The Prepping Thread - A Newer Beginning ;)

elaine241

Well today its been spookily quiet!! I think its the combination of clocks changing, freezing cold wind and things finally sinking in after we sadly passed the 1000 mark for deaths in the UK.
I am going to venture shopping tomorrow, going out for the first time in a week. Tbh I am a little anxious at what I will find, which seems a ridiculous thing to be even typing! I have my alcohol anti viral spray, gloves and a mask if needed or a neck warmer I can pull up over my face. I am aiming to go to Lidls as I know where their stock is in the shop and can get in and out as quickly as possible. I am shopping for an elderly friend who is self isolating plus doorstep delivering eggs to my friends as my 9 hens are surpassing themselves atm. If Foghorn my cockerel starts laying I will let you know!!
Life here does seem to be going on as normal and the kids are doing loads of jobs around the farm. We start lambing next week so we will be ultra busy and hopefully the weather will remain kind. The only thing that seems to have changed is that we are all drinking more than normal, cider and wine seems to evaporate! I think it is probably a result of underlying anxiety which manifests itself by us needing a glass or two a night to relax ( that's my excuse and I am sticking to it!)
I have just ordered off Amazon as I have to clear a flat I rent out of literally hundreds of used needles, syringes and drug paraphernalia :-(. I have a large sharps bin and some gloves that are supposed to be needle !!!!!! preventing. Along with the rubbish there must be 500+ empty alcohol bottles. If we are not on total lock down I will start my clearing next week as I wont be meeting anyone between both properties.
Talking of total lock down does anyone think that this is the next move ? and when it is likely if at all? With the predicted worst weeks ahead of us just thought I would find out what prepping people think is likely. Most of my "normal" friends/relatives just shrug it off as a totally ridiculous proposition that would never happen here!

[Deleted User]

I wonder why people think 'it wouldn't happen here?' we've the same virus to contend with as the rest of the planet and no one that I know has divine immunity so each of us is at risk of catching it along with every other human on the planet.  I really wonder why people would think that we wouldn't need to take the next logical step to deal with the numbers of infected people.  Surely everyone by now knows just how devastating this is as an illness and the extent to which it has managed to get the world to grind to an almost complete halt is very well known.  Why would this country be exempt??? Beggars belief doesn't it?

jk0

My friend has a prepay electricity meter which requires him to top up a key at the local shop. I suggested to him the other day to put £150 on it, which he did. Edit: The shop is open, but he says the paypoint system is down. I have given him the SSE phone number from this page: https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2020/03/energy-firms-move-to-help-customers-unable-to-top-up-due-to-coro/

but I suspect the line will be innundated. Any thoughts?

mothernerd

The four week lockdown won't stop the virus, merely slow it as it reaches its peak. The government has (according to WHO, scientists, doctors and many other nations), acted too slowly, irrationally and made things much worse than they should have been given the benefit of the experience of other countrieswho had the virus earlier. We had a simple accurate test ready at the start of February but instead of ramping up production and testing to track the progress of the virus, the government opted to produce only at one government facility. Decide for yourselves whether it is bungling incompetence or a careless disregard for the lives of others particularly those deemed 'economically inactive' (the sick, disabled, elderly, homeless and the much maligned health workers, delivery drivers and bin men not to mention the poor Eastern Europeans who the farmers now want back to stop us starving although there are crops in the fields).

My main worry is how the govt (without Parliament in place) will use or abuse their powers as the health and welfare of the citizenry is not even in their top ten objectives (back to lurking now).

DigForVictory

We're not going to get an absolute lock down unless the Govt really means to put the Army to use. Plus there just aren't enough snipers ready to shoot civilians handy & we don't respond well to much less. (North Korea made a well publicized example of one Govt official who should have stepped off his flight into quarantine & instead swung by the public baths - he was hauled out & shot dead.) That sort of move is political suicide unless you have an absolute grip on the press, at which point why strangle the story?

Just there are still some folk who do not believe this is a serious global public health issue that will kill people.

Death by idiot is alas still on the cards & quite how we are to manage that, I do not know. I've scrapped the car, I could take up drinking again. Just the lads like shandy, I hate beer & I don't think I could neck an entire bottle of wine in a sitting. Well, not without regretting it severely for Ages, undermining my moral high ground & generally thinking did that actually help? I'm more consistently happy with/comforted by tea! 

jk0 - is there no check of balance online possible? Is the payment trackable from his account or was it cash? Short term, keep trying to phone or take to Twitter (bit public but a reasonable open question - have all Paypoint transactions from X store, street, town been received & will they be honoured?)

jk0

DigForVictory said:

jk0 - is there no check of balance online possible? Is the payment trackable from his account or was it cash? Short term, keep trying to phone or take to Twitter (bit public but a reasonable open question - have all Paypoint transactions from X store, street, town been received & will they be honoured?)

Thanks. Sorry I did not express this very well due to editing.

He had the £150 top up credited to his key maybe ten days ago, but he is concerned about further top ups. His flat has electric heating, so burns about £50 per week.

The problem at the moment is that he cannot top up anywhere, due to paypoint system being down.

Onebrokelady

Greenglockenspiel said:

Onebrokelady said:

Greenglockenspiel said:

I’m a vegan and I’ve heard that others have been having similar issues to the lack of GF products, with people buying up the veggie sausages and soya milk etc. Fortunately I had a number of cartons of oat milk and bags of pulses in my cupboards anyway but we haven’t been able to get hazelnut or cashew milk since this all started. When I went to Mr T on Sunday they had plenty of chilled vegan alternatives (sausages, yoghurts etc) - they actually had plenty of most fresh items, but no beans of any sort. The only thing left in the beans/rice aisle was a few tins of quinoa - my neighbourhood isn’t the quinoa-eating demographic!
We’ve just used our lunch break to go to the allotment for our daily exercise and enjoy the sun. It was much less busy than at the weekend and they’d added sanitiser to the gate so you could sanitise before and after unlocking it. My boss said today that he was supportive of people working flexibly to be able to get their exercise during the daytime, so I might go down again at another lunchtime in the week.

We haven't been able to get our usual Quorn products for two weeks now, I've been trying to get vegan chicken pieces but the freezers are always empty, I also buy Vivera products and luckily have been able to get some of them 

I went to mr A yesterday and wanted the Linda M meatballs. They had them but none of the packets had been sealed properly so they were all open at the sides, so I didn’t want to risk getting them. They had everything else, including quorn and vivera, though. I even managed to get some baked beans (!) which hopefully means people are done panic buying and normal supplies will resume. We did have to queue outside for around 20 minutes though as they were doing one in one out to maintain social distancing inside.

Mine had come open at the sides by the time I got home, we took a chance and ate them anyway because I'm sure they were sealed when I picked them up 

Greenglockenspiel

Wraithlady said:

Greenglockenspiel said:

My laptop died and I found it really difficult to find a new one in stock, probably people buying them to work from home. Bicycles seem to be much the same too!

Have you tried https://www.mycheaplaptop.co.uk ?  I had to get one at short notice last week as the one I bought from eBay didn't work - ordered it Thursday night, got it Wednesday and they apologised for for the delay.
Can't help with the bicycle, though

I managed to get one from Curry’s in the end, it wasn’t my first choice of model but met most of my requirements and better than nothing - my new attitude towards shopping!

Greenglockenspiel

FYI, if anyone has a railway season ticket for their commute I would advise you to cancel it sooner rather than later. I last used mine on Friday 13th and when I went to cancel it GWR would only give Monday 16th as the earliest date for the ‘last used’ field. If yours is as expensive as mine it will definitely be worth cancelling - even if it’s just for two months I’ll have over £900 back in my pocket. Very MSE!

euronorris

Hope you're all keeping well.

Still got a while to wait before our first food delivery, so making things last. Made some sausage rolls yesterday with some puff pastry we had, and a pork, apple and cranberry stuffing chubb that I had bought yellow stickered after xmas and shoved in the freezer. Really tasty, and DD enjoyed helping me make them.

Going to make some hob nobs (using Twinks recipe from this site), some fruity breakfast bars, and some flapjacks this week. Guess who's got a lot of oats in the house?! haha