Preparedness for when

GreyQueen

the cake, what you say about wellies backs up what one of my pals, who works in a country-style outfitters, has told me.

He gets county gents coming in for H*nt*r wellies, all Little Englander and I won't buy foriegn rubbish and he has to tell them that this brand are now made in China and that they pretty much are rubbish these days. He recommends the French brands you named on quality grounds, too. They don't keep being brought back in as defective.

And the Little Englander, if offered a choice of an "English" brand name on Chinese-manufactured rubbishy product, or a French branded and French-manufacturer superior product, is suddenly transformed into a pro-European.......:rotfl:

Wellies do have a finite life and the rubber deteriotates in proximity to petrol fumes, so where you wellies normally live may well have a bearing on how long they last. And I definately agree with looking for old stuff off good quality. I grew up with those grey army surplus blankets at home and have even darned them if they got a little bit of moth. Now that's old style for ya.

Well, looking at the news, it seems that some of the citizenry have spent a cold and uncomfortable night stuck in their cars. I wonder what percentage had winter preps with them, and what percentage will be looking to acquire them after the event?

A few days ago SuperGran was stranded, in broad daylight in the middle of the day, on the periphery of the city where a road crash had caused chaos. For hours. Road was blocked in both directions and traffic was stationary for some time and a crawl to get back into the centre where we live. It took her 20 mins to get the last 200m into the block.

For those of us who have cars (I don't) this is something to consider if you plan to bug out by vehicle from a dense urban environment, whether it is where you live, work or visit.

If there is an incident, the roads will gridlock. Sometimes the entire region will seize up, which happened to me when I returned from my last foriegn holiday and it took 10 hours to get home from Gatwick. The M25 had been closed in both directions due to a suspected gas leak. Stop-start. The coach driver went off-piste to try and get around the problem on smaller roads. Us and a few hundred thousand other vehicles, it seems.

Fortunately I had a litre of water in a Platypus, some cereal bars and a good book but it wasn't a lot of fun, particularly after the coach's WC overflowed. Nat Express, gotta love 'em. But imagine if you're trying to run for your life and you're stuck in a traffic jam up on the main road or even in your own neighbourhood. Need to think of a Plan B.

Thriftwizard, there has been some research as to how muggers select their victims, done with recordings of ordinary street scenes and convicted muggers. Academics were trying to figure out how some people live safely in certain neighbourhoods whilst others are repeat victims. When there'd randomised for age, appearance, apparent vulnerability, they still couldn't fathom it out.

The muggers pointed out who they'd pick on if they were on that street looking for a mark. The academics then analysed the images and what they found out was this; looking un-alert was the biggest factor, but even random things such as having your arms and legs out of sync when walking was enough to target you. Muggers particularly didn't like people with their heads up who were paying attention because their goal was to be in and out of your personal space before you could recognise them.

I aim to give the visual signal that I haven't got much worth taking and I'd be too much trouble to take it from. Works thus far, and people do get mugged in my neighbourhood.

Oh, I found out that the Scarrow brothers (Alex and Simon) have a website. And it has a forum. Where they're discussing prepperish issues post Alex's books. Pretty interesting.......

It's bitter here again today, the coldest of the winter. March can be a treacherous month. I thank my lucky stars for the trapper hat I purchased last autumn.

catznine

Just listened to Cheryl Baker being interviewed as she was caught up in the traffic chaos on the A23/M23 for many hours! She said she wished she had blankets in the car ( they had been out to rescue their twin daughters who didn't have warm clothing.) Also wellies as her trainers were useless in the snow! It made my dh take notice as he tends to laugh at my preps for the car!

pineapple

catznine wrote: »

Just listened to Cheryl Baker being interviewed as she was caught up in the traffic chaos on the A23/M23 for many hours! She said she wished she had blankets in the car ( they had been out to rescue their twin daughters who didn't have warm clothing.) Also wellies as her trainers were useless in the snow! It made my dh take notice as he tends to laugh at my preps for the car!

I wouldn't care but the reason they were out in the first place was to rescue family - it wasn't as if they encountered unexpected bad weather on a midsummers night. :huh:
Pineapple has some green wellies which seem set to last forever - despite almost daily use. Which is unfortunate as she would like an excuse to get some of those jazzy wellies you can get nowadays. We did have some Royal Hunters with studs (must have been going through a landed gentry phase ) but they got ditched owing to going A over T when the studs slipped on some damp stones.

[Deleted User]

Lyn also has some very venerable green wellies, has in fact had them for the past 20 years and the treads and uppers are still as good as the day she bought them. They were £10 I think and came from a builders supply yard. Oh how the world laughed, I wonder if they would laugh today looking at prices of even the chinese made look alikes that would last 1 season, no, I laugh now!!!!!!!

Cheapskate

DH's wellies belonged to his stepfather, who died well over 30 years ago, and he'd had them for at least 10 years before that, so knocking on the door of half a century!!! I think they may have been proper, British-made Dunlops, but there are no identifying marks left now.

A xo

katieclampet

Bitterly cold here and about 1in of snow. I have 2 sets of wellies, some very sturdy dark green ones, which I must have had for 30yrs, still in immaculate condition. I also have a pair of cheaper looking ones, kindly donatated to me by a neighbour, that I keep in my car. I used to just put them in in winter, but we had so much rain and flooding over the last year or so, that I leave them in all year round.

If I have to walk home, or leg it away, it will be with dry warm feet. (also keep socks in bob in car!) As to a shtf or eotwawki scenerio I really really would like to batten down the hatches and stay at home.
I think trying to get out of the city (well I live in a quiet area just outside manchester) would be hell, since as mentioned it would be gridlocked, with everyone trying to get out. I am not sure whether we would be over run by the hoardes, (where I live) or they would bypass us to get further out into the countryside.

will have a look at scarrow bros website, sounds like it might be interesting.

stay warm everyone

katie

bluebag

I don't do wellies as I have very cold feet and within 5 minutes I can't walk as I can't feel my feet.

I do have some some great snow boots which are fleecy lined. They will take quite a bit of water before giving way to the deluge, but I can't dance in puddles much to my dismay.:(

RAS

bluebag wrote: »

I don't do wellies as I have very cold feet and within 5 minutes I can't walk as I can't feel my feet.

I found some relatively cheap neoprene wellies in a sale. Toast.

southantrim3

Hope everyone keeps safe in that pretty horrible weather out there. Thankfully in Northern Ireland it's not too bad (snow wise) but it's bitterly cold...

elaine241

Well it seems I will be staying in and reading for the next few days/weeks! I have bought After Light and how to survive the end of the world book (not the correct title cant remember it!) as neither were in the library and I am too impatient to wait! bought them 2nd hand so a bit MSE. I have requested The Road as it is out on loan, probably one of you lot!

As for wellies, I live on a farm and I have a pair on hunters but the old UK ones, they are great if you have a lot of walking to do as they support your instep. As for wearing wellies in the snow a Russian friend of mine always says they are the worst thing to wear as they do not keep your feet warm even with socks etc. SHe always swears by good sturdy leather boots for snow with insoles and natural fibre socks. I must admit I find wellies cold and this year for riding the horses I invested in a pair of wool and silk ski socks along with my faithful old thermals and my feet were warm even in the snow.

I am having the week off work this week so along with watching CHeltenham races I will be checking and listing my stocks as I have lost track of exactly what I have. I have been a bit sneaky as I havent told my OH or anyone I have some days off as if I did there is always a time thief who needs me to do a job or asks me to run errands etc etc! Yes I am being selfish but why not!:)