Swedish preparedness pamphlet

Woody girl

Full Member
Mar 31, 2018
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I feel that the most likely event is some form of grid down, no power, no Internet, either through an update gone wrong as happened earlier this year, or a massive hacking operation by a bad actor, or a solar flare.
The weather has affected farming, so food is going to be scarcer and more expensive.
The drive for an all electric society is putting a massive strain on the grid already, and a blackout was almost Instigated at the end of September, when a nuclear power station was off grid for a short time to refuel, windpower was down, as it was a calm day and at the same time France was unable to give us more power due to a problem of its own, one of the interconnectors wasn't working. Luckily, the panic was stood down two hours before it was due to go live. Forgotton the reason why now. So we were two hours away from a major blackout.
Imagine if we all relied on electric cars, forget the fact that street and traffic lights are not working, charging stations are down, trains are halted, atms don't work..neither do petrol pumps. Automatic doors are permanently shut, tills don't work. And they want to build thousands of new houses that are totaly reliant on electric.
No heating, no cooking, no lights, and gangs of our esteemed dingy divers taking advantage of the mayhem.
Didn't rusky land actualy say recently that it wanted to cause mayhem on British streets?
I have a feeling this winter could be interesting! I realy feel that something is brewing.
I had an incident some months ago when I was out where a car with a foreign chap in it stopped, and tried to grab my wrist.. luckily I know how to get out of that easily, having taken karate and women's self defence in the past, yelled, a car is comming! Then walked quickly and purpose fully up the path of the nearest house,You should have seen him move out! Obviously up to no good. Crossed the road and hid, when he was out of sight, but listened for gear changes, when he drove round the corner, which told me hed found a place to turn around, and i knew he'd come back, I had nowhere to go before he did. He did come back, spent several minutes looking for me on that side of the road. I can't run, so it was a scary situation. Luckily I had hidden myself well, but I live on exmoor! What are these people doing hanging about late at night in my area?
These are the things I worry about.
Nuclear war..poof bang, we are gone. No worries. :)
 

lou1661

Full Member
Jul 18, 2004
2,225
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Hampshire
The drive for an all electric society is putting a massive strain on the grid already, and a blackout was almost Instigated at the end of September, when a nuclear power station was off grid for a short time to refuel, windpower was down, as it was a calm day and at the same time France was unable to give us more power due to a problem of its own, one of the interconnectors wasn't working. Luckily, the panic was stood down two hours before it was due to go live. Forgotton the reason why now. So we were two hours away from a major blackout.
Can you provide any actual evidence of this? do you remember how or where you heard about it? and did you fact check the information at all?
 

Woody girl

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Mar 31, 2018
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It was in my newsreel a week or so ago. It was an article from a science source..not a daily newspaper feed. I didn't go into it any further, or take notes as I didn't think I'd be mentioning it anywhere, at the time. I only have payg phone, so can't afford to spend hours online checking sources.
Looking back at my history, New Civil Engineer. Was the source.
14 October was the date that it happened.
 
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lou1661

Full Member
Jul 18, 2004
2,225
225
Hampshire
Sizewell b is still off line, if there is a sniff of the energy demand reduction scheme (EDR) being used that tells you that we are getting close. And yes, no power means nothing operating at all.
 
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Glow_worm

Tenderfoot
Oct 20, 2024
51
46
East Anglia
All very valid points @Woody girl, either grid down or internet down seem the most likely scenarios and the nation's greatest vulnerabilities.

It's remarkable how contemporary literature shows just how much of the population could see both world wars coming and were frustrated that the government either didn't seem to see the threat or was not doing anything near enough about it. Like you I feel the same regards the way we're heading towards almost total reliance on electricity/internet for just about everything.
 

Woody girl

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Mar 31, 2018
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Well, back to the 1970s then guys. I survived, and thrived. So it's no big deal. Bills can wait..they will have to.
Just make sure you can get water, and proccess it for drinking, have some back up tinned food, enjoy the ice on the inside of your windows, and get stuck into some crafting time.
 

gibson 175

Full Member
Apr 9, 2022
196
126
West Yorkshire
how contemporary literature shows just how much of the population could see both world wars coming and were frustrated that the government either didn't seem to see the threat or was not doing anything near enough about it.
Hi Glow. Am very interested in this. I often wonder if people could see both wars coming or whether we are wiser with the benefit of hindsight. What contemporary literature do you refer to/recomend in your post above? Cheers
 

Glow_worm

Tenderfoot
Oct 20, 2024
51
46
East Anglia
@gibson 175 There are many classics written before the outbreak of the Great War which captured the popular feeling of the time, that war was approaching and preparedness was vital. 'The thirty-nine steps', 'The riddle of the sands' (Childers did his best to get the population and government to wake up to the threat with various books he published), 'The invasion of 1910', The war in the air' by H.G. Wells, emphasising the new threat of arial bombardment of cities by foreign powers...

In fact H.G. Wells was a very interesting character, although better known for science fiction he had a brain for international developments and military strategy. He was friends with Jerome K Jerome, they invented wargaming together, which Wells promoted in his book 'Little Wars'.

These two wiki pages will give you a better background than I've managed above:
The Riddle of the Sands
Invasion literature

Wells was at it again before WW2- 'The shape of things to come', published in 1932, before the invasion of Poland. I believe it's widely accepted that a large part of the population expected a war with Germany by the late 1930s. As an example, I have read, and heard first hand from several farming families, that once finances improved after the reccession, many farmers purchased as much new machinery as possibly during 1937, 38 and 39 as war seemed to be inevitable in the future. Their or their parent's experiences during WW1 were that new equipment became very hard to obtain, so the wise made sure they were prepared.

Hope this is of interest!
 

Woody girl

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Mar 31, 2018
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One topic here that so far as I can see has not realy been mentioned is civil unrest. We have seen a few riots of late, and the reasons are not discussed online for fear of persecution. Also, its a bit political, which is a no no here.
We don't have to go into the politics of it, in fact I'd rather not anyway, but, I think discussing awareness and what one might do if caught up in such a situation might be worth thinking about.

If you are away from home.

If it happens in your neighbourhood.

What would be sensible precautions to undertake?
Would you take your family and leave? What would you take with you? Do you have important stuff ready to go? How would you stay safe, and keep your property safe?
If say you get caught up in something in a city away from home, and have to spend hours in a kettle situation, not allowed to move out, find a toilet or some food or drink.
Worth thinking about perhaps, even if we don't discuss it here.
 
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Falstaff

Forager
Feb 12, 2023
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Berkshire
The internet will probably also go down in a long power outage. Those green boxes in the street have batteries in the bottom to keep them running for only a limited time.
 

Woody girl

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Mar 31, 2018
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The internet will probably also go down in a long power outage. Those green boxes in the street have batteries in the bottom to keep them running for only a limited time.
Where I live, as soon as you have a power cut, Internet goes out at the same time. No back up at all.
It won't come back online untill the power ones back on. Even then, it sometimes lags by half an hour or so.
 
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Falstaff

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Feb 12, 2023
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Berkshire
Where I live, as soon as you have a power cut, Internet goes out at the same time. No back up at all.
It won't come back online untill the power ones back on. Even then, it sometimes lags by half an hour or so.
Yes, they have to boot back up the computers. I think the powers-that-be have just written off the general population as too big a problem, get the emergency services running and thats it. Covid has kind of demonstrated that thinking. In general the only local support will be communities and neighbours working together.
If you are more remote than that you have to be very self-reliant and prepared. Some one made the valid point about medical issues, and again Covid showed to potential capacity issues with that.
I think having some basic medicines, kit, and antibiotics are worth having to hand. If anybody has specific needs they might be able to get their GP to prescribe a contingency amount if living in a remote location.
 

Woody girl

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Yes, I'm a severe asthmatic. During covid, the local surgery refused to treat asthma attacks with a nebuliser, as they didn't want people breathing without masks in the surgery. I bought my own machine, and have a small supply of ventolin ampules, as ambulances can take half an hour or longer to get here. Just re stocked with in date ampules last week as I realised mine were out of date.
The surgery still won't treat asthma attacks. Utter madness! 20 mins with a severe attack can cause a heart attack and death. Not great, but, instead of winging, I've taken responsibility for myself. I also got one of those finger pulse monitors, and a blood pressure monitor, which alerted me to a problem with high blood pressure.(..in the red zone) Which would have gone undiscovered without it, with possibly serious repercussions.
A big investment for me but already proved its worth.
 

Falstaff

Forager
Feb 12, 2023
242
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Berkshire
Tempting to say sack the Practice and find another but these days that's not necessarily even an option. My father had the same problems getting a nebuliser, purely the Practice trying to save their NHS budget. Changed tune rapidly when he said he would buy his own, give me the Spec. Suddenly "Oh there's no need for that" - 2 weeks and its delivered.
It used to be "Doctor knows best" but these days any GP who doesn't listen to their patient is a fool. We are all getting used to taking more care of ourselves first.
 

GreyCat

Full Member
Nov 1, 2023
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South Wales, UK

Interesting article.

Also clear is the hierarchy of measures- chase extra capacity, shut off those high users on interupptable supplies, then move to the 3 hour rolling power cuts. Preventi g grid failure being paramount.

The possibility of the latter has been gamed in the sector I work in. The results were.... Interesting. Not 5he end of civilization but certainly disruptive.

GC
 

Laurentius

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Aug 13, 2009
2,540
705
Knowhere
Yes, I'm a severe asthmatic. During covid, the local surgery refused to treat asthma attacks with a nebuliser, as they didn't want people breathing without masks in the surgery. I bought my own machine, and have a small supply of ventolin ampules, as ambulances can take half an hour or longer to get here. Just re stocked with in date ampules last week as I realised mine were out of date.
The surgery still won't treat asthma attacks. Utter madness! 20 mins with a severe attack can cause a heart attack and death. Not great, but, instead of winging, I've taken responsibility for myself. I also got one of those finger pulse monitors, and a blood pressure monitor, which alerted me to a problem with high blood pressure.(..in the red zone) Which would have gone undiscovered without it, with possibly serious repercussions.
A big investment for me but already proved its worth.
Being as I am dependent upon half a dozen medications every day, I might as well give in to the apocalypse.
 

Falstaff

Forager
Feb 12, 2023
242
101
Berkshire
Interesting article.

Also clear is the hierarchy of measures- chase extra capacity, shut off those high users on interupptable supplies, then move to the 3 hour rolling power cuts. Preventi g grid failure being paramount.

The possibility of the latter has been gamed in the sector I work in. The results were.... Interesting. Not 5he end of civilization but certainly disruptive.

GC
Apologies, I have effectively reposted your message & link in the one about generators. In my mind I though it was from a different forum.
 

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