Follow the sheeple or head for the hills?

  • Hey Guest, Early bird pricing on the Summer Moot (29th July - 10th August) available until April 6th, we'd love you to come. PLEASE CLICK HERE to early bird price and get more information.

Bug out or follow the sheeple?

  • I'd go to where the police sent me.

    Votes: 16 13.3%
  • I'd grab my rucksack and go bushcrafting.

    Votes: 104 86.7%

  • Total voters
    120
Status
Not open for further replies.

Eric_Methven

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Apr 20, 2005
3,600
42
73
Durham City, County Durham
Here's a (realistic) scenario. How would you react.

It's 2:30 in the morning. There's loud knocking on your door, it's the police. They tell you there's massive flooding expected and a reservoir a few miles up the valley is already overflowing. You have five minutes to evacuate. There are buses at the end of your street waiting to take you and your neighbours to the local school at the top of the hill.

Staying put at home is not an option.

It's been pouring down for days and everything is sodden. However, you are a bushcrafter and as all good bushcrafters, you have a half decent grab bag by the back door. You have the option to grab your rucsack which contains camping kit (tarp, hammock, stove, spare kit and 72hrs of MRE's) It's just you and your partner (no kids and no pets). You know of bushcrafty places within 10 miles and they are on high ground.

Which do you choose? Go on the bus and stay at a school with everyone else for goodness knows how long. Or take your kit an do your own thing even though it's the middle of the night. (It's summer in this scenario so it'll start getting light within two hours of the evacuation).

Personally, I'd head for the hills with my own grab bag.

Eric
 

JoeG

Tenderfoot
Jul 26, 2006
55
0
32
Nottingham
I'd go and sit on a hill and watch the reservoir and the sheeple. So i'd do my own thing, and have some fun.
 

Goose

Need to contact Admin...
Aug 5, 2004
1,797
21
56
Widnes
www.mpowerservices.co.uk
:theyareon

Can't stand crowds at the best of times:banghead: , I would use it as an excuse to Bushcrafting and then point out to SWMBO how much more comfortable we could have been if she had let me buy the things I wanted;) , think outdoorcodes business would do well after it finished:D
 

Glen

Life Member
Oct 16, 2005
618
1
60
London
Go along to the school, just to reister that I'm alive and not to bother searching for my body, let them know I intend to head up to the hills and too expect me back in 4-5 days.
 

fred gordon

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Mar 8, 2006
2,099
19
78
Aberdeenshire
Nice one Eric, I've often thought about this sort of thing. Bad things happen to people in a herd. I'm not saying I'd succeed but at least if I failed I'd know who's fault it was.:D
 

jojo

Need to contact Admin...
Aug 16, 2006
2,630
4
England's most easterly point
Same for me, i'd be off to the hills. I don't like crowd at the best of times, would be even worse in a school hall with lots of people conplaining about being "victims" of the floods!
 

Snufkin

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Oct 13, 2004
2,097
138
53
Norfolk
Head for the hills after informing the plod of my intentions, don't want them looking for me. Probably have a cruise through town for a bit of looting on the way:lmao: .
 

Eric_Methven

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Apr 20, 2005
3,600
42
73
Durham City, County Durham
Seems unanimous so far. So what would you do if you reached your nice secluded bit of woodland and discovered that a couple of dozen people followed you up the hill. They are dressed in normal clothes and have the following between them. Three plastic raincoats, five umbrellas, one portable TV (no batteries), an iPod, a bag of mixed groceries. They have intimated to you that the toilets in the school are backing up with raw sewage and the people there are becoming hard to control. They see you as some sort of 'expert' in survival and expect you to show leadership. By now it is five in the morning and daylight. You know most of these people - they are your neighbours.
 

Greg

Full Member
Jul 16, 2006
4,335
259
Pembrokeshire
I'd definately head to the hills, who wants to sit in a school full of all sorts and be told what to do by the police who probably haven't got a clue themselves.
imagine sharing ablutions with a few hundred other people for an extended period - NO THANKS!!
Definately head for the hills no question..
 

Eric_Methven

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Apr 20, 2005
3,600
42
73
Durham City, County Durham
Seems unanimous so far. So what would you do if you reached your nice secluded bit of woodland and discovered that a couple of dozen people followed you up the hill. They are dressed in normal clothes and have the following between them. Three plastic raincoats, five umbrellas, one portable TV (no batteries), an iPod, a bag of mixed groceries. They have intimated to you that the toilets in the school are backing up with raw sewage and the people there are becoming hard to control. They see you as some sort of 'expert' in survival and expect you to show leadership. By now it is five in the morning and daylight. You know most of these people - they are your neighbours.

I suppose I should start by answering my own question.
Right, I know these people, I live among them, and I'm going to have to live among them again when this is over. First off, I look at this as an opportunity rather than a threat. It might be a good opportunity to convert some of them to bushcraft - baptism of fire maybe, but even if a couple of them take heed, then it'll be worth it.

First things first, organise a firewood party. Half of them sent to look for standing dead wood, and get a good fire going. Then get a brew on for everyone.
Once everyone has had a cup of tea, explain to everyone what the situation is. Explain that I can not feed everyone, but I can show them how to build a shelter to help them keep dry.

See who has mobile phones with them and use those phones for people to ring round friends and relatives to arrange accommodation. That should get rid of a few of them to alternative places of safety.

By lunch time I would expect to have half the number that came up the hill, either from phoning friends, or from finding that I was not prepared to mollycoddle them.

The remainder would have to fend for themselves as best they could. They'd be shown how to make a shelter and light a campfire, but they'd have to trudge down to the shops for food.

By the second night I suspect the remainder would have booked into a B&B.

Eric
 

Snufkin

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Oct 13, 2004
2,097
138
53
Norfolk
I'd send the three in raincoats to gather firewood after instructing them what to look for, and set the umbrellas upside down dug into the ground to collect rainwater. I'm taking it for granted that I've got my extra tarp with me as I usually do in rainy weather for a gear storage area. I'd get the others under there and get a long fire going and get a brew on. I suppose the Ipod earphones and the wiring from the TV could be used for snares. But I'd be inclined to kill and eat the idiot who brought the telly:D .
 

Tadpole

Full Member
Nov 12, 2005
2,842
21
59
Bristol
Only problem where I live is there are no hills. So we would all drown. :D But I wouldn't drown with the rest of em. ;)
I live half way up a hill, so if the water is high enough to flood me out 80% of Bristol would be already under water, saying that I do have a inflatable boat in my loft that, when inflated, would be big enough for my family plus kit, food and the like, for an extended sojourn.
 

Greg

Full Member
Jul 16, 2006
4,335
259
Pembrokeshire
I live half way up a hill, so if the water is high enough to flood me out 80% of Bristol would be already under water, saying that I do have a inflatable boat in my loft that, when inflated, would be big enough for my family plus kit, food and the like, for an extended sojourn.

That would be a funny thing to see - you and your family in an inflatable boat in your loft.:lmao:
 

xylaria

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
I live at the bottom of two hills, and the house I live in has flooded in the past.:eek: .
But when the lady next door flooded last year the neighbours helped her out, and donated stuff to get her back on her feet. Been housing association she was re-housed while they did her house up. Normally when this street floods it only effects a few houses and it is through something like a crisp packet blocking the victorian drainage. So in that situation I would pack the bushcraft pack, but i have no worries about sharing with those neighbours.

We have plan for greater situations that is grab the big tents and a selection of other stuff and head for the hills. With of course as many good friends as can come. The problem with heading for higher ground around here is that in heavy rain there is flash flooding on the roads towards the hills.
 

Glen

Life Member
Oct 16, 2005
618
1
60
London
Around 24 people? I think it'd be time to explain to them that, in my new found guise of survival expert, with the several days or rain and little or no shelter, similar situation with food, that they'd be better off being uncomfortable in the school or finding alternative places to stay rather than dieing of exposure.

If they got insistant on staying I think I'd have to save them by heading back to the school myself, after all they are friends and neighbours.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

BCUK Shop

We have a a number of knives, T-Shirts and other items for sale.

SHOP HERE