Preparedness for when

GreyQueen

VJsmum wrote: »

innit though

My aquisition of Glastonbury tickets this morning (:j:j) has given me the perfect excuse to pur - chase a Kelly Kettle. DS and I are going by bus so it is a case of whatever we can carry to last us for 5 days. A tent and 2 sleeping bags is going to be a lot without clothes, cooking stuff etc. I am figuring that baby wipes will be essential (I am looking forward to it all, except the toilets :eek:) and of course we will be able to buy food but, still, it'll be an interesting exercise in what you do actually need to "bug out" for a few days.

:j Oh well done! You'll have big fun.

One thing I have seen which may be of interest is luggage trollies being used to lug camping gear when you have quite a hike from the bus drop-off or car park. I've heard that it's quite a way.

I've been to Glastonbury but not at festival time. It's a straaangee place indeed.

Wandered out to Tosspots an hour before closing time which is usually a good YS scoring time. Nubbut a £1.50 loaf for 10p so will be going to play Tetris in the freezer. And added another 2 litre bottle of water and bumped into a mate on the street and we had a good ole catch-up. Been a heckuva weekend for bumping into people I've not seen for some time, must be something in the watter.

elona

Mrs L

Latest figures from China are 102 cases and 21 deaths (3p.m. today)

[Deleted User]

Thanks ELONA it's good to keep up to date with it. It's interesting that 50% of those infected had no contact with birds, hope they can discover the infection mechanism and work out how to halt it in its tracks. Watch this space I think, Cheers Lyn xxx.

GreyQueen

By gum, that one-burner butane stove is a great little thing. I swear it heated a pan of soup faster than my regular gas burner. Mark you, I do heat soup on a "simmer" burner on the regular gas stove. I feel better for having something like that at hand. Power and gas disruptions? Pah!

Have half-scared myself to death reading the destructions so will go and read the rest to make sure I have all the gen embedded. Will be storing it in a cool, sunless bike shed down the block, think danger of it going above 50 degrees in there.

Yesterday Mum was remarking to Nan that if the gas was off she'd need an electic kettle and she doesn't own one any more. Nan said why not boil a pan on the stove, forgetting said stove is gas.........:rotfl:

oooo, and here's an example of a prepping need which was identified in RL. Parentals were doing what they do every Saturday; driving across the county on the backroads to visit Nan. Between villages, there was a banging without, as it were. Stopped to investigate and there was the backbox/ tailpipe section of the exhaust mostly hanging off and dragging on the road. It was held on by some kind of rubbery thing which needed to be cut in order to take it off the car.

Who didn't have a knife on them or in the toolkit? Yup. Nor did the next two passing cars, but a workman passing by had a knife, the exhaust was severed and they continued about their business until they got it into the garage on Monday for a replacement. It went another 20 miles or so with part of its exhaust detached.

Sooo, a knife has now been added to the toolkit in their car.

Time was when you could count on my muvva to have several lock-knives in her handbag but with the new laws they stay at home, in case anyone thinks 60-something matrons need to be prosecuted for carrying deadly weapons.

Butterfly_Brain

It looks like the snooping bill is back on the agenda

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/10005877/What-right-does-the-state-have-to-snoop-on-the-lives-of-others.html

JayneC

Thanks for the tips GQ. I think where I fall down is water, I do tend to have a few litres hanging around as it takes an absolute age for the hot water to come through, so I fill up some containers whilst its running and use that to fill the kettle, for cooking, etc. So easily a days worth, could stretch to two or even 3 if needed. I know you mentioned filling some really large containers, do you fill with tap water and if so how often do you change it?. I worry that it'll 'go off' as it were if I fill with tap water. One of my plans is to start collecting rainwater in butts and get a counter top filtering system then I could use the rainwater. There's also water sources around that I could collect water from and then filter/boil/sterilise it for drinking. However if I couldn't go outside that won't work:(

I have a woodburner, so alternative heating ( but need to get better at having a good stock of firewood on hand). I have a camping stove for cooking and can improvise a BBQ. I try to keep well stocked with food but it does get run down sometimes, so could work on that more - I'm hoping to be able to grow/produce more of my food. I have access to a large garden as well as my Lottie and my tiny yard is quite productive too and I'm working on my foraging skills;)

I have candles/matches and torches. I have some tiny oil lamps more for decorative purposes but they could be pressed into action if required:D

I think that there are so many possible scenarios i'm trying to cover them all and ending up not really covering anything comprehensively.

The two most likely (IMO) biggies are economic/financial collapse and significant disruption to power/energy supply. In fact I think it's more like when not if its going to happen.

I've started withdrawing all my cash bar what's needed to cover DDs as soon as I get paid, so I have the months expenses covered in cash. I have barely enough to cover my outgoings so I don't have wads of cash hanging about and I keep it in different places.

I've negotiated with DS dad to start giving me some money. I initially said I didn't want any as I kept the house when we split, but its been 3 years now so I think taht we're getting to the point where the potential profit (if there would actually be any at the moment) has been covered. Anyways I'm planning on using half toward paying my CC debt (as if interest rates rise I'd be bu**ered) and I want to use the rest on prepping stuff, so that's what's prompted me to start thinking about things that would be useful.

Went to the car boot sale and got rid of a far amount of stuff and had a quick mooch. Got 4x50hr burn pillar candles for 50p each, a hand drill for £1, and a narrow hoe for £1.50. Not much else of interest...

D&DD

Evening peeps
I need a new body methinks this one's creaking a bit!
Busy times in the garden ATM while the sun is shining so forgive me for lack of postings,I'll read back in a mo and catch up on all the news.

I'm planning on 'putting up' a load of food this year from the garden so have gone a bit mad on the old sowing regime.I got most of my seeds for 5p or 10p from Wyevales so coupling that up with mostly homemade compost too it's going to be a cheap year this year now the foundations are there.

I really can't fit any more fruit in the garden,anywhere so now its just a matter of reaping the rewards hopefully!!

I'm experimenting more with canning this year and dehydrating a stack more now I've got the new dehydrator.

I did a huge batch of seedless raspberry jam with frozen berries from last years crop to make some room in the freezer for MrT's half price chickens
Was glad I did when I checked the price of the 'el cheapo' ones I usually buy is it just our tesco that have jacked their prices up???

In between gardening today I somehow managed to cook a roast,do 4 loads of washing,make a batch of rolls and cut OH's hair,I'm just debating wether I can make it up the stairs on hands and knees for a shower now..*showing my age* :rotfl:

[Deleted User]

pineapple wrote: »

It's times like this I could seriously consider becoming a COUGAR......
Wanted - strong young man (but only for gardening duties )

I was interested, until you said "but only for gardening duties".

GreyQueen

Bedsit_Bob wrote: »

I was interested, until you said "but only for gardening duties".

Yeah, but are you young and fit?

I did know a bloke who was a jobbing gardener who liked to work shirtless and in shorts whenever the weather permitted. He's a looker and had quite a lot of lady customers who enjoyed the view. He swears he was only doing the gardening, but who can tell?:rotfl:Heck, if you've got it, flaunt it, say I.

JayneC, I am using mostly 2 litre bottles of still water from the supermarket but do have one 25 litre carrier. My thoughts on this are that it is too big for someone of my strength and 2-3 x 10 litre carriers would be better. I won't buy another one that big. It is also only fillable from the bath tap in my home, it's far too big to get into the kitchen sink. I plan to refill it every 3 months and have it stored away from light, with note in the diary so I don't forget.

The Mad Bushcrafters were in favour of dark water containers as these keep algae away. I've heard of storing water bottles inside black sacks as extra precautions.

Water's a tricky one because, in a country with potable water from the tap, you can feel like a prize loon keeping the stuff around in bottles and carriers. Howsomever, it's far more essential to survival than food and it's provision to our homes is, with very few exceptions, beyond our personal control.

Things would have to be pretty bad indeed before I considered filtering the rainwater butts on the lottie for my drinking water but I would consider filtering them for clothes-washing water if necessary. Cleanliness is crucial to health, and that means clothes, too. You can get some unpleasant skin conditions if personal and clothing hygiene gets neglected.

I knew someone who worked on the Greek island of Eos (sp?), which lacks any potable water. As a result, water which is to be used for washing dishes is of low quality. It's the habit there to put a splash of bleach into the dishwashing water.

As part of a preptastic lifestyle, I'm aiming to be up-to-date on my dishwashing and laundry, having the decks cleared before bedtime and the tea-kettle filled ready for the morning. Cannot possibly have the zombie apocalypse without my morning cuppa......;) Or I'd be having a starring role in it.

One of my sets of great-grandparents raised 11 kids in an isolated cottage with no potable water, although there was a pond for general water use. Potable water was brought in by great-grandad with the horse and cart, from wherever he happened to be working, in earthenware jars and filtered through several layers of muslin.

This would have been the early twentieth century. Those eleven kids all lived into their seventies and eighties, btw.

I've thought before that muslin is a very useful thing to have around from a prepperish POV. Apart from the obvious baby uses, you can use it to strain things (water, jam), make dressings, all sorts. I am keeping my eyes peeled for some as we speak.

Great bargaineering with the longburn candles, wish I'd got them. And all my fave gardening tools come from the bootsales.

[Deleted User]

GreyQueen wrote: »

Yeah, but are you young and fit?

Young-ish and fit-ish