Prepping for Brexit thread

lessonlearned

MrsLurcherwalker wrote: »

I've been around for a L O N G time, I was born just after the last war and rationing was in force until I was 5 so I remember it distantly, going to the shop for 1oz of sweeties was treat of the week. I lived in a rural village of some 500 people, no one except the local Insurance Man had a car, my dad cycled 15 miles to work and 15 miles back in all weathers on shift work. We lived a pretty good but simpler life than is normal today with much less available to buy in the shops than there currently is. We made the best of things, hand me downs went from family to family as kids grew out of clothes and the jumble sales in the church hall were cut throat for ladies clothes that could be made into something new to the buyer. We ate simpler meals that were usually meat or fish and two veg, lots of potatoes and veg and fruit in season. It wasn't a deprived life we were fed, clothed, the kids played out, there wasn't TV but there was radio and books and our toys. Grown ups had tea with each other in the afternoons and made cakes to go with it, there were whist drives, beetle drives, the cinema, local am dram and walks in the countryside surrounding us. It's not going to send us that far back but if it did? would a life that's simpler and more locally lived be such a disaster?

Until we actually know what we're going to have to live with if we leave the EU I'm not of the mind that everything is going to be negative, I'm looking on it a little like I'm looking on dying in the fullness of time, both are an unknown entity and both an as yet untraveled road I'm more curious than afraid in both cases, I'm looking at the journey to and through both happenings as a bit of an adventure, the last big challenge in the case of death when I'll find out if there is or isn't anything beyond it. Brexit is just another challenge along the way to be dealt with as well as I can so I'm not for giving up before I find what actually IS after it, I'm naturally optimistic by nature and because I've had plenty of knocks and ditches to climb out of in life I'm just not going to be scared of the future, I'll fight for the best I can make of it and count that an achievement to equal anything else I've ever done.

Im going to lob a hand grenade into the discussion.......:rotfl:

A simpler way of living and a little less conspicuous consumption may actually be a good thing. Surely fewer food miles is something we should be aiming for anyway.

I would love to see a way to shopping for locally grown produce and more locally produced goods and services, and not just food. At the risk of sounding like little Miss Goody two shoes isn't it better to support our local farmers, shopkeepers and trades people anyway.

I think one of our big mistakes has been to "outsource" far too much .........not just what we eat, but what we also used to manufacture, even admin type work.

At the risk of opening up a can of worms Brexit may be just the kick up the backside this country needs to not only become more self sufficient but also to get our exports going again. If the £ is devalued then our exports will be cheap, making it more expensive to import of course but also making our exports more competitive. It could be a great opportunity.

Do we really "need" tastlesss strawberries in December and cheap clothing stitched together by children in sweatshops in Asia.

The first world has exploited the third world quite enough in our endless pursuit of cheap food, cheap clothing and cheap electronics and consumer goods. And in the process we have trashed the planet, wasted its precious resources and reduced countless millions to abject poverty. Some of them in bonded labour no less.

We would rather bin our cheap fast fashion than take care of our clothes and make them last the way our mothers did. Many people would rather fling something in the microwave or worse still dial up the local takeaway rather than cook good wholesome food from scratch.

Many have become lazy, thoughtless and wasteful.

I for one do not believe for a moment that leaving the EU on a no deal ticket is a one way ride to Armageddon. The world will still trade with us of that I'm sure.

But perhaps, as contentious as it sounds, a little bit of having "less" might actually do this country some good.

I'll get me coat.......:rotfl:

EachPenny

lessonlearned wrote: »

I'll get me coat.......:rotfl:

Not at all. I think it makes perfect sense for us as a country to question how we do things and to take a wider world-view. The very notion that the country will collapse without the EU to support it is something that gives me much cause for concern. What is happening to us (and things like our education system) if people genuinely believe we'll be starving or dying in a few months time?

That doesn't mean we have to wind the clock back 20 or 30 years, but we should be looking at ways of making the country more sustainable and resilient so we can have the things we have come to enjoy without paying the political and environmental costs that currently come with them.

The worst thing I've found in recent months is how quickly some people do the country down, making out we are incompetent and doomed to fail. It is much more productive to look for solutions, rather than looking for excuses and reasons not to change.

maryb

And it would be so nice to be able to go nur nur nee ur nur to Martin Selmayr when it all works out

GreyQueen

:T Too right, lessonlearned.


Globalisation benefits relatively few people and disadvantages a heckuva lot more. We need to treat oil and petroleum for what they are; scarce and dwindling resources. Transport should be reserved for only those things which cannot be produced in our own climatic zone, and then cagily.


I don't know about others, but I have given up on buying strawbs other than very local, in season ones. Even stone fruit like peaches, plums, nectarines etc are so awful and tasteless, even in season, that I begrudge paying good money for a few mouthfuls of flavourless wet pulp.


Compare and contrast the utter bliss of one's own currants and rasps off the allotment, and you realise that we've forgotten what fruit and veg should taste like.


One of my favourite tricks is to tease non-gardening allotment visitors to pick a peapod and eat peas raw. They do so with great trepidation, and their eyes light up and their smiles go from ear to ear when they realise what a fresh pea actually tastes like.

Goldiegirl

EachPenny wrote: »

Well here's an example where I asked the question earlier in the thread:-

' Originally Posted by Honey Bear
Just checked out the situation regarding eggs. We are 86% self-sufficient, so expect there to be shortages in a No Deal situation.'

I can't see anywhere that Honey Bear said that the French weren't going to sell to us

There is a good argument that fresh fruit and vegetables in the back of a truck held up at the port might go off, but we all know how long eggs stay fresh (especially if refrigerated) so why would a delay of one, two or even three days make any significant difference to the supply of eggs in the supermarkets to the extent it creates "shortages"?

Not sure why we are obsessing about eggs here, unless its to avoid talking about other foodstuffs that that you mentioned.

What 'preconceptions' do you think I might have?

Your Leave voting preconceptions.

Part of my job used to be dealing with civil emergency planning for a local council. Talking about the eventualities is good, planning for them is essential. But part of the process is about assessing what is a real threat, and what really doesn't matter, because if you invest all your money and energy in the wrong things then you have no ability to deal with any problems that do come along.

So a thread about prepping for Brexit is going to be of limited value for everyone if it gets clogged up with baseless speculation. Far better to 'keep it real' and look at the things we can do within our individual control.

To keep it real we need to know what's going on

Goldiegirl

EachPenny wrote: »

Not at all. I think it makes perfect sense for us as a country to question how we do things and to take a wider world-view. The very notion that the country will collapse without the EU to support it is something that gives me much cause for concern. What is happening to us (and things like our education system) if people genuinely believe we'll be starving or dying in a few months time?

Again, no one is saying that on this thread.

The concerns are about the effects of a drastic overnight change in the shape of a no deal Brexit.

you are jumping to your own conclusions again

lessonlearned

I moved house last September and it has a lovely wrap around garden. Only yesterday I was looking at fruit bushes. As for peas in the pod. Yummy.

I have totally given up buying stone fruits too. They are rock hard and and don't "ripen in a fruit bowl" :rotfl: they just turn into tasteless mush. A total waste of money.

fuddle

You underestimate your peers here Goldiegirl. Why, in your insular approach, do you think that because people won't get drawn into talking about what you want to talk about they're somehow ignorant about the issues surrounding Brexit?

You are not right with your insular views. I am fully supportive of you having and expressing your view but likewise you need to understand that, in order to have a debate, you need to spark interest, have worthy ideas, be interesting and listen to opposing views while using them to spark ideas for further debate.

What you're doing is trying goad and antagonise a response. Sadly, while doing this you're very dismissive of people's right to not engage and that results in you dismissing their point of view or insinuate they're ignorant to the effects of Brexit.

Eggs, for what it's worth, are incredibly important and wholly versatile. More talk about eggs I say!

[Deleted User]

I'm prepping for Brexit for the same reasons that I prep for the unforeseen and the out of the blue and that is I am taking responsibility for me and mine and putting us in a much better position to weather any problems likely as a potential result of the changes brought about by Brexit or a bad weather event, an outbreak of flu, flood, drought, and many more. I'm of a mind that in an emergency of any kind if it's possible to do so I will help me and mine to avoid being part of the problem by being prepared for the things I can influence and leaving the emergency services more scope to deal with people who haven't prepared.

I don't think the world will end on the 29th March, I think it will inevitably change somewhat but I'm not afraid of the changes, I know enough to be useful to my family and community, I relish the opportunity to help in any way I can and I'm definitely NOT scared of Brexit meaning we starve or return to the dark ages overnight. We will adapt to it all, it might even be good for us?

EachPenny

GreyQueen wrote: »

One of my favourite tricks is to tease non-gardening allotment visitors to pick a peapod and eat peas raw. They do so with great trepidation, and their eyes light up and their smiles go from ear to ear when they realise what a fresh pea actually tastes like.

I did the same thing with my friends city-dwelling children

And nobody knows what a new potato really is until you've dug one out of the ground, boiled it, and eaten it all in under 20 mins.