Prepping: the new world...

Karmacat

Thanks for the driving and satnav suggestions all.  I'm really not sure about using my phone - the screen looks way too small for me.  I tend to zoom in even when I'm using walking directions on google, and I've just got reading glasses for the first time ever.  I'll experiment if I get the chance, of course.

I hadn't even thought of test drives yet!  But yes, they're essential, aren't they.  I'll have to do research first about model types. 

I've just booked my first refresher driving lesson!  12th June 😮😮😮  And with the above comment about test drives, I've realised I don't know what car that instructor uses, just that he uses automatic **facepalm**.  And it's a bloke, and when I had a choice, I always booked a woman, but round here there really aren't many people who teach on automatics, I already looked.  Email from the organisation gives me a link to a government page about viewing/sharing your driving licence information.  I'll fetch the licence later.

florianatwobob

I’m reading the repair comments with interest. I’m mid 40s with a pile of mending to do. I can sew on a button, turn up trousers (a necessity when you’re short) catch up a hem and replace a zip (although I have been known to outsource that job). My Mum (WWII and rationing baby) taught me. Thinking about my friends from school we’re all
able to mend and most cook from scratch. Sometimes it does feel like we’re the last generation to not think twice about doing these things though. 

Floss

Probably because our generation were among the last to have proper domestic science or home economics at school and / or to have parents / grandparents who had the skills to teach us. 

Floss

One area for prepping which I've recently experienced has been for a period of restricted movement & a driving ban following some surgery. As it was planned (albeit with 4 weeks notice) I was able to shop ahead, batch cook and generally get ready, but I would have struggled afterwards if it was emergency surgery with no prep time. 

YoungBlueEyes

I'm similar to you Floriana (I always thought you were older, given your username!). Mid 40's and I can do some stuff. Buttons, hems, sew up wee holes, I could possibly darn the heel back into a sock cos I spent so many hours watching my granny/mum do it. A zip would be beyond me though tbh.

Without meaning to be too stereotypical and disparaging - how many teenagers today are watching their parents/grandparents darn socks or take up a hem? Or boiling chicken bones? Or tinkering with the car because it's got a funny noise? Some, certainly. Majority, certainly not.

They could learn these things if they wanted to (vids online) but they don't need to. It's too much like hard work when they've got their best life to be living and socks are only a couple of quid in Primark.  

MingVase

A lot of folk might be like me . Having been really poor years ago when the kids were young and had to patch and repair everything beyond belief, I cannot stand to even look at a needle and thread any more. I use safety pins instead But if I was stuck in a cave up the hills and the curtains fell apart I could mend them. I just dont bl**dy want to!

Cheapskate

Hello folks, just returning to all things MSE after a long time in the wilderness!

Fab to see some 'old' names still around, and I'd forgotten how much I love a shiny new thread!!

As with a lot of you, I suspect, life's changed a fair bit since I was last here, and some uncertain & big changes still to come this year...

Glad to be back, and esp glad to see the 'old gang'!  

A xo

florianatwobob

@YoungBlueEyes it’s a nickname my dad gave me! Floriana after the town in Malta (no idea why he chose that beyond him visiting during his navy days). Twobob (as in two shillings) is the ending he gave both me and my sister to our nicknames. Almost like a surname He was born 1929 so as nicknames go it’s quite vintage sounding. 

I draw the line at darning socks. Also having been skint as kids mending was necessary along with forward planning. The forward planning and managing risks does come in handy for my day job though and if I love something I’d rather mend it than throw it away. 

YoungBlueEyes

I didn’t know Floriana is a town in Malta. Every day really is a school day  

Nargleblast

Cheapskate said:

Hello folks, just returning to all things MSE after a long time in the wilderness!

Fab to see some 'old' names still around, and I'd forgotten how much I love a shiny new thread!!

As with a lot of you, I suspect, life's changed a fair bit since I was last here, and some uncertain & big changes still to come this year...

Glad to be back, and esp glad to see the 'old gang'!  

A xo

Oi! Less of the "old!"

You're  right, that naughty virus that kicked off in 2020 changed things for many, plus the war in Ukraine, plus worldwide food and energy costs increasing, where will it all end? 

We just have to prepare for whatever lies ahead, we have seen that anything unthinkable can happen. Look after ourselves, our families and our immediate society, and let the world do what it will.

Can I recommend a book about why people seem to be rattier and more impatient nowadays? It was recommended to me by another MSE er, it's called Stolen Focus by Johann Hari. Very thought provoking.