Preparedness for when

Popperwell

the_cake wrote: »

Anyone else see Lifesaver System's water purification bottle on Tomorrow's World (BBC2) last night? http://www.lifesaversystems.com/lifesaver-products-1/lifesaver-bottles/lifesaver-bottle-4000uf#.UWfvN75wbIU
Really effective and impressive, but sadly also expensive....

Seen a water filter bottle on sale in Wilkinsons for approx £7(with filter)it looks like the small bottles you buy of any well known water/pop but does not purify water as far as I know. Filters come in two costing approx £10.

Expensive...its handy in that the filter is in the bottle but you could use your filter water jug at home if you have one you could reuse bottles you have and I suppose you could add purification tablets if you have any. Might work out cheaper?

Popperwell

Gruesome and yet...
Once we are no longer here does it matter?

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/metal-body-parts-recycled-road-signs--hips-leg-screws-skulls-used-in-lamp-posts-car-parts-112558907.html#8BODs4B

The_Dragon

Popperwell wrote: »

Gruesome and yet...
Once we are no longer here does it matter?

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/metal-body-parts-recycled-road-signs--hips-leg-screws-skulls-used-in-lamp-posts-car-parts-112558907.html#8BODs4B

Doesn't bother me any - any actually makes a lot of sense!

Popperwell

I thought along your lines too Dragon and I assume they took Mum's hip implant out of the remains...was never asked by the Funeral Director if she had any metal parts...or perhaps they can tell or have access to such information.

Sounds like a new idea so not sure it even happens locally as yet!

2tonsils

Just a quick update while my dinner goes down...I have been reading the updates and it's looking very dodgy re N. Korea. Facebook seems to be full of idiots who are taking sides and not considering the consequences. It only needs one fool of any nationality to push the button when a UFO or unidentified plane shows up on the radar and we are all in the middle of it!

I received my papers with details of working in Saudi last night and it was a bit of a shocker to be honest. I knew they had strict laws but blimey , some of them are unbelievable. So much so that I notified them that I would not be completing the application they sent to me. No wonder the wages are fantastic!

We have decided to hang on here until the right job comes up for me. It will give us more time to decorate and do bits and pieces to the house. No compromises on the job, it has to be under the right working conditions and something I really want to do. I will hear about the job in Turkey by the end of this month as I am shortlisted. That would be my ideal choice but in the meantime I am sending in more applications.

I have been so busy this week I didn't realise it was my shopping day till late this afternoon. I went and stocked up but some of the shelves and freezers were totally empty. For once I have absolutely no idea why! I haven't heard of any strikes or ferries not sailing so don't know why they should be so low on stocks.

One thing that does worry me is the fact that I will have to run my SHTF stocks before we leave...tis a very scary thought when world war 3 or a flu epidemic could come along sometime soon. My MIL comes over for a holiday from mid May to the end of May and after that I will be starting to clear the food cupboards and freezers.

The good thing is that if I get the job in Turkey that I want , they pay up to 200 dollars for excess baggage to take whatever I want with me on the plane. Other than clothes, meds, camera, kobo, laptop and the odd torch (which will all fit in my normal luggage allowance) has anyone any suggestions about good things to take? I am already planning to take masses of documents and books on a memory stick with me. Any suggestions are welcome.....if I get the job it will be Northern Turkey and we will get snow in the winter months.

RAS

Well about to go home and get busy for the weekend.

If you are out and about in the £ shops a couple of things that I noticed are back in stock.

Poundland - USB 5 LEDs on a straight bar - great for using the 'puter when the other lights are out and enough to move around by if the wand is vertical. Have had one of these for about 2 years now and use it a lot in winter.

Poundworld - small 3 LED solar torch keyring. Not brilliant but enough light to search for something in your stores. Now they might have a little battery hidden in there rather than and effective solar panel but I have this in the south facing window to charge up. Think I might get another and alternate them - one in the BOP.

One of these or Home Bargains - slim plastic component boxes with 8-35 compartments. Could be used to corral and sort small quantitoes of lots of useful items from fishhooks and line to sowing kit, firekit etc.

Am slowly collecting together stuff from all over the house into a BOP and realsie that the emergency blankets date back 20 years so I may invest in a new one.

Paul_Varjak

the_cake wrote: »

Anyone else see Lifesaver System's water purification bottle on Tomorrow's World (BBC2) last night? http://www.lifesaversystems.com/lifesaver-products-1/lifesaver-bottles/lifesaver-bottle-4000uf#.UWfvN75wbIU
Really effective and impressive, but sadly also expensive....

There are cheaper alternatives which are almost as good. The problem with the Lifesavers Bottle is that it has to be pumped up to get a decent flow rate as it relies on a 15nm pore size to filter out ALL viruses and bacteria.

A Sawyer water bottle can filter out bacteria but not viruses and can be bought for around £30. Being able filter out viruses is not really necessary in the UK, unless you are thinking of a post apocalyptic world of course!

A Berkey water bottle will filter out all viruses and bacteria, again for around £30 and it also has a carbon filter to get rid of nasty chemicals as well. It is so good that you can turn sugar-free drinks back into water in seconds! I assume it will also turn dry wine back into water.

There are many other products filtration purifiers on the market, most of which came out long before the Lifesavers bottle. Until October 2010, iodine filters were often used but these are now banned in the EU so most of the products available now just rely on pure filtration with a small pore size, sometimes combined with a carbon filter.

You can also put 1 drop of pure non-scented bleach into water in order to purify it. Leave it for several minutes and bacteria and viruses will be dead. Some people like to combine filtration with chlorine drops or water purifying tablets, especially if they have one of the lesser filters available on the market.

[Deleted User]

The only items I will be looking to buy, if Korea goes ballistic (see what I did there. ) is paraffin and gas cartridges.

I've got some, but a few more wouldn't go amiss.

Paul_Varjak

Thanks to those who responded to the challenge of a 1oz emergency kit. For those that are interested, here is a list of all the uses I could find for a condom in a survival situation...

1. Water Carrier
2. Fire Lighter (fill with water and use as a lens to light fire)
3. Waterproof storage container for equipment (phone/walkie talkie/radio/matches etc)
4. Flotation device for fishing kit
5. Protecting a gun barrel from dust/water etc
6. Using as a flutter valve in cases of pneumothorax
7. To prevent small catfish entering the urethra

Just remember to get the unflavoured and non-lubricated variety.

GreyQueen

Evening all.

Re thinking about what people might do if there is a NK nuclear panic/ pandemic flu............

Get cash. Get it now. I was in a bank just after 9 am and there were 2 cash machines. I always use in-branch ATMs on the grounds that they are less-likely to have been tampered-with.

When I arrived (just after 9 am, remember) one of the two wasn't working. I used the other. A lady stepped up behind me and the machine was suddenly empty and she got nowt.

Lots of people don't carry cash and barely use it. If there is a flapdoodle going on, you may not be able to get cash from the ATM or use your debit/ credit cards in shops. Cash will be king. I've been in big supermarkets where there was a problem with the card machines and only cash customers were getting to leave with their groceries.

If you have a motor vehicle, it makes sense to keep the tank topped up, in case the flapdoodle sends the populace en masse to the pumps. Credit on the mobile, your rechargable things charged.

Otherwise, the very best place to be in a panic is lying low at the homestead, tuned in to your windup radio and counting your lucky stars that you're a prepper not a sheeple.

I have had a little tidyout in my candle-cupboard and have corralled some of them in those orange Jac0bs cracker boxes. I bought two of those reduced to £1.50 for 900g just after Xmas (BB date July, excellent bargain).