Preparedness for when

ivyleaf

thriftwizard Horrifying to think it was under a school that was in use until a few years ago :eek:

We've had some UXBs around here, due to a German pilot dropping his payload at random to make sure he had enough fuel to get home. Somebody counted them dropping and there were more bombs than explosions, IYSWIM, and three were still unaccounted for when we arrived here in the early 80s.
Thankfully they've all turned up now: one near the pub down the road, one when they were building the new police station at the other end of the town centre, and one outside the C of E church, right beside the middle of the high street.
The latter was near enough to our office to mean we had to be evacuated, and the office was closed for a couple of days.

ETA Thanks for the link NewShadow - really enjoyed that :T We went to see Bellowhead a couple of years ago. There were two teenage boys who'd evidently been [STRIKE]dragged along[/STRIKE] persuaded to come by their parents, waiting to go in, and they had such an air of "Oh God, whatever are we doing here. Can't we just go home?"
I then saw them on the way out afterwards, lit up with excitement, and one of them was saying "That was f***ing brilliant!"

dragonette

The sink holes must be somewhat unnerving, the sheer randomness of where and when they open up. Central Scotland isn't chalk (just as well with all the rain) but it is more voids left from coal mining than bedrock in places. I know my grandmother's house once had an entire external wall move away from the building from subsidence - it was pinned back together

I'm going to make sure I have enough meds in my daily handbag to cover not getting home for a few days. I think I used them up and forgot to refill it. In a better light prepping wise, I've have some big trugs now planted with some salad leave seeds and kale seeds - dietitian has told me to have lots of it

[Deleted User]

Worrysome is the amount of proposed new builds that are likely to be happening here, a consultation yesterday in the village hall for 200 new homes less than half a mile away, another one next week for 400 slightly further away between this and the next village, 3,500 in the form of a brand new town some 3 miles away and I heard of an approved plan for 2,000 some 5 miles away but just into the next local authoritys boundaries. It's already almost impossible to get a child into a local school, a doctors or dentists appointment and the roads are just so congested that peak times or when there are accidents on the motorway mean we just can't get out of the village. I think life is going to become very much more stressful in the not too distant future and still there is the drive for more housing, I just wish they would build affordable houses that our young folks could manage so they could stay in their home villages but no, they build 4,5 or 6 bed 'Executive' homes and the next generation has to be reared miles away, not good.

jk0

Some of you might remember a couple of years ago I was pleased to find a 46 month energy fix with Npower. At the time I was despairing at the constant price increases that my less well off relatives were facing. I found the deal on Mr Meerkat's comparison site, and was annoyed some time later to find the UK Power site which had even better deals.

However, the fall in the price of oil seems to have decimated energy prices, so I thought I would put my figures in today. Amazingly the cheapest one year fix would save me £407 per year! I took a two year fix that will save £338 per year.

I think the price of oil is creeping up again guys, so now really is the time to get a nice long cheap energy fix if you can switch without penalties.

nuatha

NewShadow wrote: »

I went to a gig last night (Is shocked at self).

Fairport, but was opened by a great 'new' group - said the maiden.

They really stole the show. Just wanted to share (video not from last night)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ChSo0-KVvk

If you have the chance or inclination I would recommend popping along to listen if they end up singing near you.

Saw them a year or so back (supporting Dave Swarbuck I think) They are very good. And would still make a living post-electric,

thriftwizard wrote: »

A story to ponder - fancy being evacuated for up to 48 hours with no notice, for a reason that probably came as a bit of a surprise...?

Classic example of why you want a bag and stuff with you or stashed at a safe but easily accessible distance (thinking NewShadow's work and gym stashes as an example) You BOB isn't much use in a house you can't return to.
Its surprising just how much unexploded munitions is still around. This area it tends to be marine mines fouled in fishing nets, but there's been torpedoes unearthed in gardens and there were bombing raids on the Wear and Tyne to try to cripple ship building and munitions manufacture during WW2. So you never know.
(Plus there's been a couple of private hoards of unused explosives, generally unofficial government or mining surpluses retained for private use. (Finding a few sticks of sweating gelignite in your grandad's allotment shed apparently removes any need for laxatives.)

milasavesmoney wrote: »

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=E6GNDYOKYFs

Ten things people forget to put in their BOB. It's American but it's interesting. See what you think.
Ignore the rifle.

Thank you.
I have several of those covered, but the obvious error in my prepping was photos. He makes a good case (proof of connection as well as looking for someone).
I like his water carrier tip.

GreyQueen

I've seen and heard several uses for large heavy-duty refuse sacks (contractor bags as the americans seem to call them).

Such as making holes for head and arms and then having an emergency poncho. Or packing them with leaves/ other material and making sleeping or seating pads if stranded out of doors. Loss of body-heat by contact with the ground is a real risk if sleeping rough. Or gathering water, just to name a few.

The point being that these items aren't heavy, don't take up much space or weigh much, but have multiple uses, for negligible cost.

There's one item I have seen in some BOB lists but not on this one; gloves. Seriously important, even in hot or temperate climes, to protect your hands from getting seriously beaten up.

Think about it; gathering firewood in the wild isn't like bringing logs in from the log store. You may well be breaking up branches into smaller, burnable or transportable lengths. Some barks are very rough; when bushcrafting in mostly-larch woods, my hands ended up very sore, and I'm a gardener not a lily-handed ladylike type.

Also, wings and dings, cuts and abrasions, contact with plants liable to cause a skin reaction (remember the fun I had last July when I got parsnip juice on hands and wrists which reacted with sunlight and caused burns? I still have some visible damage from the deepest wound, in the form of an area of reddened skin).

If your skin is breached, you can get infections which can severely-debilitate or even kill you. Never mind that, having sore and cut hands would make you less effective in anything you attempted to do.

So, a pair of tough gloves which can stand up to heavy wear would be a very good thing to carry, as would some pairs of surgical gloves, for hygiene or even minor medical procedures.

nuatha

GreyQueen wrote: »

There's one item I have seen in some BOB lists but not on this one; gloves. Seriously important, even in hot or temperate climes, to protect your hands from getting seriously beaten up.

I constantly carry two pairs of gloves, a thinsulate pair for warmth and a pair of rubberised work gloves, these are thin enough that I can operate controls on my camera or do relatively fine work and manipulate tools but offer protection against cuts and scratches. Combining them improves the insulation of the thinsulate and adds a waterproof layer.
I have several pairs of latex surgical gloves in the car kit alongside a pair of "gardening gloves."
I agree you need to protect your hands - they are your second most valuable tool (after your brain) and fairly fragile/vulnerable.

My missing qualifications file - the file had been "borrowed" by a nephew to carry his documents for an interview. He no longer has access to our house, my file and documents have been retrieved intact - from being strewn on his bedroom floor.
Every so often I have a client or project that needs "sight" of my quals, so they live in a posh looking metal file (its fireproof, which is why I bought it).

milasavesmoney

GQ this was about things he was seeing people forget to put in their bags. Hopefully, preppers know to have tough working gloves and surgical gloves. I think you make a good point in that they should be a good quality work glove. Many people no longer have hands used to outdoor work. They would be essential.
I have a bit of an issue with the recommendation for anti-diarrheal meds. I think an antibiotic like Cipro (food or water poisoning) would be more important as the medical recommendation is to not stop diarrhea. Of course, if you are trying to travel or it has gone on more that a few days then that would be another story.

GreyQueen

Morning all.

The difficulty with anti-diarrhea meds is that purging bugs vas diarrhea is the body's natural reaction to certain types of event and there are good arguments for not bunging up your bowel and keeping the bugs in.

Of course, there are times and places where you may well not have access to a loo or even to somewhere au naturel to void your bowels, in which case using such a product is a lot better than the alternative.........:eek:

A few sachets of rehyrdration salts might not be a bad idea, and flat C0ke can also be used for this purpose.

nuatha, I would be very interested to know the brand of gloves you favour. I go through gardening gloves quite quickly and indeed have several different types on the go at once. For things involving bramble-wrangling, where they come over from other plots, I have heavy-duty leather gauntlets. For general purpose gardening, fabric ones and, lately, have been even using those very strong black household gloves.

Was using the latter last night as was weeding in areas where the weeds were booby-trapped with stinging nettles, which caught me out the day before.

I don't particularly like gardening in gloves, I prefer contact with the soil and the dexterity of fine movements, but if you do a lot of gardening, you end up with engrained dirt and lots of minor damage to your hands.

I also have seen and experiences serious sun burn on the backs of the hands and the wrists, body parts where it is hard to keep suncream on.

nuatha, if you get to walk the Tongariro Crossing, be aware that the NZ sun is extremely fierce and you'll be shadeless all day. People come off the mountains scarlet as if they've been flash-fried. I was well-prepared with hats and clothing, and even had thin fingerless gloves covering the backs of my hands but managed to get an inch wide strip of sunburn over the backs of my wrists. Also got sunburned hands when walking the Cornish coast in the heatwave of 2013.

Tell ya, when returning, I shall be packing something like evening gloves......... :rotfl:

nuatha

GreyQueen wrote: »

nuatha, I would be very interested to know the brand of gloves you favour. I go through gardening gloves quite quickly and indeed have several different types on the go at once. For things involving bramble-wrangling, where they come over from other plots, I have heavy-duty leather gauntlets. For general purpose gardening, fabric ones and, lately, have been even using those very strong black household gloves.

The EDC thinsultate ones are a generic ladies glove. Two advantages, the slimmer cut of ladies gloves mean they are a closer fit (and therefore can act as insulated liners without too much bulk) and ladies gloves have a longer cuff.
For heavy duty stuff (including bramble wrangling - on tomorrow's job list- I use leather welding gauntlets, these aren't EDC due to weight and bulk but are handy to have. The thin black gloves are a variant on the household gloves, bought from Aldi at two pair for £3, they've lasted 18 months of very regular use. They are the only gloves I've found that a thin enough to operate my camera and for other fine motor control functions and provide any warmth. The make enough of a difference that at -5C they keep my hands just warm enough to not sieze up in the cold (I'm getting old, I used to work well without protective clothing at -20C for hours). they are a knitted cotton construction and have rubberised fingers and palm.
I've looked at other brands and have yet to find one that I consider as durable.

I prefer to feel the soil with my fingers when gardening, but I also need to be presentable for clients, so generally resort to gloves these days.