Preparedness for when

2tonsils

bluebag wrote: »

2tonsils

Things are happening rather fast over there, goodness knows what is going on behind closed doors. Things I thought 'tin foil hattery' not long ago are today's reality.

One suggestion I will make to you if I may, it has been known in the past for governments to introduce capital controls to prevent money moving from one county to another, it would not surprise me if they did that again in these troubled times.

It may be worth you having a few months bills and living expenses within your country should that happen. It would at least give you some breathing space.

Thanks for that...we have enough for a few months bills but at the moment are keeping it in sterling, not euros.

ALIBOBSY

WLL my potatos are still in the shed chitting and are a freezing as me lol.

I am thinking of starting some off in pots in the unheated greenhouse for some early new potatos, but always debate when to get the others in. Don't grow huge amounts as even with the prices going up we can get sacks of locally produced spuds ie 25kgs for around £6-£8 dependant on variety. Just doing charlottes this year.

Just wish the spring would hurry up as dying to get going lol. Spent some time in the greenhouse watering what I have managed to get going-broad beans/peas/sweetpeas in old toilet rolls, garlic and various root veggies in cell trays/unheated propagators and trays of salad leaves. But my fingers are getting itchy, think I may need to plant some seeds this afternoon lol. May start some more toms on the windowsill for the greenhouse later on

Ali x

Popperwell

I know depending on whether you rent from a private landlord/housing association/council and your views on Bedroom tax and benefits in general can cause upset so I make no comment either way but it fits in with the reason for this thread and prepping as circumstances can change within seconds...

http://brightgreenscotland.org/index.php/2013/03/brighton-council-refuses-to-evict-over-bedroom-tax/

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/thousands-march-tell-david-cameron-1769464

Put here only for information purposes...

mcjordi

Popperwell wrote: »

I know depending on whether you rent from a private landlord/housing association/council and your views on Bedroom tax and benefits in general can cause upset so I make no comment either way but it fits in with the reason for this thread and prepping as circumstances can change within seconds...

http://brightgreenscotland.org/index.php/2013/03/brighton-council-refuses-to-evict-over-bedroom-tax/

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/thousands-march-tell-david-cameron-1769464

Put here only for information purposes...

livin would 99% evict trust me on that one.. they are on my back if i owe 1 weeks money ( i pay every 2 weeks)

Popperwell

I think so and you notice it was a council that was more understanding, you and I know that councils around here were disolved and housing stock tranferred and most wanted things left as they were. And ok this is political...the changes happened under the previous Government.

I understand the bedroom tax is in general more expensive under housing associations than councils which is basically saying that though property is still called Social to some extent you are treated more as a private renter. Its a technical point.

mardatha

They will all evict yes, because they can't afford not to. And yes WLL it's going to get worse - there's no way that debt problems will just dissolve.

BitterAndTwisted

What's completely illogical to me is that Local Authority (and very possibly Housing Association) rents are a fair bit lower than private ones. Well, they should be as that's why they call them "affordable"!

In my own local authority, for a person over 35 years of age and claiming JSA the maximum amount of LHA contribution would be £250 a week. A one-bed LA flat in my area would be a lot less than £100 a week. So, if those who have a "spare" bedroom decide to move out into the private sector, the burden on the tax-payer would be more than double. Not that anyone on only £71 a week would have the resources to move anywhere.

The whole thing is just mental, and just proves that there's absolutely no pretence at cutting benefits or something similar. It's just punishing those who are down already. The vast majority of properties whch are "under-occupied" are lived in by old people and they have been excluded from the HB cap. Mental!

ALIBOBSY

TBH if the "bedroom tax" was about under occupancy it would have included pensioners and you would be given the option to avoid the extra if you volunteer to downsize. Its all about cutting payments.

The more I read and think about it the whole concept of government collecting up money and "redistrubuting it" at great cost mostly was never going to be sustainable. We have claimed benefits when we had to and my heart says having a support system like this is the way a civil society should act, but my head says the whole idea is flawed.

In particular the tax credit system (which hold my hands up we have claimed on-who wouldn't claim if you can) almost activity discourages work and certainly stops people wanting to do overtime.

The isn't just the costs of the actual payouts being made its all the associated costs and admin. In an ideal world we would have a very basic local council/gov body to take a small local tax to pay for centralised stuff like roads/rubbish and the basic stuff we really need done centrally.

We would live in local villages where we all looked after family members and those who could no longer work amongst ourselves and they would find some kind of productive roll as teacher/company/tale teller/helping with child care or just simply being part of the community we would be self sustaining and all equal. But then I start to sound like a hippy or perhaps a communist and the reality is someone always wants more and would not be satisfied with a basic life.

I really wish we had enough money to sell up and buy a smallholding, we would try to be as self sufficient as possible and batten down the hatches.

OH and I find ourselves having odd conversations now. Like at half term we went for a walk locally and at the far end of the walk there is a big lake full of birds. In the centre is a fair sized island with trees and bushes to hide in and we actually discussed if it would be a good bug out spot-sort of hiding in full sight so to speak and how we would have to get across to it so would it be worth getting a packed up dingy/boat type affair. Then we both started to laugh maybe we are getting too obsessed lol.

Ours kids seem shocked when their friends have never seen wind up lanterns/torches/radios before-so its nice to know we aren't alone in our thoughts tho by chatting on here . Also once had to reassure a panic stricken mum who rang me to say her daughter said "she was eating leaves and stuff from the garden" that it was salad leaves and herbs from the raised beds not some poisonous bush lol.
Seeing their friends faces when they eat peas or mange tout straight off the plant or chew fresh spearmint is lovely-the number who have no idea peas/beans come in pods. I have a lovely memory of DS a couple of years back washing off freshly pulled carrots under the outside tap for him and his mates to snack on whilst running around having fun. All those kids with no idea how to grow food at all.

ali x

JayneC

My goodness there's a definite air of unease about isn't there? I think we're teetering at the moment and things could well get very sh1tty very soon...
I've really felt much more urgency when thinking about prepping in recent weeks.
2 tonsils I think you are right to stay put - I think it may be a case of out of the frying pan, into the fire... if you came back. I think it's only a matter of time before the SHTF here too. And I think you're right about runs on the banks, I can see it happening all over and that really will push things over the edge:( I think it's getting out of control now and it's not going to be pulled back, hold onto yer seats out there...

SnP welcome, nice to see you.

Paid a flying visit to the lottie this morning and got some shallots in, am way behind with things, the weather has been just horrid and I've hardly had chance to do anything. Had a little pootle in the front yard too and am considering if I can squeeze any more edibles in there. I've got a blackcurrant bush, rhubarb, a gooseberry bush, lemon balm,chocolate mint, verbena and st john's wort (which is surprisingly large) in a tiny terraced house front yard probably no more than 3 ft deep:pas well as some flowers!!
Walked the mad doggie in the peeing down rain and collected some sticks for kindling, now drying out on top of woodburner (the sticks not me;))

Take care all xx

JayneC

ALI what you are describing is of course the only sustainable way to live. Just look at communities that have been around for millenia and that's what they look like. Big civilizations inevitably fail, they always have and there's no reason to believe that won't happen again.
The reason Government doesn't work like that is that then there's not enough money around for people to be able to 'get rich' . Most of the 'system' most of society is set up purely to keep the money creation game going. Work for wages so you can buy stuff hopefully by getting into debt as that creates the most money. In fact savers aren't required any more the system has got so deformed that it exists almost entirely on debt, which can never be repaid because the money to repay it doesn't actually exist!
Oh we're very gloomy today aren't we:(, sorry for the rant - I do have a tendency to 'go off on one'