angelchemuel wrote:
Ta muchly.

angelchemuel wrote:
My location and I discovered it by chance is not a bad little area.
It has 3 springs which run all year, I have been in and around this location for 15yrs plus in all weathers just to see what happens.
Plenty of Forest, and the good thing about this is not only the cover it can give you but it gives cover to get close to other important locations I need to get to.
There is a local village about 3 clicks away, houses to be looted etc and I can also get to a quarry teeming with rabbit and birds nesting, this also leads using areas of cover to the Estuary which is about another 4 clicks away. We all know the wildlife that inhabits areas such as this, without going into the food available on the shore or in the streams and Estuary itself.

It’s got a great view point of several MSRs, (important to see if any traffic and what traffic is actually moving) I can also see several towns and villages on the other side of the Estuary. Again it’s important to try and see what’s occurring in towns. The burning buildings you need to plot on a paper or whatever stating time you first saw burning, how long it burns for, this will give you an idea if any emergency services are actually operational on the ground putting fires out, and depending on your point of view if that’s a good thing or bad thing

Timber headings require some hard work but the area I’m in the ground is not to bad so I can dig tunnels into the banks if required, and I do have experience of this Camouflage and concealment is of course a requirement at all times.

What needs to be remembered is you’re going to be cold, hungry, possibly wet for the first few days and when your adrenalin actually drains very fucking tired and scared, even in summer the UK can be a fucker. Hot food is a luxury not a requirement. It won’t be a weekend camping trip and back to the house for a nice cuppa and bath. I’ve been in the Mountains doing arctic warfare training, living in igloos and snow holes fucking freezing for a couple weeks in stealth mode, it’s not pleasant and have been pushed to extreme limits, this is what I mean by mental preparation, how far do you know you can go ?!!!

Any way back to the row

entrangermercenary1 wrote:
Frankly, I don't believe I'd be up to the task alone - certainly not installing timber headings & the like.

If my husband's around, he's strong & clever - I'd have to rely on that bustard to organise it.

And I'd have to seek out a place that has the features you describe. None here spring to mind. The depots I know of are in densly populated areas, a couple of miles from the city centre, which isn't good.

If it was just me & the kids, I don't think we'd last long, depending on the severity of the situation.

andyh wrote: Repopulation would be not on my immediate lists..a good wank will still suffice

That question tbh is not really relevant as If enough survive what ever Global disaster happens, people will converge to make groups, and groups will converge to make larger groups.
If its a global catastrophe the early survivors will be dealing with a possible lawless society , each to there own, with only militias or local warlords operating rape will be an issue.
Everybody seen the mad max films and stuff like that and having seen something very similar in Bosnia where the local gangsta was the warlord, the truth is not far away. Arkan is a good example of that

Yep, you would hope that people would regroup and rebuild.
Gillys post is a stark accurate observation and it is worrying when you have family to consider into the bargain.

That and some

andyh wrote:
I.ve made sure all 3 of my kids have their own BOB's and know the 'spot'......but there again, I'm just a fanatical prepper ain't I

Theres nothing wrong with having agreed spots to regroup if you ever get split up, makes perfect sense.

andyh wrote: Careful Andy.....that's almost a compliment.
See...that's why I arranged meet ups....there's a few of us, even from the DI forum, who have given up forums altogether....all with our own individual talents and abilities.....who get off our arses and get out there and 'do it'....and then some of us come back to the forums to say what and wherefore of our actual real life experiences........but that's just tooooo way out there innit

I already have done just that

Sorry, I can't read all this thread, but I will just say that I wouldn't want to live without electricity, I really can't see the point. I don't anticipate any situation when General Electric, Gazprom, NPower, etc aren't going to want to sell you electricity. It was only reported the other week that the government is considering building 50 new nuclear power stations (officially they have committed to five):

www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/dec...-plants-energy-plans

And Shell, BP, ExxonMobil, etc, will always want to sell petrol, and its replacement, for as long as possible. I really don't anticipate a Mad Max style scenario in this respect. A more relevant consideration would be what does an energy-dependent culture do when it can't produce the energy it needs any more? And can you continue to afford to buy it at the inflated prices which are definitely going to ensue sooner or later? The most likely answer to both of these questions is that we're going to begin to see energy rationed surreptitiously in the next couple of decades.

Obviously if there'd been a concerted effort to develop renewable sources we'd be a lot better off, and quite possibly have solved these issues, but that doesn't make any money for anyone.

I'd expect the newer tech such as thorium reactors to start kicking in at some point.
www.theregister.co.uk/2011/11/02/india_unveils_thorium_reactor/ (that one mentions 2020 for example)
In between though there would be yet more price rises I'm sure. Regardless, things will get tougher no matter what. I certainly won't have a pension when I'm 67 or more likely 70 by the time it comes around because it will be put up again and again.

I wonder if I might ask for an opinion for this problem that I asked before:

One of the perplexing things about some preppers' apocalyptic scenario is the simultaneous and paradoxical existence/non-existence of other people.

By which I mean: one often hears that few will survive and we are given diminishing populations being halved in weeks and at the same time there is much talk of isolating oneself an protecting ones family from the hordes of people who come to take "our stuff"

I believe that there is something at the heart of this paradoxical perception of people as "others" which is very telling about the rather dehumanising point of view that some preppers express.

I may be wrong, but it seems that people are seen as two types of "other": threat and/or inferior

mikey mikey wrote:
Well heres an angle for preppers to consider...
What if the future is merely mass unemployment and removal of social welfare payments?
What then? How do you survive that?

I'm not sure - I've a feeling I'd be viewing others as threat or potential friend. I'd be hoping for some level of safety in numbers, and the chance that the more people can band together, the more varied mix of skills that could be shared for the benefit of everyone.

Gilly wrote:
That is actually the long term survivalist viewpoint.
You can't really thrive without others. Even if its only to have someone to talk to so you don't go stir crazy like tom hanks with his wilson football

andyh wrote:
I think that's a fairly realistic possibility. But despite so many people being petty minded and self-centred, that would surely push others to object strenuously, as their own friends and family are chucked out to starve. I'd hope that would lead to an overthrowing of government.

andyh wrote:
I think there'd be an element of fear & distrust, but I agree - people would need to look after each other and get on with it. Share the work & the rewards.

I agree Gilly and Andy

in fact a very similar near future is portrayed by a brilliant short story that I may have read here



0714, Wanstead

Nicki is awake even before her mum calls her from the other side of the door. She’s sat up in bed, crackly FM radio ebbing from tiny supermarket grade speakers, her fingers flicking across her charity shop grade tablet’s touchscreen. She’s close to shutting down two auctions when a third pushes itself across her screen with its familiar white and green branded arrogance. Starbucks. Oxford Circus. 4 hour shift from 1415.

medium.com/futures-exchange/f68f17e8c12a

I forgot that there's a Louis Theroux programme about survivalists which is interesting:

www.dailymotion.com/video/xtdo1l_ltww-s0...vivalists_shortfilms

Without spoiling it, note that (a) they gather together in communities, (b) they still need energy and don't, as far as I can tell, generate it all themselves, and (c) they still have to buy stuff from the shops with money.