THE Prepping thread - a new beginning :)

mardatha

COPIED FROM FLUTRACKERS!

Flu warning: Experts warn of UK's worst epidemic for almost 50 years
BRITAIN faces the worst flu outbreak for almost 50 years and public health officials must take urgent steps to protect the public, experts have said.
By Lucy Johnston and Adam Helliker, Exclusive
PUBLISHED: 00:01, Sun, Sep 24, 2017

The warning comes as Australia is in the grip of its worst season on record with more than 70,000 cases of flu and standing room only in some Accident and Emergency departments.

Specialists say this strain is likely to hit our shores this winter as global travel means the virus will “almost inevitably” be carried across.

Professor Robert Dingwall, a public health expert at Nottingham Trent University said the outbreak presents the most serious challenge since the 1968 flu pandemic which originated in Hong Kong and killed a million people worldwide.

Scientists are concerned about “virological drift” where flu evolves so that even if a vaccine works in one country, it may not be effective months later.

Prof Dingwall said: “Based on the Australian experience public health officials need to meet and urgently review emergency planning procedures. Public Health England should be working with local authorities and local health services to ensure more hospital beds are freed up. We need to be prepared, alert and flexible.

“There is no point in trying to close the borders. It’s almost inevitable this will come to us. This is potentially the worst winter since the Hong Kong flu outbreak of 1968. Lots of people have been very badly affected in Australia and whilst their mortality rates are not out yet we suspect this is a more severe strain than most other years.”

The warning follows a speech earlier this month from NHS chief Simon Stevens who said the NHS may not be able to cope with the pressure...

thriftwizard

Rats! You mean I missed the End of the World while I was away? How annoying, when I've been prepping for it all these years!

Had a very - interesting - time over there. Great fun, and well worthwhile from the point of view that some minor familial rifts were healed in the warmth & fitful sunshine, but the villa was a complete disaster waiting to happen. We had rain pouring through the roof in several places, including over major appliances, lights that flickered all night despite being turned off, electricians who joked about calling the fire brigade if anything went bang, then went very quiet when it did, water coming up through the kitchen floor, and a kitchen sink that unplumbed itself (whilst full) twice. And plenty more, but that's enough to be going on with!

It's a very lovely traditional villa which has been "done up" on a wing and a prayer, quite possibly by the owner himself, with very little regard for logic or safety. So all the boasted mod cons have just been added on haphazardly; for example, the water coming up through the kitchen floor was most likely coming from the washing machine outlet pipe, which discharged onto the open ground in the garden behind - and uphill from - the kitchen. This was not an uncommon grey-water solution where I grew up, and makes a lot of sense in a hot dry area, but it does make sense to make sure it's draining downhill away from your building! There was, unusually, a LOT of rain in the first week we were there, which probably exacerbated all the problems just waiting to happen, but they were all going to happen sooner or later, and might have happened to someone who didn't realise that the owners assurances that the soaking-wet TV was still working were neither here nor there! Or a small child might have got up early & switched it on...

But the layout of the place was very interesting; you could see how well it worked in relation to the landscape & climate that it sits in & the lifestyle of the people that live there. There are some old ruins nearby, of "navetas" originally built around 2,000BC, which are virtually identically laid-out. It would be easy to live in without externally-supplied power; I wonder how many of our homes would work reasonably well for any length of time without power?

mardatha

We could manage for long enough without elect here, but doing the washing would be a bit of a drag. Apart from that everything is sorted. But that wouldn't apply to things like sewage and water etc, I'm only talking about the appliances and things that go off during a powercut. Longest powercut we've had was 5 days.
The heating of course wouldn't work, but using the stove as an open fire provides tons of heat for the livingroom and gallons of hot water. I cook on Calor gas so that's sorted and also heats the kitchen.
I have an old blocked-up fireplace in the big bedroom that I'd want to unblock and use again if I was younger, but too much work for us now, we could just sleep in the livingroom on the recliners if the power was off during really cold damp weather.

[Deleted User]

More reason than usual for us to have the flu jab this year I think! sadly I'm on meds that won't allow me to take any over the counter cold/flu cures just paracetamol so I'll make sure of a good supply of honey and lemons at all times over the winter and early spring and make sure that the store room is up to date with enough supplies and household needs to see us through weeks at a time in case we're unlucky and catch the wretched flu bug and get laid up. I'll make sure things like prescriptions are regularly repeated and get old fashioned things to help like vapour rub, eucalyptus oil to help us breathe and copious amounts of balsam tissues, throat sweets and cough mixtures of various kinds chesty, tickly, dry, bronchial balsam and soothing. If we DO get the bug we'll be able to stay in and not pass it on and be as comfortable as we can under the circumstances.

DigForVictory

Sounds like you have a special drinks cabinet for coughs there, Mrs LW!
When last I mucked out our crate of open bottles, <ahem>, we certainly had enough medication to stun a camel. My local pharmacist not only accepted a clinking sack of bottles to dispose of, but helped me refill the box with new, sealed, boxed bottles of assorted remedies. She even threw in a handful of Official Teaspoons & a couple of syringes, knowing that with my lot, I tend to haul the sufferer to her for inspection. Saves time if I have Everything (bar her knowledge) on site.
I've even got a bowl & bath-towel dedicated for Methol inhalation - with a Quantity Warning scribed in sharpie on the side. My lot can be a bit "chuck a bit more in for good measure"...

[Deleted User]

We make coctails!!! seriously though coughs change with the progression through the illness and you might need different remedies for different stages and degrees of cough so I like to have a variety of different types in. The one that seems to work best for me with the limitations on meds that I have is Buttercup Syrup, incredible stuff!!!

GreyQueen

Hmm, I'm not one for dosing myself up with cough remedies, but I think a bit of shopping may be in order; olbas oil, vicks vaporub and come cough sweeties. Better to have them by me than have to rush out to the pharmacy in a hurry.

Dreading a bad flu season as a call centre tends to be a caring sharing place with bugs going around and around........ my flu jab is in about 3 weeks' time so hopefully I'll be at maximum antibodies when the worst of the virus does the rounds. The worst flu I ever has was in 1986, was bedbound for half a day, and on my tod in a freezing bedsit - miserable time.

I have treated my shed (sweets and flowers, it was worth it) and so it's now weather-proofed. I have also done some more prepping for pyromaniacally activities which are imminent.

mardatha

GQ I've had flu so many times I can't count it and twice was quite seriously ill. Three times went to pneumonia, the other half a million times went to a chest infection. I HATE flu and right now am stocking up on everything I can think of for winter, to save us having to go out to shops.

GreyQueen

mardatha wrote: »

GQ I've had flu so many times I can't count it and twice was quite seriously ill. Three times went to pneumonia, the other half a million times went to a chest infection. I HATE flu and right now am stocking up on everything I can think of for winter, to save us having to go out to shops.

:eek: Sounds terrible, I've been spared such horrors. Have had the pneumonia jab a few years ago, worth asking GP for, if you haven't had it? Good to make sure those of us on constant prescriptions have plenty by us, too.

maryb

I posted only last week about the Aussie flu and already the level of alarm about it seems to be increasing.:eek: trouble is we don't know if this year's flu jab will be effective yet but there is some strain of H3N2 in there so I will be trotting along to Tesco pharmacy (£9 for the jab). I'm not old enough to get it on the NHS but DH is so I'll be making an apt for him as soon as we get home

I don't think I've ever had real flu but before I retired a bad cold would always give me a bad chest infection and one year when I was under huge pressure I developed ambulant pneumonia. My boss's reaction was you can't be ill on Thursday, big meeting, and you are obviously well enough to be on your feet so you can come in.

Took me a couple of months to get over that. Do I miss working in the City? Answers on a postcard