie=UTF8&ref_=pe_217191_31005151_3p_dp_1

How annoying, as I have a spare cutter & foil for it also. I have had to order this one, which is slightly different: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Panasonic-Electric-Flexible-Pivoting-Stainless/dp/B003WVLH7Y/ref=pd_sim_sbs_364_2?ie=UTF8&dpID=41zsuVzeumL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR83%2C160_&refRID=BD255FS7KWHZ01GZPRV4

I've been using these Panasonic shavers for about twenty years now, and I do like them. The one I am discarding must be the fourth. I'll be keeping the batteries from my old one, and probably the transformer.

Throwing these things away does annoy me though. Any thoughts how to avoid this waste?

NewShadow

Any thoughts how to avoid this waste?

?

[Deleted User]

I have just been given one of the best presents I've ever had.....it's (if it survives and thrives) going to make life so much nicer if the S really does hit the fan because its a TEA BUSH, a real one from the place in Cornwall that grows and sells proper tea. My friend across the road bought 3 bushes and only has room for 2 and it comes with full instructions for picking and fermenting and drying real tea leaves. I am so HAPPY!!!!!

milasavesmoney

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

Y'know on reflection I think a VERY useful contribution to any post event lifestyle would be to be able to entertain in some way be it singing, music, story telling, magic tricks, comedy, story writing even. We're used to having touch of a button TV, radio, music station etc. we have theatre, cinema, live music, ballet, opera, circus whenever we want to be entertained and I think if none of that was available anyone who could sing you a song or tell you a story would be valued greatly. Even more valued if we have no electricity and therefore had to spend long nights with nothing but candles to see by which would limit any handicraft or reading to the daylight hours.

Story telling is something I remember fondly when my mother's family had gatherings. There were many amazing funny stories told and retold. My aunt (eldest of the ten siblings) would roll her eyes and laugh, telling me "that story gets bigger every time they tell it!" Everyone gathered and listened and then the guitars came out for singing. Precious memories.