THE Prepping thread - a new beginning :)

DigForVictory

jk0 wrote: »

I saw a policeman (brandishing a sub machine gun) outside Windsor castle in this morning's frost in only a short sleeved shirt, and stab vest.

Sounds more like 'behaviour contrary to public order' with a bonus of 'indecent exposure' (both Deeply Unwise In The Cold, even if you are cuddling an SMG) to me. The WPCs would definitely be smiling though.

If you listen to all of "I'm putting on my top hat", particularly the Willie Rushton version, you'll notice there is no mention of trousers. A wonderful cultural oversight that leaves me giggling.

thriftwizard

Blokes in hi-viz, perhaps with an unlettered big van, would just be assumed to be working for a utility, the highway authority, whoever. And imagine if they were crims, trying to get witnesses to give a description; bloke in a hi-viz jacket, how many people is that, and how easy to doff said jacket and blend in.

You'd be surprised... OH and his cronies, back in the day, unshaven & in tatty jeans and an oily old t-shirt , often whiled away a merry few hours playing card games in the back of an unlettered van by a hole in the road, waiting for the "Go go go!" to pounce on some poor unsuspecting nefarious customer. I'll never know whether hi-viz was involved, but it wasn't so common back then. So disguise/misdirection isn't necessarily on the side of the law-breakers...

Reminds me of the time that our girls were caught up in some kind of incident/exercise on the Tube. They observed a number of very ordinary young men lingering on the platform rather than evacuating like everyone else, exchanging hand signals; they found this reassuring rather than frightening, as their father was once one of those young men & they knew that those who guard public order don't always wear a clearly-identifiable uniform.

Basically leaves you wondering whether anything is quite what it seems!

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

thriftwizard wrote: »

You'd be surprised... OH and his cronies, back in the day, unshaven & in tatty jeans and an oily old t-shirt , often whiled away a merry few hours playing card games in the back of an unlettered van by a hole in the road, waiting for the "Go go go!" to pounce on some poor unsuspecting nefarious customer. I'll never know whether hi-viz was involved, but it wasn't so common back then. So disguise/misdirection isn't necessarily on the side of the law-breakers...

Reminds me of the time that our girls were caught up in some kind of incident/exercise on the Tube. They observed a number of very ordinary young men lingering on the platform rather than evacuating like everyone else, exchanging hand signals; they found this reassuring rather than frightening, as their father was once one of those young men & they knew that those who guard public order don't always wear a clearly-identifiable uniform.

Basically leaves you wondering whether anything is quite what it seems!

We used to get them in MccyD's of a morning, all in their oh-so-carefully-pressed jeans, t-shirts, perfect haircuts, immaculate boots and leather/bomber jackets, desperately pretending to be regular builder types having a coffee together whilst several were scanning each door at all times and failing miserably to conceal the large items stashed in shoulder holsters. T'was only a short sprint from there to the court and it purely coincidentally only ever happened when there was a high profile case scheduled for later that morning.

It was interesting seeing them people watching as gainful employment, as I do it for interest. Especially when the ones not immediately engaged or door watching got bored and started watching other people. They were actually really, really bad at being unobtrusive, just like when I was a nipper and would come home from school and see the unmarked surveillance vehicles parked up, waiting for somebody to come home.

Mind you, where I am, I've seen quite a few large raids in preparation first thing. I'll give them that they're fairly quiet, but was somewhat annoying to have to risk being late for work when I started earlier because the ARU parked outside the house was likely to make their move just as I needed to leave.

DigForVictory

"Twice armed is he who speeds with an excuse but thrice armed is he whose car is full of juice" (Margery Allingham)
This festive season, be certain to have both pretext & escape method ready. Make sure you have a full tank, a full charge & a getaway route planned plus a plan B (even if it is Uber & do three rounds with your conscience later).
Says she just back in from the Rudolph Run down to see my parents & other relatives. My chaps made my girls school sound saintly as characters were assassinated en route home but the eldest opted to snooze with the occasional "I say, would you chaps mind" which doused the fraternal bickering far more effectively than any plaint of mine.

Sometimes you need to get away from your family too.

Suffolksue

Agree with above +++!
Not much prepping being done here ,all pretty grim

[Deleted User]

Prepping comes into it's own (or at least having the equipment to cope without power) tomorrow as we've had notification from our power supplier that the supply will be off from 8.30am to 4.30pm (they hope) to fix a fault with part of the infrastructure locally in an effort to prevent power problems in the future. Thank goodness for solar lights, Kelly kettles, wind up radios, wood burning stoves and thermal base layers among many other things that will let us remain comfortable while the fault is dealt with. Hopefully it will be over sooner in the day rather than later and it IS only hours but I'll use it as practise for the future and learn a little from the experience.

[Deleted User]

Given we've reached the dreaded 10,000 plus number of posts here is it time perhaps for a new incarnation? before we lose the thread to the 'auto delete' gremlin who lives on MSE!

Doveling

This thread is a "sticky" so shouldn't be deleted.

Then again, I could be wrong :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

DigForVictory

Good preps for an unexpected out break of noro are cans of soup & several large plastic cooking bowls that sluice out.

Seems we brought a bit more back than I'd thought. Dash.

ivyleaf

Oh no, DfV! I hope everyone gets better quickly :eek: