THE Prepping thread - a new beginning :)

jk0

I had another very disturbing dream last night:

I dreamt I was in prison (remand presumably) for a week on a trumped up charge. Towards the end of the dream, I saw a way to escape by removing window slats, and was going to take it, but I woke up.

Interestingly my sane mind would normally tell me to cooperate and eventually get free by process of law. I guess you never know what you will do until you are cornered.

I am modifying my preps slightly in view of the dream. Fraid I can't tell you here, as my future jailers may be reading.

Karmacat

jko I bet a lot of us feel imprisoned sometimes - by age, ill health, poverty, or even by having made a stand for our conscience (I've been in a brush twice because I was a member of a pacifist organisation!). Take care.

mardatha wrote: »

The RV isn't doing very well just now, he's very worn out and grey. Had a recent day out in Edinburgh and had to get him into a taxi to tbe bus station to get him home, as he was exhausted. Think it's thyroid acting up again, not heart - but it shows me how much I depend on him to do things. Without his strength I'm going to struggle to do stuff.

So sorry to hear this Mar, it sounds pretty scary. Especially to be far from home and feeling so unwell.

fuddle wrote: »

It's very wise to know your limits and to stay to them. Personally I have struggled with this but I now understand that to take a step back is to take more steps forward.

Agreed. Even this month - I nearly gave myself a setback by trying to go out to do little things three times a week. Too much, much too much. Twice a week is the max for the medium term.

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

I also use my bus pass, am eternally grateful that I have a bus pass TO use and try only to use it when it's a necessary journey and not as a 'jolly' ticket.

Mrs L, I think you have the right to use it for jollies, I really do. Though I agree with you that living somewhere you can reach the shops on foot is a good thing.

That always varies, though. We get *very* elderly people living on their own nowadays - my mum was 90, had all her faculties, and lived about 15 minutes easy walk from several shops, but she couldn't do that walk there and back, she needed the once-hourly bus. But in terms of people in their 60s, like me, that house would certainly count as accessible in its own right.

If I ever get to that age, I hope supermarket deliveries are still around :eek:

maryb

Jollies may help some older people stay happy and well and not succumb to isolation and depression which is a real danger for older people living on their own. So I don't mind it being used in that way.

And I do think it helps keep traffic down. In my case I walk one way into town and get the bus back. It's too far to walk both ways but walking is the best thing I can do to increase my sadly inadequate bone density. If I had to pay for bus fares I know, human nature being what it is, I would be tempted to take the car because I could park for about the same money.

But I agree free bus passes have to be an endangered species. I hope they will have the sense to introduce a heavily discounted concessionary season ticket to replace it, reflecting the fairly small marginal cost of use. I think that would be fair

fuddle

I have no problem with folks using their bus passes for jaunts out every now and then but I do feel that abusing the scheme endangers it for those to follow.

[Deleted User]

I'm not judging them, I do think you have the right to use these things the way you feel is appropriate but for me the 'moral' if you like is not to abuse what is freely given and I hear them discussing where they can go 'to' use the bus pass and that means fares being paid by the council/government that feasibly could be used for other more important things in the communities we live in. as with Mary if you have the need to use the bus pass to comfortably complete your journey then that is sensible use and necessary use and exactly what the bus pass is given for. To me, and this is a purely personal take, my bus pass is a privilege given at a cost to facilitate an easier life as I age and is not something I would use to get me to the seaside for the day or to use 'because it's there to be used'. Purely me and of COURSE anyone with a bus pass CAN use it as, when and how they like without being judged or censured.

Shropshirelass

I hope you don't mind me joining in the conversation, but I think this is very relevant to prepping. I'm blessed or cursed with a good memory for some things, and can remember a conversation I had in the 60s with my parents, about why OAPs should have a bus pass. They said after paying bus fares all their lives, old folks were given the pass for free. The same applied to the free TV license. Both have also been used countless times to argue that our pensioners are well-looked after.

The fact that we now are seriously considering the possible loss of these benefits, says it all about how much we can rely on TPTB, and the difficulty of planning ahead.

ivyleaf

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

I also use my bus pass, am eternally grateful that I have a bus pass TO use and try only to use it when it's a necessary journey and not as a 'jolly' ticket. I do see people seemingly using bus passes every time (not regularly on the same day each time) I get on the local bus in either direction. It's a group of ladies of 'a certain age' who seem to be perpetual passengers and the conversation is always about where they can go tomorrow which in my eyes at least is not the purpose bus passes are given for. Should the suggestion that they are withdrawn ever come to fruition I would feel the lack (as no doubt would the pleasure seekers) and it would be very limiting if we didn't have the wherewithal to run the car because Bus Fares are extremely high and would eat up a significant proportion of my weekly housekeeping allowance which would mean a) I'd have less to keep us well fed and cleaned and clothed on and b) I'd have less opportunity to find the YS bargains which give us a more enjoyable standard of living and I'd have to regularly walk the almost two miles in each to the local centre and back carrying what we needed which is OK at the moment but might not be so easily achieved as we get older. I don't think we can rely on having state free transport forever and a day so I'd like to be somewhere that would allow me to walk in for whatever I needed fairly easily, makes sense doesn't it?

As I understand it, the council that issues the bus passes (in each area, I mean) pays the local bus companies a set amount per person-with-a-bus-pass per year, whether a person-with-a-bus-pass actually uses it a lot or not at all

And hopefully, the more people that use a bus route, the less likely it is to be withdrawn on the grounds that "hardly anyone uses it".

Mar So sorry to hear the RV isn't great atm. Wishing him (and you) well x

moneyistooshorttomention

As I understand it - the basic reason some are given free buspasses is in order to minimise their use of private cars.

Therefore less pollution. Also there will be people that would otherwise have bought a car in the first place deciding they can manage without one - because they can use buses instead. So - less of the worlds raw materials consumed making those cars.

We all of us benefit from there being less pollution.

Add that a happier person is that bit less likely to get ill enough they need drugs/whatever from the NHS and thus money is saved indirectly.

The thought has never crossed my mind to begrudge anyone using their buspass as they see fit (as old age is something that comes to us all - if we live long enough). Disability is another reason why someone might have a buspass - so I'm not going to begrudge a disabled person using a buspass they have either and I think it's perfectly fair enough for those of us that are able-bodied to accept disabled people being able to live their lives that bit more easily/have a little bit of pleasure from them.

What I personally begrudge is when cheaper fares are paid by some because of circumstances of their own choosing and I will be sitting there wishing they would pay full fare for all.

I'm not following the logic of saying people shouldnt have help for circumstances not of their choosing - but it's okay for them to have help for circumstances that are of their choosing:think:

DigForVictory

On behalf of all

those mad preppers living in an underground room with a pet woodlouse!!!

and their woodlice, may I say Hoi!? My woodlice are friendly, supportive & likely to outlive me with their robust health & minimal food intake. They even let me win at Scrabble, which is dashed good of them (husband & sons do not.)

As for bus passes, son currently has one (he may not lawfully apply for a driving licence on health grounds) & pays 50 pence a trip for "peak" journeys (into sixth form). I stump up this sum willingly for his freedom of manoeuvre & suspect many seniors threatened with the absolute might prefer to stump up a similar modest amount -enough to appease the financial calculations without a savage whop to the pocket.

[Deleted User]

I'm only talking about pensioners bus passes and it's a free world folks, just because I choose to use mine in one way doesn't mean anyone else can't use theirs in any way they choose to. I don't begrudge anyone using theirs for pleasure journeys I can only speak for me and I would rather see funds available used to renew pavements, fill in potholes and keep the lamps lit and the police patrolling the village to keep us safe rather than actively looking for ways to use my bus pass. I don't disapprove, I just feel differently to some folks!

I'll second the vote for 'Pilly Bugs' D for V, thoroughly good eggs all round and deuced good at spelling bees, let alone having an astonishingly wide ranging and comprehensive vocabulary. Don't ever let them learn how to play chess though, who knows where that would lead???