THE Prepping thread - a new beginning :)

mumf

GreyQueen wrote: »

They may be people, Bob, but they're definately men. Despite working in various fields I have never in my whole life encountered a female gas engineer or a female car mechanic.

My friend has a plumbing/ heating firm.He employs a woman on his team,as some female customers don't want men in the house.

maryb

Anyone who works in an office will recognise the phenomenon of the young lass who skitters round the town centre on a night out in next to nothing but who, when at work, wants the heating on full blast

Apropos of nothing, MSE seems to have switched to US spelling, it is trying to autocorrect centre in the paragraph above. Anyone know how to box its ears/change settings?

mumf

maryb wrote: »

Anyone who works in an office will recognise the phenomenon of the young lass who skitters round the town centre on a night out in next to nothing but who, when at work, wants the heating on full blast

Apropos of nothing, MSE seems to have switched to US spelling, it is trying to autocorrect centre in the paragraph above. Anyone know how to box its ears/change settings?

I hate that automatic US spelling.

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

maryb wrote: »

Anyone who works in an office will recognise the phenomenon of the young lass who skitters round the town centre on a night out in next to nothing but who, when at work, wants the heating on full blast

Apropos of nothing, MSE seems to have switched to US spelling, it is trying to autocorrect centre in the paragraph above. Anyone know how to box its ears/change settings?

I've always found the culprits to be older, somewhat underweight ladies, as they've been the ones with the clout to inflict an office hotter than the centre of sun upon everybody else.

As usual, we had absolutely no heating in my corner of the working world today. The rest of the site was working fine and was perfectly warm, but despite many occasions of talking to the site manager last winter, explaining the problems with the heating and hot water, it seems that nobody authorised the cost of the repairs again.

Just as well I assumed this was going to happen like it has every single year since I started there and went in wearing two warm layers, my massive fleece and furry lined hat. I also politely pointed out that I will NOT be enforcing the very important school rules about uniform (no coats, no hats, no gloves, no scarves, no t-shirts underneath shirts, no leggings underneath skirts and no jumpers/hoodies/additional clothing - not just in class but when travelling between lessons), as I have no intention of freezing and don't expect the Offspring of the Parish to feel as cold as I do. I did liberate a portable radiator from a disused classroom before half term in the certainty that this would happen - and I've studiously not read the all staff email requesting everybody to hand in their portable heaters so that they may be redistributed.

Cappella

Maryb - I don't think it's an MSE auto correct. It lets me type in centre without any problem. Are you using a device that's reset itself to US rather than UK English? Mine did that a few months ago. Unfortunately my d sorted it out for me so I can't offer much help.

Ancientofofdays - I am SERIOUSLY impressed by that toilet roll stash. I thought my 40 rolls was a lot, but it seems not:)

I've not posted properly here for ages. Life intervened. I need to reaudit my preps after leaving MrC unsupervised - it seems that he mainly lived on sardines and baked beans for several weeks - but after making some serious decisions regarding giving up our bees, and downsizing our allotments I intend now to sit down and seriously re-evaluate how we prep, what we're prepping for and what we now need to focus on most, taking health and age factors into account.
Brexit will either come, and go or not, I have no control over what will or will not happen and I haven't Time, or the inclination to bother about it. However the basic human needs of water, shelter, warmth and food will always remain, and I intend to exercise the control that I DO have to ensure that my families needs in those areas are met, to the best of my ability.
I've started today by checking that all of our personal information, evidence of identities, insurance documents, medical details, bank details, wills etc are all quickly and easily accessible here: and that we have scanned them all onto three pen drives, and also saved them in a secure location in cyber space. I've probably over egged the pudding, but better safe than sorry in my view. A bad house fire left my friend in a very difficult position, as she list most of her documents and proofs of identity so I thought it was time I checked ours.
Tomorrow I'm listing the meds and first aid supplies we have, and plan to double check the first aid kits in the allotment shed and car. I CANNOT believe that we had no antiseptic or plasters of any sort on the allotment on Sunday, and had to drive home with MrC bleeding profusely from a deep cut.
After that I'll regroup and think about winter fuel, and heat. We've got a lot of fruit wood drying in our big greenhouse on the plot, and we still have an open fire here as well as a gas fire and gas ch but I don't know how long cherry and apple wood need to dry mature before we can burn it so I need to do some research.
Well, that should keep me nicely busy for a while. Well done anyone who made it this far. I fear that my posts are like buses, none for days and then six come at once.
What prepping is everyone else planning LONG term? Is anyone else rethinking and changing what they already do I wonder?

GreyQueen

I have a folder of documents at the parental home, mainly scans of receipts for big ticket items. Don't want to have to go 10 rounds with a loss adjuster who might think it implausable that someone would spend a month's salary on a Hypn0s mattress.


I also have my old passport over there, and have retained my expired photocard driver's license, too. Plus a folder of photo negatives from my camera film days.



Was at the parental home from Saturday until earlier this afternoon and had sold Dad on the idea of backing up the files on his very elderly XP computer onto a USB stick. We toddled to a tech warehouse, got one for £5.99, toddled home and I showed him how to use it. He is very pleased to know that he won't lose the downloads he paid for from FindMyPast.


My XP pooter winked out of existance this summer, when it wasn't quite 16 years old. My docs were backed up onto the USB stick and it was easy-peasy to load them back again. I am now thinking of getting a second stick and keeping another copy off-site.


Doing these things can be a wee bit of a fiddle, but you'll thank your lucky stars if you ever need to deploy them in earnest.


Just don't expect passers-by to compliment you on your prudence, foresight and preparedness. You will be 'lucky'.

DigForVictory

Cappella wrote: »

three pen drives, and also saved them in a secure location in cyber space

I'm a techie - at least three seems sensible as well as making sure one is stashed "offsite". Be that the office, the allotment, the in-laws or gaffered into the car boot - just out of range of whatever might hustle you at short notice out of your house. I'd note you can leave a memory stick gaffered into the inside of a wellie for Years. The information dates but is still readable.

Bravo GQ coaxing dad into relative digital security by USB! Some folk just refuse to believe the amazing box might fizzle out. "chance favours the prepared mind" - Louis Pasteur...

My parents misplaced a paper notebook of things - and my father wimped out of searching the computer for it. A little merciless teasing & the computer found his digitised notes - dated 2013 stashed in a 2015 folder. (Humans. I despair.)

My husband thinks my BOB and the big first aid kit in the car boot is a shocking waste of space & fuel, but so far I've been able to squeeze/slide them into footwells and not have to drive without. (I couldn't source fixing bandages from them, but they've no first aid/trauma role.)

MSE lets me misspell things galore as I type, but where it isn't happy, it lets me decide yes or no to its suggestions. Which are lamentable Amurricanisms up with which I will not put, having had that carefully trained out of me at 5 and a few months by my primary school headmistress.

I coaxed the family tree gedcom file onto my portable memory stick & realised No Photos. Meh - the ones I have are up on ancestry, and the gradual digitisation of the family photo albums is on the same stick. (And the computer & the initial stick at my parents, so 3 copies just not clouded yet.) Really must list bank details, insurances & utilities onto the stick too! Cappella would you list what you've scanned, as a guide to others?

Really ought to stash old passport at office. Fleece pocket not secure!

Karmacat

Cappella wrote: »

I've started today by checking that all of our personal information, evidence of identities, insurance documents, medical details, bank details, wills etc are all quickly and easily accessible here: and that we have scanned them all onto three pen drives, and also saved them in a secure location in cyber space. I've probably over egged the pudding, but better safe than sorry in my view. A bad house fire left my friend in a very difficult position, as she list most of her documents and proofs of identity so I thought it was time I checked ours.

As you *might* know, I've been proving my identity to conveyancers and banks for weeks now - I think I failed part of my conveyancers test verbally because I couldn't remember if my savings account was with Yorkshire Building Society or Yorkshire Bank

The result was that I had to send my ex-business partner, who luckily still works (as a lecturer) a scan of my passport. He printed it out, and signed it in a rigmarole that took more than an A5 area of paper. He sent it back to me, and today I sent it to my conveyancer. I've no idea if it will be acceptable to them. But ID documents should be really high up on everyone's list of priorities ...

What prepping is everyone else planning LONG term? Is anyone else rethinking and changing what they already do I wonder?

Sort of ... I need to accept my ageing in terms of how I prep - in terms of downgrading my expectations of my physical performance. I can't do what I did, I can't walk 10 miles and just have stiff legs the next day then get on with it; I'd be out for the count for a week or more. That sort of thing.

GreyQueen wrote: »

My XP pooter winked out of existance this summer, when it wasn't quite 16 years old. My docs were backed up onto the USB stick and it was easy-peasy to load them back again. I am now thinking of getting a second stick and keeping another copy off-site.

I have a hard drive in a fireproof safe, a couple of usb sticks, and some of my stuff is on the cloud

Just don't expect passers-by to compliment you on your prudence, foresight and preparedness. You will be 'lucky'.

Which puts me in mind of a saying I love: "the harder I work, the luckier I get".
:j

GreyQueen

Proving ID can be a major pitfall. I remember when I was a CAB volunteer advisor, we'd have recently widowed ladies with no proof of ID other than (perhaps) their bus pass. They'd never driven, hubby had done all that, so no license (and a useless-to-them lump of steel, glass and rubber sat outside the house), didn't travel internationally, so no passport, hubby had had the financial reins, so utility bills in his sole name, etc.


Made me glad that, as a singleton, I have lots of ways of proving who I am and where I live.


Karmakat, yes, ditto to the necessity of changing expectations of physical ability. My osteo-arthritic hip has suddenly down-graded my physical ability far below where it was a couple of years ago, which is pretty scary when I'm not yet in my mid-fifties.:( Howsomever, whingeing about it won't change anything, so I am just doing what I always do - the best I can in the circs I find myself in.


I fully expect to move from pedal cycling to electric cycling in the next few years, so I can buzz around my city, but will be pedalling as long as I can. Allotment gardening I shall continue with as long as possible, using the little-and-often method of cultivation.


Now that the clocks have gone back, and due to other commitments on a Saturday, my only gardening day for the next 4 months or so will be a Sunday. I shall simply plug away at my winter work, which includes bringing Plot2 under full control, and having some more bonfires.


I do adore my allotment(s) and would be very reluctant to give up gardening unless it became a complete physical impossibility.

moneyistooshorttomention

Proving identity isn't just something affecting elderly widows.

I've just bought a sofa. Now where I buy it from one might as well buy on their interest-free credit terms anyway - as they refuse to give a discount for paying it all up front. Cue for needing "proof of identity" stuff for those "terms".

So - they wanted something to verify my address and I duly sent them one of the things they'd listed as acceptable (ie recent Council Tax demand notice).

They'd got another section demanding proof of my signature and they only listed two things on that section - unexpired passport or unexpired photo driving licence. Now my passport is expired (so they won't accept that) and I do have a driving licence (from when I learnt to drive many years back) and it's an old-style paper one.

Cue for an irate phonecall from me asking how I'm expected to provide something I (and many others) don't have. It turned out they'd left out the third item on that list (ie old-style paper driving licence). So I can provide that and they'll get a copy of that. BUT - though they shouldnt pull that one on anyone again and that 3rd item that was missing from my letter should now be on other peoples - I can see I personally might have a problem in a few years time. The reason being that there is an expiry date on that driving licence - and it will have gone past that date at some point in the future.

So - even though I'm single/always have been - there will come a point where I'm thinking "Just how am I supposed to provide what they are demanding in the way of 'proof of identity' then?" I'll have been MITSTM for over 60 years, have lived here for years, have sole charge of my finances - and, come a few years time, still won't be able to provide all that 'proof of identity' they require - unless I wasted MY money renewing a passport I might never use again for THEIR sake:mad::mad:

EDIT; Was obviously a "day of it" yesterday for paperwork hassles. The other item in the post was a letter notifying me when I would have my first experience of age discrimination. One from my bank informing people of something I wasnt aware of in the first place. I never knew my bank stopped the free travel insurance we get once we reach 75 years old - after that we are due to pay £50 pa for it. I realised - because this letter said that they are about to cut that and people will stop getting their free travel insurance at age 70 (instead of 75) and will have to pay £65 pa for it (instead of £50). So that's official then - age discrimination will start for me at age 70. Come on you Baby Boomers - looks like we need to do some more campaigning - for ourselves personally this time....