The Prepping Thread - A Newer Beginning ;)

MingVase

Hard times and tough people KC!

wondercollie

RAS said:

wondercollie said:

RAS said:

I'm remember currency controls which meant that UK residents were unable to take large amounts of foreign currency or much sterling abroad. In 1966, this was £50 foreign currency and £15 sterling. So even if Brits could afford a foreign holiday, they were very restricted as to what they could buy in their holiday location.....

Those rules were still in effect when my parents left for Canada.  Can you imagine arriving in a new country to start over and have 100 Sterling between them?

wondercollie
I remain in awe of those who emigrated, particularly in earlier times.  But sometimes I think emigration was regarded as a solution rather than a different set of problems. Amongst my "family tree" are one family who I can trace way back, unusual name and usually less than a handful of men raising children in each generation, in the same small township. By 1840 more children had survived and the population increased. Two brothers emigrated, one to New Zealand and the other (farmer) to Wisconsin where the numerous sons could each get a stake.

New Zealand wasn't a bed of laughs and early writings refer to the Maori Wars but the parents seem to have been adaptable and the children thrived eventually.

The large Wisconsin family seem to have left the eldest son and his wife in New York for a few years, perhaps because they were expecting their second child. But that first winter the farmers had to write home to their siblings and cousins and beg for assistance. They'd simply not understood long and severe the winters were or how short the growing season and needed money to buy enough to survive until they got gardens and harvests in. And the early forties weren't exactly a thriving time in England.

Another cousin followed, to Illinois, amongst the first in the county to settle. Two of the children of his first marriage survived. The daughter married and moved right across the country, bearing children in different states over a decade as the family headed to California. Whether that had been the long term plan, or whether relocating was seen as the answer to whatever problems they had, I don't know. She seems to have divorced him not long after they arrived in California.

It takes a lot of guts to take those risks, even when you are young, fit and unencumbered. I know more recent emigrants have sent one spouse ahead, often with a work offer, and then the rest of the family followed once they'd accommodation and an income. But you can only really do that when communications are fast enough.

RAS, I was seven when the move was made.   It was during the 60s when skilled tradesmen where being recruited by the Commonwealth.  There was no guaranteed job waiting for Dad.  I remember the first Christmas well, he was laid off on Christmas Eve   Years later our Mum told us the only way we had presents that year was the Family Allowance cheque arrived.

There was no resettlement programme.  You arrived, you found a place to live, you found a job, so the funds that you came with had to be stretched until past squeeking point.

I'm sort of disheartened by the recent arrivals from the UK.  They aren't immigrants, they're ExPats.  They are unhappy with the cost of cell phones, the internet, not being able to travel home to see Mum since before Covid.  

When we came phonecalls had to be booked in advance and usually were saved up for and could cost more than the weeks housekeeping money.  Air Mail was waited for and a packet of photos treasured.  Trips back to the UK?  Well it was six years before my Dad could afford air fare for four.  Only one of our grandparents ever made the trip out to see us and none of the Aunties came before the year 2000.  So roughly 25 years of very limited family contact.  Weddings, births, and funerals were all missed.  If you had to go back urgently, the airfare broke the bank.  I remember one friend going back on short notice because his brother died young and unexpectedly, back in the 80s, it cost two months wages.

[Deleted User]

A new variant of the Delta variant has apparently been found in India and samples have been sent here for genome sequencing, they have 93 cases discovered of this new variant of a variant.

Floss

boazu said:

A new variant of the Delta variant has apparently been found in India and samples have been sent here for genome sequencing, they have 93 cases discovered of this new variant of a variant.

Isn't the virus doing what viruses (viri?) do naturally & mutating? And is that 93 cases in their whole population?

silvasava

Floss - yes, every year the flu jab is changed to protect against the new variation on the virus. I'm sure Covid is the same as it as a similar structure. I am am more concerned with the levels of covid in my area than a mutation I can do nothing about.

[Deleted User]

I'm not sure a real comparison can be made with Influenza and covid being very different entities.  Given how swift and effective the scientific community has been in developing vaccines I'm fairly sure there will be tweaked vaccines rolled out to cope with any new variants that emerge as the pandemic rolls on as quickly as they can be made, tested and approved for use just as there are for the influenza that is a different dominant strain year on year.  It's just keeping the eye on the ball to flag up developments.

Nargleblast

I have heard talk of a Nepalese variant and I think a Mexican variant in recent weeks. At this rate we will soon be running out of letters in the Greek alphabet.

Considering  the fact that viruses are constantly trying to survive by mutating, may I suggest we move on to the Thai alphabet next? Apparently it has 72 characters....

Suffolksue

Was wondering what the fifth letter of the Greek alphabet is ?

Nargleblast

Epsilon, maybe?

Suffolksue

Dunno the limit of my knowledge is Alpha ,Beta ,Gamma ,Delta ,then Omega as the last letter !