Preparedness for when

gt568

Tangoes aren't going to go brassing up rural communities, it's all about effect, impact and publicity.

Busy cities are the place to do over. Maximum casualties, maximum publicity and press coverage, plus maximum psychological impact on the country. Plus it's much easier to blend in and remain anonymous pre-attack.

GreyQueen

Sections of PVC pipe with the special end-caps are reckoned to be the gold-standard for buried caches. Haven't personally tried it myself as I spend an inordinate amount of time unburying random carp from my allotment.

You could also, if you owned woodland or garden trees, think about setting up faux bird boxes (owl boxes are big) or bat boxes. If a passer-by noticed one of them, they'd just think it was part of a conservation effort, and wouldn't think particularly much if they saw the woodland owner up a ladder doing something to the installation.

Have thought that, post SHTF, an allotment site would be a pretty handy place to either forage for resources or actually set up camp.

Thinking about it; presence of food plants such as established fruit bushes and fruit trees, rhurbarb, other perennials. Biennials normally grown as annuals (carrots, parsnip, chard etc) might have set seed and be growing wild. Could be spuds still in the ground and self-sets bearing.

If wanting to set up cultivation, there would be well-worked land, probably not having had any or much by the way of chemical exposure, plus misc outbuildings and useful things like greenhouses and coldframes.

There might even be a (theoretically) defensible perimeter, if your group was large enough.

Cappella

I'm usually elsewhere when something bad happens, it's a talent

It's a good talent to have GreyQueen:)

I was shopping with my daughter in Manchester city centre in 1996 - I will never forget it - the day the IRA bomb was detonated just outside the Arndale Centre. The centre was evacuated quite quickly and we immediately started to head for a bus home. Lots of people seemed to be hanging about to watch, despite police asking them to move on. Goodness knows why? Important shopping maybe? We were heading towards Piccadilly station when the bomb exploded but still felt the blast. No trains and no buses were running by then, so we just carried on walking as fast as we could, until we could drop onto the canal towpath and get away from the main road to head home. We live about 7 miles away from the centre of town and it seemed the longest 7 miles I've ever walked. The canal is the most direct route home though not perhaps the quickest one.
I've always favoured comfortable shoes, am definitely not a victim of fashion, as in my job I was on my feet most of the day; and on that day especially it paid dividends (Reikers and Ecco shoes mostly though Ecco are stupidly pricey these days).
We were lucky that day in so many ways, we were dressed for walking, knew the area well, and knew the quickest walking route home. We were also luckiest of all though that we were given time to get out before the bomb went off.

The experience had a knock on effect though, and served to make me much more aware of my immediate environment, wherever I was. I still find myself thinking of 'quick exits' from whatever buildings I find myself in. It's one of the reasons that I find this thread so interesting. I also make sure my mobile is fully charged and with me, and I keep nuts and fruit in my bag to nibble for an energy boost in an emergency. That day my mobile battery was dead, and my family were getting increasingly frantic when they weren't able to contact us. We had quite a welcome when we finally walked through the door :-)

Old history really, and no tips you don't already know I'm sure

Cappella

GreyQueen said

Have thought that, post SHTF, an allotment site would be a pretty handy place to either forage for resources or actually set up camp.

My thoughts exactly!!!

[Deleted User]

I don't think there is anywhere to leave a cache of supplies en route, all of it is 'common land' and it is an extremely well used area however, the allotments are only just across the road behind the houses there and might be a genuinely sensible first step away from the house. It would still leave us in the middle of the village and all that was happening but there is a dried up stream bed on one of the boundaries that would lead us into another wilderness area but reed beds and marshland rather than woodland so not such an attractive proposition. Worth considering though as I don't know if that is, other than with people who have been born here or allotment holders, common knowledge. Certainly the deer know about it and can walk the boundary fence on the margin of land between the back fences of the houses and the deer fencing on the allotment site, will have to think up what is and isn't possible using that escape route.

NewShadow

I might suggest you consider both routes - you never know what direction trouble's coming from, and where are you going to go if your planned and prepped route is suddenly unsafe?

nuatha

Cappella wrote: »

The experience had a knock on effect though, and served to make me much more aware of my immediate environment, wherever I was. I still find myself thinking of 'quick exits' from whatever buildings I find myself in. It's one of the reasons that I find this thread so interesting. I also make sure my mobile is fully charged and with me, and I keep nuts and fruit in my bag to nibble for an energy boost in an emergency. That day my mobile battery was dead, and my family were getting increasingly frantic when they weren't able to contact us. We had quite a welcome when we finally walked through the door :-)

Old history really, and no tips you don't already know I'm sure

There's theory, all well and good, then there's experience, a far harsher and less forgiving teacher, with (hopefully) less chance of a repeat course.
I'd far rather learn from someone else's experiences than make theoretical assumptions that may not work. I then prefer to test what I've learned (knowing I can walk a decent distance in my "short distance" shoes, or like Lyn upthread, testing an escape route.
Thought exercises are useful, survivor tales which detail what went right and what went wrong and why in both cases as well as what you've changed are far more useful IMO.

I had several friends caught up in the chaos following 7/7 in the aftermath mobile phones were next to useless as the system was overwhelmed with people trying to make calls or send text messages. One used a payphone to get word to a friend out on the Welsh border who then posted news on a Usenet group where it was picked up and shared on Livejournal. As the day went on we knew our group were safe and could direct them to a safe meeting point (As it happens a pub, with ample food and sleeping bags for several days if needed). The equivalent would probably be Facebook now.
Several of the group had picked the same mutual friend, because she worked from home (somewhere out in the sticks) and would be online and be able to find out what was happening, but the initial calls were all landline. (Payphones are a scarcer item these days, and the don't take credit cards or banknotes).
(The pub regularly hosted gatherings, hence the sleeping bags, there was no pre-planning of a contact person or information distribution. We now have three contact point people in different parts of the country, who talk regularly anyway and generally work online. We know which website is likely to have our information up quickly - if we can get web access. And we really hope we don't need to test it beyond theory.

[Deleted User]

Just a little trickle of thought that has fleeting ignited my single little brain cell but when packing BOBs pack things so they don't make a noise when you walk!!! Lots of equipment is metal and doesn't half make a 'clank' when it hits another piece in the bag, so even if you use those single old socks that accumulate in every home to wrap the individual pieces of equipment in, make sure that when you walk with it on your back it's as silent as you can be!

[Deleted User]

How sad am I? ever since suggesting odd socks as packing material I've had a mind (such as it is) running round trying to find uses for odd socks and have so far come up with make do mittens, extra foot warmers, using them to collect things while foraging, tying some together to make an impromptu rope, opening them up and sewing them (I carry small scissors and sewing kit) into a hat or a balaclava, stuffing something heavy and hard into one for a makeshift weapon, using them as a jelly bag and to drain curds for cheese. Any other whacky ideas spring to mind???

NewShadow

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/279198

Some Saturday reading for you MLW - 9 pages of what to do with odd socks...

Dachshund cosy was my favourite suggestion I think.