Preparedness for when

Popperwell

BBC2 are looking 4 people who can grow their own fruit&veg. Think U can show the nation how it’s done? Email grow@silverriver.tv

boultdj

But I had to have a dialogue with him,pineapple, I was trying to sell the bl**dy house,even if it did need a lot of work doing on it, beside's if you meet me in real life,you'd understand why the donkey's only got 3 leg's and keep's trying to runaway from me:D

GreyQueen

I have two windows open creating a cross-breeze thru the kitchen, but good to mention it. The wax is perfumed so rather smelly anyway.

Pops, I stand big steady candles on an enamel plate. All on their ownsome on an empty table. Have got a wide variety of candle-holders, too.

One must never ever leave a candle burning unattended and must be careful that there's nothing like curtains which could blow into them.

Long before Superstorm Sandy last autumn, where some poor souls died in the aftermath due to not knowing that running generators need ventilation, I was reading somewhere that fire risks would be much higher in a SHTF situation.

You'd have candles, possibly oil lamps, stoves, people who'd perhaps no experience of open fires opening up their fireplaces. People perhaps burning plastics, composite "woods" such as MDF and chipboard/ plywood or wood treated with preservatives and paints indoors with attendant risks from fumes.

Of course, even if you're fire-savvy and candle-wise, it doesn't follow that the people next door know what they're doing. If you add the potential for alcohol consumption into it, it all gets a bit :eek:.

There was a mass-hospitalisation only a few weeks ago in London where a BBQ was brought indoors (lit!) to be used to dry clothes and the household inc several children were overcome with fumes and nearly died.

[Deleted User]

GreyQueen wrote: »

Of course, even if you're fire-savvy and candle-wise

That's the advantage of being born in the 60s, when almost everyone had a coal fire (and paraffin heaters), and living through the 70s, with the attendant power cuts.

Of course, when you are a child, power cuts are an adventure.

As an adult, they're just a PITA.

GreyQueen

I'm a sixties-seventies child too and really enjoyed the power cuts. Can recall bouncing into the kitchen one night when my poor Mum was trying to cook a pan of potatoes, by candlelight, on a very small paraffin stove.

Isn't this great?!? I enthused. She pulled a sour face, probably didn't trust herself to say anything. A kid just thinks it's a novelty, a parent is trying to get at least one cooked meal down your neck a day.

She still has that paraffin stove. People who haven't had the fun of frequent and long-lasting powercuts probably don't understand the fondness of the rest of us in respect of candles and stoves and lanterns.

BigMummaF

mardatha wrote: »

....Am thinking people will start moaning like hell this year as the new lot of cuts come in. Wouldn't mind if it was actually helping the state of the country, but for every penny this shower take off the the sick they are spending two on Atos and the like. Borrowing seems to be going up not down. It's not saving, it's re-distribution of wealth - and not in our favour.
The changes in how benefits are paid will mess up thousands of people who are scraping along the bottom doing their best in difficult circs - just so the govt can look tough and like they know what they're doing. I am so mad.
Signed Red Mard. Gimme a barricade.
Or a guillotine.

I am sooooo glad I don't have any appointments soon that will require taking my blood pressure I'm afraid the gogglebox is one 'luxury' that I will endevour to keep as I find many interesting things inside its magic window, one being a certain morning show. I ignore the first four channels & generally the discussions on the fifth are thought-provoking & sometimes comical. Maffew (W)R1ght is forthright with his opinions but--like me--is willing to hear t'other side & readily admits if there's something he's not considered.

This last week the talk was of the introduction of a kind of debit card for benefit claimants that would restrict the stuff guvmunt says they shouldn't spend "their" (as in guvmunt!) money on, like booze & ciggies. You should see the uproar on the show's f@ceache page, & 99% of it is justified. One caller said she was in the US in a supermarket when suddenly an alarm went off & security swarmed to a checkout. It seems a fairly new benefit claimant had added a pair of jeans to their shopping, not realising they are a 'banned' item according to their system!

Another episode was discussing the 'Bedroom Tax' & apparently there is no reprieve in Housing Benefit cuts even if there are no smaller dwellings for the unlucky tenents to move to :wall: It seems too, that no consideration is made for adult children who are away at uni etc., shared custody of under 18s or the need for over-night respite carers.

They surely cannot do this to people who are struggling already with redundancy &/or illness And, as someone put on the comments of the web page, does this mean we can give mps cards in lieu of their wages because they are paid by the state too :rotfl:

pineapple wrote: »

G'day all. I feel obliged to alert my fellow preppers to the presence of a strange object in the sky here in West Yorkshire. It's a big, glowing, yellow/white orb and it's made the landscape hereabouts oddly bright.
Shields eyes..... :eek:

We've got a similar UG (glowing) O here in the Sarf too Pineapple..waddiya fink they iz Tried asking the Wise OLD Woman of Watching out of Windows & she thinks it might be inter-galactic pulses travelling at warp speed 32 in bursts of hyper-speed in a fan's night tum & as such, striking the upper hemisphere is causing light to be refracted in the yellow because of the gases surrounding the nebular crises (Remind me not to ask next time )

mardatha

I once had a neighbour - straight off the farm - who painted the staircase with some paint they "found" lying around in the steading. It was creosote, and she had a Tupperware party that same night. As we sat around the coal fire, we weren't sure if we would asphyixiate or explode.

[Deleted User]

BigMummaF wrote: »

I'm afraid the goggle-box is one 'luxury' that I will endeavour to keep as I find many interesting things inside its magic window, one being a certain morning show.

Can you not get that show (and others) on Catchup?

2tonsils

Our visitors in the summer are often stunned at our 'basic' lifestyle in Greece...we try our best to inform them that we don't have a holiday villa complete with swimming pool but they don't listen...they have a mental image of a wonderful retreat where they can sun themselves all day and sit by the pool.....unfortunately they think it is our reality.

In fact we have a 300 year old village house with all that entails. We have a storage tank for filtered water under the house but it has to be pumped up to be used. The water in the mains tap is not fit for drinking, only for washing and showers etc. The drinking water we get in containers from the spring which is tested four times a week for purity. We do buy some bottled water but it has to be brought from the shop.

Visitors are always horrified when they drink all the water then I refill the jug from the container from the spring. They say they want bottled water but are not willing to carry it up the hill from the shop (yes, its heavy!!!).

They do not like to use the bin in the bathrooms to put 'waste' toilet paper in and cannot get to grips with the fact that they cannot put that paper down the loo without blocking it.... (we are on mains sewage but have small bore pipes..hence they block!). I always point out that its better than emptying the sewage into the sea like some countries do.

The visitors can't get to grips with the fact that houses need to be aired due to the humidity all the year round here and go around shutting windows even in 42 degrees lol. My mother in law offered to buy us fitted carpets and wallpaper bless her......so I had to explain we don't have fitted carpets due to the heat in the summer ( we have mats down in the winter) and that wallpaper would not stay on the walls due to the humidity.

They laugh at our candle supplies and oil lamps but we need them in the power cuts, whether they be summer or winter ones. I like to be prepared and no doubt this summer the visitors will laugh at my food and fuel supplies.....but even they could need them here if the SHTF anytime they are visiting.

At the moment my friend, with two children in tow...is stuck on the mainland. One of the children had to go for a hospital appointment on Thursday...the ferry strike started so another friend took them in a small boat used for charters. They were seasick all the way over....then the ferries were cancelled again till Monday so their friend offered to bring them back...but the winds are high and its too dangerous so they are stuck there till further notice.....you never know when you might be in a difficult situation and have to cope the best you can.

Got more earthquakes here today...crete at 4.7 this afternoon.

Stay warm and safe...looks like the cold spell is on its way to you.

Margaret54

Thank you so much Ali Greyqueen and Mrs Lurcherwalker for your kind words. They made me feel so welcome and lovely to hear. Pops that was so ignorant and cruel for that care assistant to say in front of you wee Mum. The word is "care" which that person obviously didn't. Lovely to be back here reading and catching up on all the posts again. Take good care everyone and keep warm and well.xx