Preparedness, do any practise it?

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scoops_uk

Nomad
Feb 6, 2005
497
19
54
Jurassic Coast
As for offending people, my views are exactly that ‘my views’. It is worth remembering that people actually choose to be offended by another’s views, and their offense is a reflection of their sensitivities not the other person’s character. You don’t have to like what I say, but by the same token you don’t have to become uncivil either......

Bimble,

I mentioned offence, was I also uncivil? I am astonished that you might think I was.

Here are some quotes from your posts made in reference to those whose preparations go beyond what you consider reasonable:

"this thinking can taint your view of life."
"wasted your one and only short life paranoid"
"if you develop your rational thinking skills and emotional intelligence"
"Are you the sort of man who will stand by and watch your innocent neighbour’s child starving to death?"
"Most sensible people realise..."
"just deluding yourself"

You suggest these are offensive only because of my sensitivities. Is sexism a reflection of sensitivity on the part of women? Racism, anti-semitism, islamophobia only offensive because those individuals are sensitive? Just because something is your view does not make it valid or acceptable. Apparent pride in causing offence and upset is also a reflection of character.

I see this discussion has degenerated into posting ridiculous pictures of people with guns again. I'll take that as my cue to exit.

Scoops
 

British Red

M.A.B (Mad About Bushcraft)
Dec 30, 2005
26,709
1,947
Mercia
What an excellent post scoops - I agree wholeheartedly

"words don't hurt you" is always a refuge of the blinkered and prejudiced.

Red
 

Oblio13

Settler
Sep 24, 2008
703
2
67
New Hampshire
oblio13.blogspot.com
Well, a local store just went out of business, so I picked up 8 cases of those compressed sawdust and paraffin fire "logs", 3 cases of candles, and a bunch of wine. I'm not only prepared for a long power outage, it'd even be fun. It might even result in another mouth to feed.
 

featherstick

Forager
May 21, 2008
113
0
South East
First post here in a long time, but have been following this thread with interest.

SWMBO used to mock my preparedness agenda - strange, for someone who lived through the collapse of the Soviet Union. I won her over by pointing out that if the nuclear power station down the road goes up, the only thing to do will be to stay indoors for three weeks; if the sunken ammunition ship off the coast become unstable, we'll have to bug out, and making preparations for either of those eventualities was little different from carrying spare fuses in the car. Happily we had just had to replace one of the fuses in the car, so she saw my argument, and now she's on board.
 

galew

Tenderfoot
I agree, both are excellent books and should be read by everyone. The one by Bruce Clayton, makes a very good point of not trusting what the government tells you. As he points out the civil defense books published by the government would have gotten you killed if you followed them. Again if you relieve on the government for your survival, don't be suprised if you don't survive.
Be realistic, research, try, and practice, that is the only way to know what really works.

I am currently reading a book on my PC by Bruce Clayton about life after a nuclear war. Most of the stuff inside is revolving around the aftermath of a nuclear first strike, but could so easily be adapted to a plague or pandemic, drought or any other type of natural disaster. The book is written for american survivalists in mind, and gives another name for them, retreaters. It is quite a good read so far, the book is called Life after Doomsday and is available on Amazon for a tenner.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/offer-li...81511?ie=UTF8&s=gateway&qid=1183743379&sr=8-1
 

featherstick

Forager
May 21, 2008
113
0
South East
SWMBO and I have been doing a bit of thinking and talking about this.

At the moment, we think there are three pillars to preparedness.

The first is having the kit and the supplies to cope with the unexpected. This could be a bottle of water on the tube, a key-chain torch. Or it might be 4 weeks' worth of supplies, water and entertainment for when the terrorists get smart and start bombing electricity substations instead of airports and the power is off for a while.

The second is the skillset. It's no secret that more people know how to set up a facebook account than how to boil pasta (slight exaggeration for emphasis), let alone milk a goat, skin a rabbit or make cheese. So we are working on building our skills, from self-defence to growing vegetables to preserving produce to figuring out solar energy, knitting, sewing clothes and so on.

The third pillar is the operating environment. The oil is going to run out and our society is going to have to become a low-energy, localised one. This is a huge challenge and the disruption is going to be extreme in some respects. As well as making sure we are ok (see pillars 1 and 2 above) we are setting up a transition towns group, to develop some local resiliency, meet some like-minded people, raise awareness and help to develop the local skillset as well as our own.

A lot of this is fun - it's fun to meet new people, learn new things, wave a bokken around, make your own chutney from your own produce. So we'd be doing it anyway. But now it's in a framework of thinking that should lead to something better.

Underpinning the pillars of course is that thinking - the readiness to face into adversity and be ready for it, to feel that we need to be taking our own decisions, not relying on someone else to make things right.

Now, I'm just off to knit my own jiu-jitsu yoghurt before the zombies arrive : )
 

Bulldog

Member
Mar 26, 2009
36
0
kent
Great thread with some intresting opinions, i fall into the be prepared camp, as a family we have always kept the cupbords stocked and the freezers but this year we are starting a hobby garden to learn to grow produce.
I definatly think we are in for troubled times ahead. Time spent prepareing is never wasted.
 

forestwalker

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
I figure that with a branch of a national strategic depot of wool blankets, a house with a working woodstove, enough candles to light up a ballroom, two medieval tents, a tentipi, more pots for open fire than an early medieval village, and plenty of outdoors kit for any season most of the preparedness bits are covered. If someone blows up enought of the hydroelectric dams and kills 50% of Swedens power supply we could still get by.
 
Oct 6, 2008
495
0
Cheshire
I had a moral victory last night. Mrs WWdogs always scoffs at my emergency stash of grub, water , etc. Last night our water supply was unpleasantly cloudy. It was just very small air bubbles but she absolutely didn't want to drink it , but still wanted a nice cup of tea. So I used a bit of my water stash to make a nice brew.

Unfortunately the electricity was still on so I couldn't use my gas stove , hobo stove or the chimenea to heat the water.Pah!
 

helixpteron

Native
Mar 16, 2008
1,469
0
UK
Realistically, there are few citadels in history which haven't been overrun, and citadels tend to be designed to defend the occupants and repel attackers, and are populated with persons trained and equipped to further this aim!

Its wishful thinking that even a poorly armed, inexperienced homestead could defend against an attacking mob, Zimbabwe's 'war veterans' illustrated this on more than one occasion in recent memory, and they went up against organized, mobilized, comms' linked, well armed, trained and prepared people!
 

galew

Tenderfoot
I agree totally, even if you are well trained and well armed, if attacked by more than ten or so, even if they are not well armed, but do have guns, the chances are that you will lose and that means that you and your family are now dead or worst. I always say it is best to run away when you can and only fight if there is no other option. This means leaving everything behind if there is no time. Remember as long as you are alive, you have a chance, but if dead, there is no chance and with you gone, what chance does your family have.

Realistically, there are few citadels in history which haven't been overrun, and citadels tend to be designed to defend the occupants and repel attackers, and are populated with persons trained and equipped to further this aim!

Its wishful thinking that even a poorly armed, inexperienced homestead could defend against an attacking mob, Zimbabwe's 'war veterans' illustrated this on more than one occasion in recent memory, and they went up against organized, mobilized, comms' linked, well armed, trained and prepared people!
 

smoggy

Forager
Mar 24, 2009
244
0
North East England
Interesting thread..............and extremely subjective!

It all depends on what one percieves as a likely or possible scenario....

in Canada, there is the weather and power outages to contend with, can be severe and likely to be extended so provision is probably a must. Sweden is likely to experience extreme winter weather and so similar provision should be made. Our antipodean cousins are more likely to suffer bush fires and therefore will have different requirements.....

What is likely to occur in the UK?

The two most likley scenarios given the last few years are snow and or flood, but niether for extended periods and given our infastructure and the fact that we are on the whole much more compact and less wild than the other countries maentioned above....the chances of not being able to continue with normal everyday life are somewhat negligable.

However, as asked in the original post...........I do "provide" social support in the event of any situation which may "strech" the normal services, be they medical, local authority or emergency services. As a result I've learned that regardless of how much one plans for likely scenarios, something you never imagined always turns up out the blue when you expect it the least!

Do I practice preparedness? Yes. Am I prepared? I doubt it! LOL!!!

Smoggy.
 

superc0ntra

Nomad
Sep 15, 2008
333
3
Sweden
Since i am an avid outdoors fan I have quite a lot of gear that can be used in case of an emergency. That is not to say I have a grab bag ready at the front door.
 
Oct 16, 2009
5
0
South West
I would like to think i am more prepared than a lot of people.

I own a BOB and even sell a few, As time goes on i think more people will become intrested in owning one, or at least a few items just in case.
 

andythecelt

Nomad
May 11, 2009
261
2
Planet Earth
Oh dear where to start.....
I'm not going into specifics of the financing (would make very dull reading for a start!) but for the last 5 years I've been working towards the move to the middle of nowhere to live as off grid as possible and completely free of mortgage debt. That's the long term plan.
In the short term I have enough food to last us for at least 2 months and I'm constantly increasing our food reserves on a rotation basis. I also have over 100 litres of water in storage.
I have a pretty decent workshop (originally I was a mechanical engineer) for fabricating and repairing kit and just as importantly I work to maintain those skills. I'd be pretty well set as a post apocalypse blacksmith!
I'm converting a large panel van into a sort of camper. When I say 'sort of' I mean that rather than a proper camper it's more of basecamp in a box. It can be used as a basic camper but really it's designed as a bug out vehicle/basecamp platform.
All being well I'm hoping to buy a chunk of very rural land in the spring. Quite apart from camping/bushcraft use it'll make an excellent place to head for if it hits the fan, particularly after I've finished stocking it with useful and edible plants.
Apart from that it's pretty basic stuff like learning the skills necessary in the long term. I've turned half the garden over to veg, mostly so I can learn what I need since I'm not planning on living where I currently do in the long term. I keep the cars over half filled with fuel and never let it get below that..... in theory at least. In reality it's more something I try to keep on top of. I also make a point of driving older tech vehicles I can repair and service myself. I'm sure I'll have forgotten something......
 

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