Prepping: the new world...

fionaandphil

It can also mean that the smoke detector needs a clean   Ours are hardwired and started to beep a few years ago, the electrician came out and said to just hoover it out to remove a bit of dust and fluff and its worked fine ever since.  We do clean them more regularly now!

MrsCD

Also, remember to test your smoke/carbon monoxide alarms every month to make sure they still work. 😉

DigForVictory

(Apologies to  those wading through floodwater.) the Met office has broadcast preparedness recommendations as well as weather news.

Britons are being advised to assemble an "emergency" kit with three everyday items in anticipation of thunderstorms set to sweep across the nation.

The warnings recommend that those at risk should "consider preparing a flood plan" alongside an "emergency flood kit". The agency recommends that individuals include three crucial items in their packing; a mobile phone power pack, torch, and batteries, along with "other essential items".
Just what other essential items might be are left as an exercise for the reader. Not least as we all have different abilities & priorities, even if I do labour the point that we all should learn to swim (or at least to float & what might help)

Cherryfudge

Since writing about our buzzing alarm, I've twice forgotten the batteries. DH remembered but the supermarket has run out. Have you all been buying them up?  

fionaandphil said:

It can also mean that the smoke detector needs a clean   Ours are hardwired and started to beep a few years ago, the electrician came out and said to just hoover it out to remove a bit of dust and fluff and its worked fine ever since.  We do clean them more regularly now!

That's a good call - I'll get onto that tomorrow thanks.

MrsCD said:

Also, remember to test your smoke/carbon monoxide alarms every month to make sure they still work. 😉

Thanks - ours are overdue.

DigForVictory said:

(Apologies to  those wading through floodwater.) the Met office has broadcast preparedness recommendations as well as weather news.

You've prompted me to look and I'm relieved to know we are at 'very low' long term risk of flooding. I also checked for preparedness warnings and there are none current. Phew. 

Van_Girl

DigForVictory said:

(Apologies to  those wading through floodwater.) the Met office has broadcast preparedness recommendations as well as weather news.

Britons are being advised to assemble an "emergency" kit with three everyday items in anticipation of thunderstorms set to sweep across the nation.

I couldn't find any weather warnings for the UK, are these area specific?

DigForVictory

They are in my area - if it rains too hard, the local road along the valley gets wet & the houses can get the ground floor “covered”. The scout hut is part of the preparedness as we are local (just up the hill) & have a disabled loo & ticketed kitchen. We’re mostly a handover point where folks can be evacuated to & collected from so occasionally we have a bunch of Beaver Scouts playing a game at one end of the hall & a small cafe setup to sit & get a brew in at the other.

Nelliegrace

DigForVictory said:

Sometimes preparedness can go past its expiry date & so today I dropped a bag of out-of-date meds off. 

Whilst I was there I asked about a bottle of cough mixture by day, one by night, a painkilling throat spray & tablet decongestants. At Asda, insisting politely on the generics, that still added up to nearly £25.
Later this week I will inspect what Home Bargains can do - it'll all be over-the-counter stuff, without a pharmacist's wisdom to point out what's sugar free, what cooperates with heart & blood pressure meds, etc but it should cost a bit less.

Plus it'll spare me being fifth in a queue of the already ill, in November...  

@DigForVictory I use the comforting cold and flu remedies my Granny would have used, usually from the store cupboard. Apple cider vinegar and local honey in hot water for a sore throat, local honey for a cough, honey and lemon, ginger, cinnamon, and liquorice root, for hot drinks, and I make a batch of hedgerow jelly with elderberries, rosehips, blackberries and crab apples which I save for when I have a cold, it makes a good hot drink, as does blackcurrant jam. I use a vapour rub, eucalyptus oil, or tea tree oil, and steam inhalations, head under a towel over a bowl of boiling water. A hot water bottle to warm the air I breathe, when cold air makes me cough. 

Homemade sloe gin for a treat. We used to give Dad a bottle of his favourite old scotch for Christmas, labelled as cough mixture.  

Then there is homemade chicken soup.

I wash my hands as soon as I get home, a good habit from the pandemic.

sammy_kaye18

@DigForVictory as a diabetic I have to be careful what I can have as well and I try to have as many natural things as I can to help with any winter lurgies that might get me. 
Initially I try to eat well to keep my immune system up and take vitamins throughout the year to make sure body is functioning as well as it can with Type 2 and high cholesterol but we press on 
Then if I have a cold, I take paracetamol and a glass of orange squash, squeeze of lemon made up with hot water and a little honey stirred in. I find the orange and lemon give me a vitamin C boost, honey soothes the throat and cough and the paracetamol helps with any aches, pains and headaches. 
I do use a rub on the chest menthol rub though and find a little dab under each nostril helps to move a stuffy nose and gunk on the chest. 
My husband is the type to catch everything and anything though and so is my daughter who is 15 and school age so obviously she seems to be prone to lurgies. I give her hand sanitizer though and tell her to use it regularly especially before she eats and wash her hands when she comes in from school. During covid she would come straight in and have a bath which she sometimes does in the winter too. 

I do need to start stocking up my medicine cupboard though with little and often. I always seem to run out of painkillers so I think that is going to be on my to do list and get myself ready for the winter. Id love to find some elderberries to make an elderberry syrup so may look into that. 

With regards to weather warnings, we had the heatwave but are quite lucky to live atop a mountain so flooding isnt an issue for us, we are more prone to mudslides that cut the village off but I did yesterday find a small farm close to my house (I can cycle to it in about 5/10 minutes) and they sell eggs, local honey and fresh pork so I will be taking advantage of that I think more often and helping a small local business too. 

I am getting myself ahead with warm weather preps though because this heatwave was unbearable and our dogs really struggled. (a lurcher, a greyhound x saluki and a JRT mix) so I invested in one of these light/fans that fit into the main light socket and can be used together or separately but it does work and surprisingly moves air round the room well without being too loud. I brought a pack of adaptors from a screw fitting to a bayonet for £5 for 5 and so now will be buying another two for the kids bedrooms to help them too. MIL also brought my DD15 an air purifier for her bedroom to help with her hayfever too which she has on as well. 

Ill start focusing on winter preps in September once the kids are back in school and washing and drying all the blankets and curtains ready for the sofa etc. 

Need to seriously start upping the food prep though and will be out blackberry picking in a day or two when I use up the last of the ones in the freezer from last year. 

Mee

Re:Carbon Monoxide alarms

I contacted CO-Gas Safety (a charity) sometime ago about the non-testing of my CO alarm during the annual gas safety test and was informed of the following:

*they test the battery not the actual sensor. 
 *there is no legal requirement to buy CO alarms to EN 50291 or to buy from a reputable retailer or direct from the manufacturer and some Internet ones have been faulty, recalled etc.

https://www.co-gassafety.co.uk/one-survivors-story/

*CO monitors are not health monitors and the levels at which they sound the alarm may not be at the level that protects one from brain damage.

See also:
https://www.lettingaproperty.com/landlord/blog/smoke-and-carbon-monoxide-alarm-regulations-for-landlords/


There is also some updated advice on keeping your medication and medical devices safe, especially during the holiday season:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/summer-ready-mhra-issues-updated-guidance-on-medicines-and-medical-devices-during-holiday-season

Floss

If you are a tenant or landlord, there should be both smoke & CO2 monitors present in line with the Law stated in this guidance:
Smoke and Carbon Monoxide Alarm (Amendment) Regulations 2022: guidance for landlords and tenants - GOV.UK https://share.google/qBX2JluAdboyYFXJQ