Prepping: the new world...

Doveling

Water pipes are the problem round here. We've just bought 3 days of worth bottled water and shoved it in the garage. The just in date bottles have been brought in and will be used in the kettle. Water butts will take care of flushing the loo if necessary. Do whatever makes you feel secure. Keeping a good store cupboard (if you are able) and making sure you rotate is just a common sense thing to do. 

ArbitraryRandom

elsien said:

No one is really advocating a home militia or conscription. It was a random comment that’s grown legs and run away with itself. 

Completely agree, but sensible people are saying a war between Russia and the EU/Europe is a realistic possibility in the medium term (2-5 years), so that will likely have an impact on us in the UK. 

I'm assuming that we won't see nuclear conflict... more land skirmishes involving places like the Baltic states, Turkey, Norway, etc. If that's the case, then the most obvious consequences I can think of are similar to what we've seen as a result of the current conflict - disrupted supply lines, increased refugee numbers putting pressure on services, and the UK supporting allies meaning increased pressure on Government budgets, potentially leading to another bout of inflation or increased taxation.

Ukraine and Russia are major exporters of grains (why we saw a significant bump at the start of the conflict), Poland and Turkey are significant producers potatoes, tomatoes, onions, and peppers. Turkey is also a major producer of citrus fruits, apples, and grapes. Poland and the Baltic states produce dairy products such as milk, cheese, and yogurt. Norway is a major exporter of seafood, and has also been plugging some of the gaps in energy production caused by Russia being blacklisted. 

On a more personal fiscal level, my mortgage rate runs to early 2027, so I'll need to be paying attention to what's going on economically re when to remortgage/if to pay an ERC and for how long, and to have a cushion for if there's a big jump in my payments. As mentioned above, cyber threats mean I'm also leaning towards increasing my emergency fund (cash kept at home) from 3 months to 6 months income, but that feels like quite a lot of cash to have hanging around so I need to figure out how to manage that. 

Auti

@ArbitraryRandom - if cyber attacks involving finances it will have far reaching effects meaning paying bills (which are mostly direct debit/electronic will be disrupted for everyone so having a large amount of cash is unlikely to help. I would wonder if supermarket tills would operate as they hate having large amounts of cash on site.

Realistically, in my opinion, better to have some cash and a store cupboard(with good stock rotation) that allows hot and cold meals as power could be rationed as in the past with strikes. Life may get a bit bumpy but I think if there is a cyber attack it will affect so many it will be taken into account and measures put in place to tide people over. What I do think is a good idea is to keep a record of all things that require passwords/payments/balances and income (non electronic) in case things get electronically wiped or system reset.

I think though the best thing we can do is make lots of lovely memories with loved ones, friends and random acts of kindness to anyone - World affairs are worrying enough but we can do only so much so we need to make good memories

weenancyinAmerica

My biggest concern is civil war within the US - if somehow Trump wins, those against him are going to rise up. And if he doesn't, his idiot followers will become violent - and they have the most guns. Either way we are in trouble. So I am checking especially the non-food items to make sure we have what we need (just the basics). Vinegar for cleaning, clearing drains, killing weeds, getting rid of ants. Baking soda, salt, batteries with a long-life, that sort of thing. Working on organizing my canned goods - right now it is a mess.  

JIL

elsien said:

No one is really advocating a home militia or conscription. It was a random comment that’s grown legs and run away with itself. It is certainly neither on the government or the military agenda as things stand. 

I noticed the daily mail are writing about the possibility daily. 

I cant get my head around why they are publishing such things, is it to scare its readers? 

ArbitraryRandom

Auti said:

@ArbitraryRandom - if cyber attacks involving finances it will have far reaching effects meaning paying bills (which are mostly direct debit/electronic will be disrupted for everyone so having a large amount of cash is unlikely to help. I would wonder if supermarket tills would operate as they hate having large amounts of cash on site.

I live in a fairly rural area, so having cash is generally useful for things like taxis and the local plumber/electrician etc who all prefer it. There's also a local farm shop and a couple of places that sell eggs and the like at the gate which are a little more expensive than the supermarket but I prefer to use them anyway, and they often can't accept card payments when there's problems with the mobile signal. Plus regular carboots from next month to Christmas which have meat and veg traders as well as wholesale/short date resellers. I'm not expecting full economic collapse, but even issues with ATMs and online banking apps not working for a few days/week (which has happened in the last 6 months) can be a pain. 

One thing I've remembered I need to do is to get some proper bread flour (higher gluten) as I think I've only got a bag left compared to several bags of the 'cheap' own brand stuff that doesn't rise properly. 

elsien

Found this on Twitter, which just made me laugh.
https://x.com/kateburkenhs/status/1751350512069361667?s=46

sammy_kaye18

Hello All

Popping back in to say hello and see how we are all doing. 
I am trying not to be on social media too much and only watch the news twice a day to see whats going on in the world otherwise I find my anxiety and depression take a hammering. Started watching it less during covid and its something I have just continued. Once in the morning and once before bed just to see if I have missed anything important basically. 

Did read today on another forum that there is apparently going to be a shortage of potatoes this year due to growing conditions and one of our main importers not producing enough due to their climate having problems so have been looking at seed potatoes today. They did well in my little welsh garden last year so I will be getting onto that before long. 
Also have plenty of seeds to get planted as well so I need to start that soon. I was out the front tidying the front garden today and I'm hoping to add a long veg bed this year and get it fenced from the rest of the garden so the dogs don't tuck into my harvests......who knew dogs liked strawberries and peas so much! 

I did get out some bits and pieces during storm Isha as well and realise I need more candles or to make some more. I have a few tea lights that would of lasted us a few days and have a solar bulb with mini solar panel which would of provided us light in our main room as well as torches but I do want to start looking into some solar lights etc for the living room.Although solar string bulbs seem to work really well in the garden and I quite like the twinkling lights so might invest in some more of them. 

But for now I need to use up some of my store cupboard items - I have cheap bread flour which I may turn into pizza dough and freeze so we can have that when we want a pizza. Im hoping to figure out some better storage methods this year rather than freezing. I think getting a dehydrator might be the way to go especially with how much Im hoping to grow in my garden this year. 

ArbitraryRandom

sammy_kaye18 said:

 ...a solar bulb with mini solar panel which would of provided us light in our main room as well as torches but I do want to start looking into some solar lights etc for the living room.

I don't know about your windows, but I tried one of those solar lanterns a couple of years ago on the basis I might forget to check batteries/charge and find it didn't work when there was an unexpected power cut - I found it wouldn't actually charge through my windows. It worked okay when it was in a caravan, so I think maybe some double glazing units have an anti uv coating that stops the energy from getting through. 

The lamp was one solid unit, but if the panel for your string lights is on a thin wire then you might be able to feed it outside with the window closed?  

Elisheba

JIL said:

elsien said:

No one is really advocating a home militia or conscription. It was a random comment that’s grown legs and run away with itself. It is certainly neither on the government or the military agenda as things stand. 

I noticed the daily mail are writing about the possibility daily. 

I cant get my head around why they are publishing such things, is it to scare its readers? 

It's clickbait basically. Write about scary, dramatic stuff and people will read it, whether it's true or not.