THE Prepping thread - a new beginning :)

NewShadow

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

What would you do?

If you'll excuse the anecdote - I grew up in the middle of West Wales.

Went to uni some 20 odd miles away (as the crow flies).

Went to uni in the September. Very, very homesick - not for my parents you understand - i missed the dog!

2ish am.

Had been out at the bar, then back to someone's house.

Was walking back to my flat - in the rain (typically in Wales).

Kept walking...

Got home for 7ish to make breakfast.

Got a lift back to uni at 10 for my first lecture.

Didn't do it again :rotfl:


Assuming I'm wearing my normal outdoor clothes but not carrying my BOB.

I've got an excessively oversized knee length wax barbour coat as my everyday jacket - 48" chest Border style - I can wear my small rucksack under it if I need to (I walk to work and it's wet in Wales ).

Given I'm (relatively) young - if not excessively fit - I'd probably just keep walking until I hit some houses and then either knock on the door or break into an outhouse - depending why I was on the run.

My feet might be sore, but I'd be warm and mostly dry.

I figure over the course of a day I could cover 30 miles (used to do that in around 8 hour - might take more like 12 now), and I don't think there's a part of the country that doesn't have houses within 30 miles? Maybe parts of Scotland (never actually been but want to).

Worst comes to worst - if I assume the lazy W position in the lee of a wall - I'd be wearing my own tent and only my ankles would get wet. probably wouldn't sleep, but i could doze well enough

GreyQueen

greenbee wrote: »

I was once burgled by people who clearly struggled to find anything to take ... A few bottles of £3 wine. To add insult to injury, they were caught in the house, convicted and locked up

:T Nice to hear that crime sometimes really doesn't pay.

There seems to be a mentality that if you've broken in somewhere (home, shed, whatever) you've got to take something, even if it's pretty low-value and not worth the risk. Hence it's good to have distractons around so any burglar has something for their trouble as they'll typically be in and out in under ten minutes.

After all, if they stayed in here long enough, they might find the secret door to my football-pitch-size underground bunker which is where all the really choice items are kept.:rotfl:

Karmacat

DigForVictory wrote: »

Er, GQ, could I be cheeky and ask for a copy of that pm, as I'd like to know better?!

GreyQueen wrote: »

I haven't got a copy saved and it took quite a bit of time to type. If NewShadow would care send it to you, that'd be fine by me.

NewShadow wrote: »

I'll send it over now Dig, but given GQ didn't post it here, I'm going to assume it's not for general publication and not put it in the thread.

Could I also ask for a copy, please, GQ or NewShadow? I have a bit of spare cash that I could use for this ... I need to decide if it's a realistic thing for me to do right now, given the costs of selling. Of course, if an asteroid strikes, then maybe owning some will be the admission price to the government's secret bunker :j in which case it would be a wonderful investment :rotfl:

Save

mardatha

I take a day off and miss all the really interesting prepper posts
I always maintain the safest hiding place for anything really valuable is a jar buried in the back garden. As long as you tell family members where it is in case you get dementia lol.
Good post MrsL - they were talking in a prepping forum about bugging out. Guys were going 200yds from their house with a tent and all the gear, into a wee wood down extreme south of England in spring. It was a doddle/sorted/dead easy. Then I posted a pic of my surroundings lol. Miles and miles and miles of nothing. Bare hillsides covered in heather. Open moors at 300m above sealevel. No cover, no comfy woods full of obliging wabbits and pigeons waiting to be caught and roasted on a nice big fire...just some very wild very sneaky mountain hares and grouse.

[Deleted User]

OK I'll change the scenario slightly to we're forced from home at this time of year with what we can carry, the roads are gridlocked so we can't pack up the camping type equipment but we can start out from the house in waterproofs and proper walking boots and what we can manage to carry by whatever means we have, for us big rucksacks BUT we're 69 and 72 respectively and I know I can't carry the weights of bag I used to be able to carry so I WILL put in a tarpaulin and some paracord and a few lightweight pegs. In the heaviness of rain we had yesterday we might have been able to lash it between two tree trunks and make a Basha but we'd have been pretty wet even in waterproofs and certainly cold by the time we'd finished. In more clement weather I can build a shelter as well as any of us and if I had my fire steel with me have the means to start a fire to warm us, yesterday everything was soaked, really truly soaked and there would have been no lighting a fire by any means. So you're cold and very wet, you may have a simple tarpaulin shelter over your head but the ground beneath you is a muddy, wet, cold mud patch. How do you get dry and how do you get warm? and the rain continues to drive down all the while.....

monnagran

mar: Reminds me of when the kids were little and 'camped' in the back garden. The preparations went on for hours and we were lucky if they managed a couple of hours before they turned up indoors again. The fun was in the prep.

Some youngsters broke into Dad's house one day. All they could find to take were some KitKats. We wished them well. My Dad stock piled KitKats and used them in strict rotation. It was rare to be given one younger than a year old. My cousin said that he really looked forward to his visits to see how much the KitKats bent.

x

mardatha

Ooooh MrsL, I like this. We should all really try this for ourselves though, even on a nice summer day for starters and pretend that its winter and wet. Bet it would be an eye-opener.
Let me think a minute!

mardatha

I suppose using the motorbike is cheating?
Ok. Plastic tarps are easy and lightish to carry, so I'd take at least 2 of them each. Poly bag full of matches + some candles (for warmth). Pkt of firelighters. ok so I cheat lol- but this is survival!
Kelly kettle, tin mug each, stock cubes and pkt soups. Use tin mugs to scoop water out of one of the tarps which will be set up to collect the rain. Fishing lines and hooks.
Getting a fire to burn would be a problem, would need to fossick around under trees and see if you could find pine cones or something that just might burn.
Wear pure wool in layers.
This is just off the top of my head and not deep thought lol
And the only suggestion from the RV??? Wait till the bloody rain goes off. :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: Visions of us phoning Trump or Putin and asking "Hi, could you wait till the rain goes off cos we don't want to get wet"

pineapple

mardatha wrote: »

I always maintain the safest hiding place for anything really valuable is a jar buried in the back garden.

Care to share your address M? I promise not to tell anybody.....

[Deleted User]

Good practical suggestions Mar, yes harvest the water off the tarp, it would be clean with the amount of rain sluicing from the sky yesterday afternoon, A hobo stove, a portable wood stove or small Kelly little would be light and easy to carry, waxed storm matches and a candle would solve lighting the stove and hot drinks could be a good start. Would you carry dry fire starting tinder with you? you wouldn't find it on a day like yesterday nor anything that would be burnable until you'd a good hot fire going well so you'd have to carry the first fuel with you which might be bulky although not particularly heavy. I'd take a small childs hot water bottle with me, unfilled and my first job would be to boil water to fill that with and get my hands warm enough to use then tuck it under my coat at waist level to warm my core temperature and make me more able to be active. I'd take a metal water bottle with me and keep it filled so as not to run out. 2 x tarpaulins would give you the means to create a windbreak on the side of your shelter facing the prevailing wind which would help warm you too. I'd take packets of cuppa soup, mug shots, instant noodles none of which are heavy and all of which are reconstituted with boiling water and a metal cup and spoon to rehydrate them in, also a billy can if I didn't have a Kelly kettle. A bottle of Bovril would be a good thing as it's not heavy but really does a good job of warming you up and making you feel less hungry when drunk. I'd also pack my bamboo towel, I'd be able to keep dry hands and face that way which would make me feel warmer, wet skin leeches heat away faster than anything else I know. A start perhaps???