Preparedness for when

D&DD

I do believe that if people wish to protest they should be allowed to do so, but there is a time and a place and to me,at ANYONE'S funeral to do this is just disrespectful.

Regards to London,my brother has worked there for 30 years nearly and seen many things but the one thing that shook him in all those years was the tube bombings,he will not ever use the tube now no matter what.

I live just 14 miles outside London and I think there's always concern living so close that if a major event happened we would be affected but life goes on,Londoners have coped with an awful lot over the years,we're a tough bunch really..:D

VJsmum

I grew up 1 1/2 miles from this

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SS_Richard_Montgomery

The Richard Montgomery was a ship laden with ammunition that sank 1.5 miles from Sheerness - my dad still lives in Sheerness. Ever since I was small I was aware that this could blow up - we all were made aware of it. How much did it worry us? not a bit There were reports that it might be the biggest non-nuclear explosion since Krakatoa and the resulting tidal wave would certainly have wiped out me and mine.

But we weren't prepared for it going up at all - they still aren't.

[Deleted User]

VJ'sMUM when I was little and lived in Kent very close to Sheerness we used to get the sightseeing boat and it would do a circuit of the Richard Montgomery full of families with kids, grannies everyone, how times change eh? Cheers Lyn xxx.

ALIBOBSY

RAS wrote: »

nuatha

Statistically younger men are far more likely to be attacked than women and I believe that men generally are more likely to be subject to violence.

Just women are all encouraged to cower in our homes by the media, social pressure and to some extent the police ("we ask women not to go out alone... "comes after a lot of attacks).

I have been attacked and prior experience kicked in; I was not going to be able to get away physically but I could distract and I could raise Cain, so I did. For just long enough for the cavalry to arrive...

That's interesting, and I agree about media issues-same sort of issues surround child abductions and make us feel the world we live in is more dangerous than ever, when the reality is the number of children in those sort of attacks hasn't changed since the 70's and its an extremely rare event. Even so as a parent its hard not to be terrified and worry, its an emotional reaction.

I suspect many attacks on young men come down to a bit of fisty cuffs down the pub and although these can turn into really serious even fatal events-kicking in heads when guys are on the ground/stabbing etc, I suspect many aren't as life changing as sexual assault or rape which tends to be female attacks ( I know men can and do get raped and do not underestimate the impact of this at all).

What I suppose is more scary is domestic attacks. Violence against men can and does happen in domestic situations, but is still less than women. The last time I looked one women is killed by a partner or ex partner every week in this country, where the figures for guys being killed by a partner or ex was more like one a month. Still its all awful and a terrible thing to happen.

Having been through 2 abusive (physical and mental) relationships I guess makes me more sensitive to that kind of violence.

All in all good reasons to be prepped in mind as well a physical preps.

In light of recent terrible events when in crowds for events should we, as well as watching for pickpockets, avoid standing near, bins, street furniture or parked cars-all of which have been used in the past to place bombs?

Sometimes I suppose no matter what we do there is an element of luck and I bet all of us could give at least one example where we had a near miss that could have left us in hospital or worse.

Keep safe guys

Ali x

RAS

I suspect that recorded violence against young men is way below actual levels of assault just because many would not want to involve police.

My own experience was that I became hypervigilant but I remember being so glad that it was stranger danger not domestic; having somewhere safe to go was so important.

And based on my own experience, I feel that dealing with the response of other people often gets in the way of recovery and re-traumatises or actually traumatises people.

It takes time but I found it very very important to concentrate on doing what I could do and not letting misguided family and friends disenpower me. Ok I was checking my safety about every minute in the beginning but learned to recognise safe spaces where I could relax my vigilance.

pineapple

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

VJ'sMUM when I was little and lived in Kent very close to Sheerness we used to get the sightseeing boat and it would do a circuit of the Richard Montgomery full of families with kids, grannies everyone, how times change eh? Cheers Lyn xxx.

Elf and Safety would turn in their graves! :rotfl:

Strapped

pineapple wrote: »

I don't want to get into a political debate about this (so this is going to be my only comment) but I think those that actually want to disrupt the funeral today are beyond the pale and that it's a worrying sign of what this country has become.
That said my main concern is security - violent 'activism' from the usual hangers on or worse, a Boston scenario. The latter applies even more so to the imminent London Marathon. If I was taking part, would I cancel? I'd like to give the usual gung ho response as in 'I wouldn't let fear of terrorism stop me going about my daily life yadda yadda....'. But I believe many who come out with this suffer from 'the odds are nothing is going to happen to me' syndrome.
If we had good intel that there was definitely going to be a major attack, I would probably cancel and I suspect many others would to.

Of course people would cancel if there was good intel of a definite attack. D'oh.

But there isn't. We don't even know yet if Boston is linked to Islamic (ie international) terrorism - which might indicate a raised threat - or whether it was a domestic group/individual responsible - which would not.

Can I ask, do you ever fly in planes? As I spent several years working for an airports authority, testing security amongst other things. I can tell you from that, that flying is purely a numbers game. If someone is determined to bring down a plane, it is likely they will find a way. I have personally walked bombs and weapons through airport security. But the point is - many planes, very few bombs or hijackers. The odds are with you. So no-one decides not to fly.

So, yeah - I will be running on Sun, and going up to the Expo on Fri to pick up my race number. And yes, f*ck the terrorists.

pineapple

Strapped wrote: »

Of course people would cancel if there was good intel of a definite attack. D'oh.

Perhaps you missed my point. Which is that plenty of people who say we should carry on and not be cowed by terrorism would quickly change tune if they thought there was a real prospect of it. My point is that it's an easy thing to say.
My turn - dohh...;)

Strapped

pineapple wrote: »

Perhaps you missed my point. Which is that plenty of people who say we should carry on and not be cowed by terrorism would quickly change tune if they thought there was a real prospect of it.
My turn - dohh...;)

Of course. "Not being cowed" means not allowing some vague notion of threat to impede your life, surely? Bit different to an actual threat. Two different scenarios. So yes, I think I did miss your point - did you have one?

ETA: BTW, I'm not saying it. I'm just doing it.

oldtractor

pineapple wrote: »

I don't want to get into a political debate about this (so this is going to be my only comment) but I think those that actually want to disrupt the funeral today are beyond the pale and that it's a worrying sign of what this country has become.
That said my main concern is security - violent 'activism' from the usual hangers on or worse, a Boston scenario. The latter applies even more so to the imminent London Marathon. If I was taking part, would I cancel? I'd like to give the usual gung ho response as in 'I wouldn't let fear of terrorism stop me going about my daily life yadda yadda....'. But I believe many who come out with this suffer from 'the odds are nothing is going to happen to me' syndrome.
If we had good intel that there was definitely going to be a major attack, I would probably cancel and I suspect many others would to.

^^^^^^^6
well said