Prepping: the new world...

thriftwizard

jaybee said

I live adjoining Upton Heath so not far from where you are. You probably remember the massive fire a few years ago on the Heath which was very frightening. That one and the many subsequent ones nearby have made me realise the necessity of being prepared. Last summer was a bad time with so many fires.

I do remember. And Canford Heath a couple of years ago. I know they are happening elsewhere in the UK too, but it does seem particularly bad around here. I think we were also spectacularly short of rain last summer, which didn't help, though that doesn't really show in the statistics; we didn't have a hosepipe ban like other areas, but my hose doesn't reach as far as my allotment!

MrsCD

I wonder if the increase of videos on YouTube showing camping and cooking on open fires have contributed to the heath fires.

DigForVictory

A little knowledge is not always fatal, but ye gods we just are not as "green & pleasant" as we used to be - its drier in summer & wetter in winter & after a fortnight of no rain, nearly Everything burns and stays burning more easily. The old scout standbys of a bucket of water (or a bucket of sand) tend not to make it into shot & go unmentioned...

DigForVictory

Came to grouch about Cold and batteries. Specifically car batteries. Exactly one guess what happened this weekend? I thought the key fob had run out of battery oomph - no, the entire big brick had been too still too long in the cold. Cue a lot of not-at-all-technical garage language as I swapped the brick out for the spare (I am one untrusting soul) to be told (in scornful tones) that batteries lose their oomph over time so I had Two useless batteries.  Well, better I learn from a son than an expensive mechanic.
I was chided for not putting a nut in safe place. By the same engineer who then dropped the socket into the bowels of the engine bay & had to nip along the valley to borrow a socket from a mate - and returned after sunset, so I left them to it & retreated indoors to the warmth. (It had been suggested, repeatedly). Being warm & being fed did wonders for my vocabulary (why be crude when with a few extra calories you can be withering, sarcastic or even flat out delighted?) & I started pulling the lads back up to standard in my presence.
So we went shopping for groceries today.  Aldi had some chunky acrylic yarn which I plan to knit into a beanie & (possibly) mittens - Youngest gracefully managed not to comment aloud just as I failed to say anything about the chocolate biscuits I think he plans to incorporate into strapping healthy young man. (The mummy manuals never tell you that the young male metabolism needs about 6 cooked meals a day! OK the books I had were less than detailed after presumed to be in Primary but still - Not A Word of warning?! Maybe the Lamborghini build with the Fisher Price controls was just not documented at the time...)
Prepping lessons learned - a spare battery needs to be checked every couple of months, and every couple of weeks in the cold. Plus the young male will clear its own bodyweight in stashed foodstuffs just out of curiosity. (Science has said the next brain stage is at 30?! Ulp!)   

annieb64

Daughter's phone went flat in the cold even though she was sure it was at least a  third charged.She was in London and had her train ticket on her phone.

fionaandphil

I had a phone  battery that kept going recently and I often wondered how anyone could travel without one. I got a powerbank for Christmas, just need to keep it charged now and then! 

annieb64

We have powerbanks now.

Mee

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/81855476#Comment_81855476

Same here. I bought a Juice Lite 10K last year, though tend to use it to recharge my mobile and other devices at home and recharge the powerbank at work or elsewhere.

cuddlymarm

I always kept plenty of bread and jam in the house to fill the hollow legs of my boys ( both had towered above me since the end of junior school 😀)

DigForVictory

There's a Scout activity to create a DIY survival kit. Which is Very broadly drawn, as what a 6 year old considers essential may differ from their 16 year old fellow Scout, and what they can bring from home to go into a small tin may also vary. (Indeed I wouldn't rush to put a compass in as my navigational skills are Dreadful. And anything reflective? I would add a printout of the morse code!)

Interesting to see what is suggested. Maybe consider volunteering with Scouts?!