Preparedness for when

JayneC

:Dooh pineapple we cross posted! Great minds eh?

GreyQueen

Sunshine4 wrote: »

I have a question I hope it doesnt sound stupid.

what is the difference between a KK and a Ghillie kettle.
Would like to get one but not sure which one.

Thanks in advance.
Denise

Evening. I think the main difference is that the ghillie has a whistle so you know when it's boiling.

Butterfly_Brain wrote: »

VJsmum there is a true old saying......."Never cast a clout 'till May is out" very true.
DS was born 6th May 1994 and we had snow on the ground :eek: and I remember it snowing in June 1975 :eek: how strange was that?

I remember that happening but I didn't remember when it was! This way, it was a snow shower, didn't settle.

trying_to_stay_afloat wrote: »

Hi all
Hope you dont mind me jumping in, I am a long time lurker/reader of this thread and say a HUGE thank you for the fantastic information.
I love my kelly kettle and it does stirling work at the allottment supplying me with tea. The fuel I use it home made paper briquettes dryed in ice cube trays, they burn really well, are free and easy to make. It also saves on shredding all those bills and stuff!
Keep up the good work, you have really changed how I live my life.

It's lovely to have you posting and please post lots more. Remember there's never any such thing as a silly question and even if it's obscure, the Borg-brain which is old style probably knows the answer.

Nice trick with the mini briquettes, gotta steal that one. Not that there's room for an ice cube tray in my mini freezer most of the time but you can but hope.........

Re the seeds...........F1 (from memory it stands for first filial generation) are fertile but because they're hybrids what you get if you save them won't be what you got when you grew them the first time around. That might be a good thing, it might be a bad thing. If you have saved some F1s by mistake from your own plants, you might as well chuck them in to see what happens. There should always be room in life for a bit of I wonder what would happen if I.......? It's how our species advances.

Some seeds are reliable keepers and some aren't. Carrots are leetle boogers because they're ropy germinators in the best of conditions with fresh seed, so much so that they've got a special exemption from performing to the same germination standards as other veg seeds.

Peas and beans will save quite nicely for years. Keep them dry, cool and away from plastic and those things which live in windmills in Amsterdam and are Unmentionable in polite society as some people are phobic.

You can let some plants set their own seeds, like parsnips and harvest the seeds when they have dried out on the plant. Put the seed heads into a large bag and shake and do this on a windless day.

I'd think the best way to preserve seeds is a mixture of growing your own regularly and a small amount of bought-in seed. They're not expensive. If TSHF there will be a run on fuel and food but a lot of people wouldn't think of veg seeds until it's too late and all the canny people have got theirs in. I read an American blogger who remarked in passing on preppers who figured if they got sealed seeds and stored them all would be OK post-SHTF whereas gardening is a skill which needs practising, not just waiting to try it as a noob when you're relying on it to stop you starving.

For anybody with access to a 99p store, could I just draw your attention to the very large flattened oval tins of sardines in tomato sauce or mackerel in vegetable oil; 455g weight. Very prepperish; quality protein, excellent value for money, in date til Dec 2015 and, joy of joys, STACKABLE.

I think the FB pie may have a rival for my affections.......

ETA JayneC, I'm in the local govt pension scheme with less than 20 years to go. Pay in about the same as I pay in income tax, tbh. However, if I opted out, I'd be paying income tax and NICs on that money so wouldn't gain pound for pound at all. I'm staying put for the moment but as a part-timer with not too many years service I shall be getting well under £800.00 a year. This is one of those gold plated pensions which the Daily Wail likes to rant about, btw.

However, my death-in-service grant to my nominated heir should I die before drawing my pension is a tidy £34k. I may well be faking my death and splitting the profits with my heir.............

System

Hello
I've been reading this thread with great interest over the last couple of days and been spurred into action!
So today I've ordered a little gas stove, fuel & kettle, some water treatment tablets and a solar charger for my phone.
Also stocked up on food, bottled water, milk, cat food & cat litter.
Already have candles, matches, wind-up torch & full freezer.
There's only me & DD & 2 cats so it wasn't too big a job and its all stashed away in the spare room and I feel happier. We don't have outrageous weather here in the Thames Valley so I don't need as much as those of you who live in the wilds. I've only told DD as everyone else would think I'm dotty (if they don't already :rotfl: )

So just wanted to thank everyone who's posted and made me think about stuff!

JayneC

This is one of those gold plated pensions which the Daily Wail likes to rant about, btw.

GQ mine too and probably similar amount:D

I reckon it's probably worth it still, even with the NI and Tax and I could always rejoin when I've paid my debts off if things look ok ( or buy gold instead;))

[Deleted User]

Hello ROSYQ glad you've joined us on the thread, well done for starting to make provision for 'just in case' you just never know when the weather or anything else disruptive will choose to happen on your doorstep, so best to be prepared anyway. Don't you worry about folks thinking you're dotty - they know WE are!!!!! But its lots of fun and great company, welcome aboard, Cheers Lyn x.

DawnW

GreyQueen wrote: »

ETA JayneC, I'm in the local govt pension scheme with less than 20 years to go. Pay in about the same as I pay in income tax, tbh. However, if I opted out, I'd be paying income tax and NICs on that money so wouldn't gain pound for pound at all. I'm staying put for the moment but as a part-timer with not too many years service I shall be getting well under £800.00 a year. This is one of those gold plated pensions which the Daily Wail likes to rant about, btw.

Do you mean 8000.00 a year?

GreyQueen

DawnW wrote: »

Do you mean 8000.00 a year?

No. I wish. It's actually £778.93, as in less than £800.00.

Would be quite happy with £8K, it's not far off what I earn now.:D

Welcome in rosyq

bluebag

GreyQueen wrote: »

No. I wish. It's actually £778.93, as in less than £800.00.

Would be quite happy with £8K, it's not far off what I earn now.:D

Welcome in rosyq

I can't quite remember where I read it, but the vast majority of public sector worker 'GolD Plated' pensions the daily wail likes to wind the private sector up about has an average payment of 4K a year... hardly going to retire in Bermuda on that!

2tonsils

Hi folks, I am here, safely in one piece I am glad to say. Had a few busy days getting things sorted out as the SUN CAME OUT!!! After all that rain it decided to have a warm dry spell so I made the most of it while I could.Got all my washing done and dried, got lots of jobs done around the house and outside and most importantly got some sun on my face.

Had acupuncture on my shoulder and the doctor did a great job. I still have a problem with the tendon in my upper arm and if the pain continues I will have to go for an MRI scan on it to see if I need surgery to repair a tear . I have to get my health book back first from being stamped so it could be weeks. That might not be a bad thing because it will have more time to heal if its going to heal.

I went to have my hair trimmed today and the split ends taken off...I told the girl I never blow dry it because of the static that builds up...she ignored me and continued. I thought I was going to electrocute her with the static it was so bad, every time her hands came near me my hair stood on end and followed her movements. I had to tame it with conditioner and hair spray when I got home.

Yes, the snow and deep freeze that I predicted weeks ago is going to hit the UK and central europe next week. Nicely timed for us to run out of firewood, so I am going to have to get some tomorrow. I don't want to order a ton as I have no one to get it in for me, I can't do it myself at the moment.

My husband is still in a lot of pain with his back, this has been a really bad winter for him with the rainy weather and sudden changes in temperature. We are going to do a few repairs and the house is going to go on sale so we can downsize. If things don't get any worse here we will look for a small bungalow/house with a bit of veggie garden on the island, if it does get worse then we are going to leave if we sell.

I was shocked that someone popped on here and said that the people in Spain, Greece, Italy etc are not suffering. Is that judgement from personal experience or from listening to the crap in the UK media? Believe me they are suffering....I have seen the old people eating out of the bins, the old lady fainting at her electric bill with new taxes. I have seen the 70 year old man sell his car to get money for medicines and start riding a 40 year old vespa to the market.

There are children fainting in schools here from malnutrition and they are just starting to give them milk and a piece of fruit (from charities)Rickets has made a come back and so has TB and other diseases.

Worst of all is the fact that there have been over 3000 suicides here as a direct result of the suffering inflicted on them by greedy banks and even greedier politicians......and there is no end in sight for those who are suffering.There are medicine shortages again and people cannot get or cannot afford the heart and cancer meds........and people are scrambling over the free food given away now and again. Believe me, they are suffering...and the minimum wage here is now 3.75 euros an hour with no unemployment, no social security and no housing benefits for anyone, even if you have paid in 400 euros a month.

GreyQueen

bluebag wrote: »

I can't quite remember where I read it, but the vast majority of public sector worker 'GolD Plated' pensions the daily wail likes to wind the private sector up about has an average payment of 4K a year... hardly going to retire in Bermuda on that!

Yeah, this is the case. There are some highly-paid people in the public sector, a few in each authority. Some of them earn as much or even more than MPs. But the only qualification for MP-dom seems to be to be a good liar....... Whereas the chief financial officer of a L A will have professional qualifications and be really good at sums.

Local government workers include such high-livin' fauna as school cleaners, lolly-pop persons, library assistants, streetcleaners and lots of other glamourous exotica on not terribly much more than min wage and mostly female and part-time. At best, we're only topping up our state pension by a little and you have to opt out of the state second pension to be in the local govt scheme anyway. Thought I heard that the ssp was disappearing anyway....?

I'm not expecting to be living high on the hog as a pensioner. Bit dubious given my medical history whether I shall live to pensionable age, but I keep on. Kid brother gets the death-in-service as I know he'll spend it on things I approve of: books, chocolate and looking after the cats............:p

ETA glad to see you posting 2tonsils, we always worry when you disappear, imagining you've been fried in some extreme weather event. Stay safe.