THE Prepping thread - a new beginning :)

pineapple

elona wrote: »

It has made me think about the idea of applying for a simple credit card which would be paid off in full each month just to have a backup in case of bank problems.

I have a credit card as back up with the arrangement that outstanding amounts are automatically taken from the current account.
When it came up for renewal they were going to take it off me as I hardly ever used it. Anyhow it was finally renewed :j
Useful if the debit card gets lost or damaged (as mine almost did recently).

GreyQueen

:T Well said, Mar.

I admit to being given the willies by the Underground and loathe being on it at all, fortunately not living or visiting Lunnon Town very often keeps me out of its clutches.

Picture this; you are on your way to the airport via train for your holibobs. Shorts, tee shirt, flip-flops and a big rolling suitcase. The train crashes. Not too badly, no one's hurt, but still very very stopped. And you're picking your way down the side of the track over the loose stones in your flipflops and trying to wrangle your big ole suitcase so you can get up to the road where the replacement bus service will be waiting. You'll be crossing fields and possibly ditches to get there. And don't forget the nettles.

You're cashless in the supermarket and the card readers are down. The checkout supervisor is marshalling cash-paying customers to the checkouts and regretfully telling the rest of the cashless that they will be leaving empty handed. You've nothing in for tea and are on the last couple of nappies in the pack.

You wake up in the morning and turn on the news. There was a financial crisis in another time zone whilst you were sleeping. Several UK banks are in crisis and have closed their doors and frozen accounts to stop a run. You're cashless, or nearly so, and you're going to need food, fuel, a box of ladies' monthly supplies, whatever. Your cards aren't working, either, and there's no news of when this will be resolved.

Your car breaks down or a bridge or a tunnel breaks down, or a serious crash closes the road. You are unsuitably attired and shod. Unsuitable could be caught in a heatwave with no sunhat/ scarf/ shirt to keep off the sun, as well as being without a coat or walking shoes/ boots in inclement weather. An inconvenience has just become very uncomfortable.

You use satnav instead of a paper road atlas or your own memory and common sense. Your satnav breaks down or sends you off in the wrong direction. You get stuck in a ford/ under a bridge/ down a narrow lane because the satnav told you to go that way, in contradiction of both common sense and prevailing conditions or signage.

You live in a town or city. You don't understand that not everywhere has streetlights, or that they're not always on the whole night. You don't understand that humans can't see well in the dark and don't have torch with you when you need one. You break an ankle and suddenly it's all very serious.

**********

Re the situation in the quake area of Italy, if I was holidaying there and there was nothing useful I could do to assist rescuers or in providing assistance to people affected, I think I'd want to get myself out of the area. Reason being, that one fewer person taking up resources, including accomodation space which might be needed by people who were suddenly homeless, could be the most useful contribution to make.

maryb

I'm pretty familiar with the Underground and can usually work out my route in my head. But it can be worth running it through the journey planner before you go. It's surprising how often there are alternatives you would not have thought of which are just as quick. Can make the difference between being stuck in something like a scene from Fritz Lang's Metropolis or being able to zip along a short distance to a different line.

I quite often walk in Central London and find it just as quick, because you can walk for miles underground from platform to exit. And when you do that regularly, you learn the cut throughs which get you there quicker ( and which have saved many an ambling tourist's life - I get very frustrated when they drift aimlessly in front of me)

Best tip - if there is any problem always get on a bus going the other way for a couple of stops. I was going to Heathrow on the Picadilly line when we were turfed off at one of the stations in West London. There were no taxis along the road and you couldn't have nabbed one anyway. I worked out there was a bus and walked two stops in the wrong direction then got the bus going to Heathrow. When it got to the stop outside the station where we had been turned off, it was like the last helicopter out of Saigon!! I made it to the airport three minutes before check in closed!! No way I would have made it if I had waited until I could get on a bus going the right way

TiredTrophy

So say I decided to stay in a modern hotel instead of a quaint lil old airbnb and heigh ho the walls start shaking....do I run down the stairs into the street where its raining roof tiles or hide under the desk? I actually have no idea having only watched that terrible movie about california while on an aeroplane. I would assume that once things stop shaking, you basically do what you're told and folks will get you out after the injured have had first priority.
Definitely a case where your own supply of water would be good.

GreyQueen

The experts advise you to get under something like a strong table or desk and hang on for dear life, with your head tucked down. This has superceded earlier advice about standing in doorways or hiding under stairs.

Most of the injuries and fatalities in earthquakes are caused by falling furniture or other items. Obv, if a few tonnes of masonry are going to pancake down on your head, there may be limited mileage in hiding under the table, but it may be that it would break the force of descending items and allow you a pocket of safety. Or make what would have been a grievous injury into a minor one.

I recall reading about one of the California earthquakes in the past couple of decades. The fatalities were in the low single digits but one person was killed by the antique armoire he'd purchased a few days before falling on him.

Don't forget that head blows, even glancing ones, can daze and always bleed profusely. Shock will be a likely consequence of anything of this nature and people will get cold, shaky and confused and may not be able to act in their best interests.

greenbee

It's worth learning about earthquakes in advance. I woke up in the middle of an earthquake in a hotel in Sofia and had no clue what to do...

Karmacat

greenbee wrote: »

It's worth learning about earthquakes in advance. I woke up in the middle of an earthquake in a hotel in Sofia and had no clue what to do...

I can feel a blog post coming on ....

Save

greenbee

Karmacat wrote: »

I can feel a blog post coming on ....

Save

The best bit was that my colleague slept through the whole thing. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_Pernik_earthquake

Karmacat

Oh my word!

Seeing the increased Italian fatality numbers this morning got me to thinking - this really is important, Italy, Bulgaria, Greece, Turkey, they're all earthquake zones. Plenty of other tourist hotspots too: http://www.cbc.ca/news2/interactives/world-quakes/

maryb

Another piece about Deutsche Bank from Zerohedge
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-08-24/deutsche-bank-ceo-warns-fatal-consequences-savers

If and when it blows, it is hardly going to qualify as a Black Swan event.

Apparently Germany is looking at a slowdown as the likely consequences of Brexit are dousing business confidence.

Interesting autumn ahead, possibly.

Are you counting down the hours to freedom yet, Karmacat?