THE Prepping thread - a new beginning :)

jk0

I just saw an interesting old skill mentioned. I was just reading about the PDP11 computer on Wikipedia which was produced from 1970 to 1990. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PDP-11

It says:

In 2013, it was reported that PDP-11 programmers would be needed to control nuclear power plants through 2050.

GreyQueen

There are apparently more horses in the country now than there were ever in the horse-drawn days. A pal who breeds racehorses tells me that about 18,500 thoroughbred racehorses are born each year in the UK and Eire. Only a fraction of them are good enough to compete on racecourses, no matter how illustrious their ancestors. If you then add in polo ponies and other riding horses, there are a lot of equines out there.

My Dad worked with horses and carts on farms in the late 1950s and my maternal grandfather ploughed with them, ending at about the same time.

In terms of caring for horses, there must be hundreds of thousands of people in the country with the knowhow to care for their welfare needs, which is half the battle. Plus hobbyists who still take teams to ploughing matches at county shows etc. Plus sturdy native ponies on Dartmoor etc.

Someone I know of has Welsh cob/ thoroughbred crossbred horses, which produces a sturdy but attractive riding horse. I've also seen, in the mountains of Andalucia, some English hippies living in caravans with a very strong looking mule whose horse parent was clearly a large chestnut heavy horse; the sleekness and strength of that beastie, as well as its pleasant temperament would have put it tops of my list of all-round-useful-must-steal equines.

Remember, if you ever need to persuade livestock to go walkabout with you, a bucket, even an empty bucket, is a great lure. And watch where they put their feet, you don't want one trampling on your tootsies or you'll never dance again.

ivyleaf

jk0 wrote: »

I just saw an interesting old skill mentioned. I was just reading about the PDP11 computer on Wikipedia which was produced from 1970 to 1990. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PDP-11

It says:

Ah. That could be a problem then.....

emmwri

Thanks mrsLW , I've got quite a but to turn my hand to then!

I think this is the problem with a de skilled society, some of those skills everyone would know how to do, but some would be done by specialists in your community. I feel as if nowadays I would need to learn everything in order to survive a post-industrial world, as nobody would be able to specialise in anything. I think OH and I might have to split the list and learn a few each. He would love to learn flint knapping!

[Deleted User]

It's great fun, we had a really nice weekend and learned to make nettle and flax cordage too starting from pulling up our nettles! I don't think any one person could possibly learn ALL the skills we'd need to live a non industrial life, best to try a and find something you can be reasonably good at so you could make more than you need for personal use and use surpluses for barter with someone who has a different speciality skill and needs whatever you can produce. We can grow food, we've been doing it for years so we'd have things to spare in those times when everything seems to ripen at once so that's what I'd use to aquire some of the things we aren't proficient at. I can cook so that's a skill I'd 'hire out' if anyone needed it, He Who Knows is pretty good at fixing things, used to mend and service all our cars when you could do that yourself, is pretty handy at taking down trees and general maintenance so that's a skill he'd be able to trade for other things. If you could cut hair that would be a tradable skill, certainly the knitting and sewing skills would be something others without them would really use. Have a think and see what you have some knowledge in and see if any aspect of that could be developed to a point where it would be tradable as a skill and give you a future income.

fuddle

I don't think it's just about not having the actual physical skills right now, I think it's becoming apparent that my generation and younger are losing the wherewithal socially.

Growing up we were all very insular in that families knew each other for generations and there was always someone who knew someone 'who could do that'.

Now, as a society I feel we're chasing work where we can get it, education and opportunity has given us a chance to move elsewhere to the point that has seen a watering down in family ties. We now may not even know our neighbour. Some of us are lucky to get a smile and a hello.

With that comes the issue of trust and that insular instinct of having family, friends and neighbours who can help you out and take on the world has seen us become insular in our approach to life as individuals. I wouldn't say I have the 'I'm alright Jack mentality' but I can see that I have the 'I have to make sure I'm as-alright-as-I-can-be Jack' and do it alone because everyone else has their heads down, looking after themselves.

I have to say that it isn't like that where I live now but only because it's an ageing population who have lived in this smaller place all their lives but further into the town, where I lived last year, it's very different.

moneyistooshorttomention

I would say there is an argument for the reverse actually - of people having to be more "outward-facing" as regards Society generally.

I've never had the chance to be "insular" if I wanted to be now I come to think of it. So I think this isn't just a recent thing for people to be "away from backgrounds" personally.

Looking back over my own life - and only one of my parents was able to be "in own home area" whilst I was growing up and that changed around 60 years ago (courtesy of my father having been in the Armed Forces for many years). So - the first move happened and neither of my parents was in "home area". I made a city in my part of the country my "home area" as soon as I became an adult - but havent been able to stay in it for rest of my life.

Also chance to be "insular" probably depends on the work one does a lot too. Virtually everyone I know (40 years back) went to university. I didnt - but, latterly for many years worked for large public sector employer and got very used to "comings and goings" - with things like people transferring round the country.

So - I would say that being "insular" is something that vanished for many people in the 1950s/60s.

But - with that - comes having to be "outward oriented" and taking it for granted that the people around you change one way or another at intervals and having to learn to work together with "strangers".

It probably varies somewhat according to what part of the country one is in. In the semi-rural area I'm in now I've been astonished to see how many adults have family members living nearby - as, to me, it's always been very rare for people to have any family members near them and is very much the exception/always has been.

[Deleted User]

We are a very small family, I have one brother and OH is an only child add to that my mother alienated all of both sides of the family before I was born and we had no contact with any of them ever, we were in the position of having to move for employment after redundancy and knew no one or anything of the place we've come to live in. My brother moved here just up the road a couple of years after we moved here, I KNOW I've said it before, you earn a place in any community it's NOT given you, you make yourself a useful member of the community and people get to know you and then you 'belong'. I think that would be more so the case in the event of the industrial society grinding to a halt, to be accepted as part of a group that is a community will become a necessity not an exception, to be outside one of those groups would be very hard indeed!

fuddle

Again money, we're exceptionally different. Not many people I knew went to university and growing up in a mining community in the 80's we were united as a village with not many comings and goings.

I understand that people still moved around - my ancestors were spread all over the country - what I'm saying is we're becoming less able to communicate, build rapport, trust and understand who lives by us and all the things that has us grounded as a member of the community.

I would very much like to be a member of my community and I am beginning to feel like my face is being recognised and, at the very least, known as a nice person. What I worry about is when I'm one of the village elders. I would like to be part of a group, not carry the group and unfortunately I see little hope in people grasping that first world problems aren't problems. Who knows, eventually there might just be an app for 'it' and I need not worry. :cool:

[Deleted User]

FUDS your DH would be a decided asset in a post industrial world looking at the fab things he's made from pallets, it's that kind of skill, to make not luxury items but the nitty gritty of everyday life that would be valuable. Something like a table and a couple of benches to sit at to eat, work, play, prepare food would be treasured. To have the skill to make a bed/platform to sleep on to keep you warm and dry and not sleeping on the ground, what price the comfort of that? even wooden spoons and bowls would be valued if you had none. It's maybe not the obvious skills of today that would be useful I think. Not a lot of call for having your nails done or your eyebrows threaded or your legs waxed or your hair dyed pink or designer clothing and the latest colour/decor for your home in a post industrial world, enough to have a shelter and if you're lucky things to put in it and food on the table.