The Prepping Thread - A Newer Beginning ;)

Rowan9

Thrifty - I missed the news. How lovely to read that you have your little one. Many congratulations! 

mrs_motivated

Congratulations on the birth of your new baby boy ThriftyGifty it really is lovely to read some happy news.

I am worried they will start lifting restrictions soon, I understand the effect on the economy and the pressure to reopen certain businesses but I do think it is too early and really worried that idiots will take the ‘back to normal’ view once the slightest lift in restrictions is announced.  

I’m sure we will all be feeling the financial impact of this for many years, however, many of us on here are more prepared to be able to weather the storm than most.  I am pleased that I am fortunate enough to have a well stocked larder and full freezers but I am not getting complacent and as well as my normal crops I have given over half of the front garden to grow more this year, luckily I live off road so my front garden is only visible to us and the 2 neighbours we share the courtyard with.  A positive I have found in this situation is my waste of anything is now next to nothing, for a few years now I have been reducing plastic use and aiming to be as zero waste as I can be, but this has really forced me to look again and re-evaluate everything and further reduce waste and repurpose so much more.

dandy-candy

I keep reading that when the lockdown ends life won’t go back to how it was, but there will be a new normal. Any idea what that will look like/mean?

[Deleted User]

For us the new normal will be to still socially distance and that might mean we can go out less often and less safely as other people will 'forget' that it's not safe for all of us to mix and mingle freely.  It's safer for the likes of us now because we are all socially distancing, HWK and I won't be able to mix freely until there is a vaccine available and we've had it like quite a lot of us and I don't think either of us will be able to return to volunteering in the charity shop either as all aspects of what we do there involve face to face contact with the public so the risk will be just too high. We'll be a divided nation into those who have had covid and are able to do as they please and those of us who must avoid it or risk losing our lives.

Nargleblast

On the positive side, some of the spirit of community and co-operation will remain, and our society in general will be nicer and kinder. Less materialistic too, I hope, although in some quarters people are likely to go on an initial binge-fest in terms of spending, having been deprived of the thrill of shopping for so long.  I think also the population will be less inclined to put up with nonsense from those in charge. Ultimately I am hoping for a shift towards a more altruistic society.

greenbee

@MrsLurcherwalker - there's no guarantee that having had the virus will provide any kind of immunity, so I'm not convinced that there will be a nation divided along the lines you've suggested. I'm not banking on a vaccine either, as coronaviruses aren't exactly known for our success in developing vaccines against them. I suspect the 'new normal' will be based in a lot of ways on all the changes that have been made to accommodate the lockdown that previously were said to be too difficult or expensive. So more people will do more shopping online/locally/with deliveries, which will be possible because more people will be working from home - if not full time, then for significantly more time that in the past. The fact that people have had to work round homeschooling will also mean that businesses have realised that in many cases 9-5 isn't a necessity, so flexibility in hours will be more widely accepted. And going to work/shopping/socialising when unwell will become socially, professionally and ethically unacceptable. I have LOTS more to say on the topic, but then again, that's my job and I should probably publish it at work before sharing too much

[Deleted User]

It's certainly going to be different Greenbee and I hope many aspects of life will be kinder and socially more acceptable as we find what can and can't be achieved by people.  It's not going away any time soon this virus so we'll have to find ways to manage our lives around it won't we? my personal concern is that if no safe way can be found for those of us who are older and have those wretched underlying health conditions to mix safely as we have been normally able to do because the virus is still actively circulating in the population then we'll never again be able to be free in our lives or we run the risk of death every time we venture out.  That sounds over dramatic to me but if we are at risk should we catch the virus and there is no cure, no vaccine and no effective treatment then we're effectively in lock down for the rest of our lives aren't we and that would be no fun at all.

Si_Clist

The biggest problem with trying to work out what the new normal might be is trying to guess the extent to which folk will succeed in getting swiftly back to the security of their old normal. 

Mark my words - if the sun rises in the East tomorrow, it'll be a sure sign that there's a massive amount of advertising poised to drive the quickest possible return to the status quo ante ...

gran3

We need to decide what level of risk we can manage personally. I am not going to stay indoors for the rest of my days 'just in case'. I know this is new and unknown but we have to live our lives in some manner, not just adopt the 'we're doomed scenario'. Do whatever you are comfortable managing, stop criticising others, who's circumstances we neither know nor understand and just get on with it all.  The Met have had 4000 domestic abuse call since the lockdown started. That should be a wake up call to those of us who are luckily not in that position. We all have ways of managing and we need to respect others who might manage differently, as long as they don't have a negative impact on us or others.  Some will be outside because the alternative is more abuse or a beating.

thriftwizard

It might be an interesting exercise to try to work out what those who pull the strings (and pay the piper) will be hoping for in the "New Normal"... this would be rather a good chance to slip some fairly fundamental alterations to our way of life in under the guise of following the science & doing what's best for the NHS. Or am I being unduly cynical?