The Prepping Thread - A Newer Beginning ;)

DigForVictory

The dams still standing so far but my heart goes out to the souls of Whaley

PipneyJane wrote: »

If the dam fails, there will be quite a lot of collateral damage downstream and not just in Whaley Bridge. It'll impact people for miles.

So, already our PM has been there & described it as "dodgy but stable" - a phrase only that individual could use & mean & get away with. Some days I think emergency areas should be off limits to all bar the experts & the residents...

Who are being allowed back, one person per household, at a time & at their own risk to recover more possessions, clothes, medication, pets etc.
Meanwhile the doctors, the pharmacist, the supermarket & the petrol station are all closed. Reminds me of the American Mom who prepared for hurricanes by handing a 'get these' list to each child & spouse & as they got on, she took her camera and walked around every nook taking photos. Then tucked the camera card in her brassiere, checked the lists & got everything & everyone into the family truck & left. Her insurance claim was hailed in the business as an illustrated guide to American family life...

THIRZAH

We are only about seven miles from Whaley Bridge so know the town quite well. Someone in our town is collecting bottled water and packaged food for the emergency workers.



At least the situation has finally persuaded DH that we need either a bug-out bag or at least a list of what we should pack if we do have to leave in a hurry

GreyQueen

Thirzah, I was thinking of those Whaley Bridge residents who would have gone out for the day's work/ visits/ study/ apppointments with the car and not been allowed back home for days.


For those who have such a lifestyle, I think a modest holdall with a change of clothes, a few extras of smalls and socks and a basic toiletry kit/ medications etc would have been a great comfort in horrible times.


One thing's for sure and that is that no one living in that town, or another in the way of a dam, is going to feel quite as comfortable at home as they did a few days ago. My heart goes out to those poor souls.

MisterPym

GreyQueen wrote: »

I'm happily amused with my sewing machine making various tool roll type cloth containers to hold my caming kitchen equipment, as a recent outing as a car camper revealed some petty annoyances. The intention is to have one roll for cutlery and one for bigger utensils.


Have got a mixture of the everyday (unspecial) things from the kitchen drawer and some 20p-a-time bits from the chazzer. Two each of knives, forks, dessert spoons, teaspoons and one combined corkscrew/ bottle opener/ knife and a tiny army can opener.


The latter is so wee that I've put a small split ring through it, and am anchoring it onto the cutlery roll with a small leash and mylon clip.


Apart from the French cotton tea-towel that's forming the roll (chazzer, 50p, superb quality) all the bits and bobs are salvage from my sewing supplies. Nothing gets into the ragbag chez GQ until it has been stripped of any potentially re-usable elements. And, bygorry, do I re-use them.

Any chance of a photo?

Sounds really useful.

THIRZAH

GreyQueen-I agree. Imagine not being able to clean your teeth or having anything to wash with. I've tried to get DH to carry some basics in a bag in the car but he just ignored me. One bad winter I suggested he keep a sleeping bag in the boot in case he got snowed in at work-there's a comfy sofa, a kitchen and he's the boss so no one to complain if he did spend the night there.


Anyway I've started preparing for my bug-out bag now.

DigForVictory

The livestock are revolting. There is "too much stuff" in the freezer (fruit picked but not in enough quantity to make jam an imperative).
So I went & picked three bags more. Jam is now pretty much definitely going to happen tomorrow even if the lads say they don't eat it. (I do as shouldn't, my parents & aunts love it - good enough reason to me!)

I shall suggest to the livestock the get a small fire of prickly clippings burning & then remind them that Bindweed burns. I appear to have a very healthy drop of the stuff I don't need or want, much as they feel about the frozen fruit. Negotiation room, I think.

ETA lest you thought that midge bites shouldn't fill with pus, you are wholly right & it Might Perhaps be cowpox. (Yes, photos but not Ick! ones. Better to know than wonder?)

DigForVictory

This making jerky lark is effortful & not cheap. I got a couple of chunks of meat discounted & stashed them in the freezer a while back & as the livestock have been bleating about space for 'food They eat', I thought 'fair enough'.

Defrosted lump 1 yesterday, tried to feed it through the slicer to find even chilled beef is a wibbly lump & tricky to feed smoothly through whereas a sight nearer zero is more obedient. Husband mixed up his choice of seasoning & it's all sat in a bag marinading til I lay it out in the (scrubbed out) dehydrator tomorrow.

I have to say I am thinking I'll just defrost & slow cook the other lump unless the chaps go completely grateful & cooperative. (Hey miracles can happen.)

DigForVictory

They Like It!

Husband helped me make strawberry jam too. Once he'd checked I wasn't making any of the "modern fancy low sugar added hoojit sorts" he'd seen on the internet. No I assured him, real strawberries glued to setting point with Certo. Youngest used his best handwriting on the labels so it looks like a genuine family production (with the Primary school child writing the labels, ahem).

There are now cherries dripping, as per Nostradamus' receipt Another Way to make Jelly of Cherryes, that is more Delicate than the First but it is more Dear & is for Great Lords - if they can get past me. All the chaps have been warned that it they interfere, I'll re-translate some of the prophesies.

happybiker

DigForVictory wrote: »

For anyone with a penknife in their bag, there's a news story you may want to run an eye over:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-49033430



I don't know about you but last I was in a court building I went through the ring of steel and (with colleagues waiting behind me) asked Security if they'd hold my SAK for the meeting. Sure, not a problem & I got a raffle ticket to collect it with later. I'm not desensitised to weapons [I think] - but then I'm not in London for meetings, I'm in Manchester, where people die in the same ways but the journalists are slightly less frantic.

That said, anyone who rocks up to Family Court with a knife ought to expect to be stopped, searched and have their knife (and any other could be improvised as a weapon kit) taken from them - how they conduct themselves clues the security as to whether or not to hand it back!

Entirely agree that anything that can be used as a weapon should not be allowed in a court building,,,,,
Sharpened pencils, ball point pens, credit cards, shoelaces, stiletto heels, belts, ladies tights, ceramic cups, glass bottles, cans of drink, mens braces, key chains, aerosol sprays, Briefcases full of paper, laptop computers, they should all be banned. The procedures in place now are there to provide a feel good factor that the authorities are taking action. Not to actually protect people


Sorry folks, only my 4th post on this thread in the last 8 years but I have been following it every week. Greetings to all.

GreyQueen

Couldn't agree more.


I've always thought it nonsensical that trivial grooming items like manicure kits are confiscated by airport security but you are allowed to board with shoelaces and bootlaces.


A bootlace is anything up to 1.5 m of very strong cordage which could easily be fashioned into a garotte by someone thus inclined, yet it's OK but a teeny tiny pair of nail clippers is dangerous??


People who know about these things can use all sorts of improvised articles as weapons and bare hands are pretty effective, too.