To ask what is your plan if the UK hits a period of civil unrest?

[AbsentmindedWoman]

Another thread making me wonder really, but not a thread about that as there are so many potential fuckups that could leave things shaky for us mere commonfolk for a while. From a severe bout of bad weather, to a cyber attack on the grid, or a weird glitch like the Visa cards not working last week.

Not talking about a full on apocalypse! Rather emergency situations where everyone is freaking out, but that are hopefully temporary and can be resolved.

Some people are very prepared and have sensible plans. I am not one but thought it'd be interesting to discuss. Prepping in general I find quite fascinating, but also it's sobering to see how quickly talk turns to defending your supplies (if you bother to stockpile) so I guess I always know I won't bother stockpiling. As a woman on my own in a city full of ravenous hangry people, I ain't gonna stand a chance if it comes to a fight

What are your thoughts?

For those saying we’re British and don’t do civil unrest these days go back and look at what happened in London in 2011 - rioting with businesses and homes set on fire, and it was bloody scary...some still haven’t been rebuilt. More worrying was that people claimed to be protesting over an issue but most seemed to be using it as an opportunity to smash & grab tech goods...watched it from the window. Groups of thugs turning up in smart cars smashing the shop fronts and taking what they wanted and the police were totally unprepared despite the fact it had been trending on Twitter all afternoon. Don’t feel so smug peeps.

Yep, a fresh coating of barbell to my own personal Lucille. Find like minded people like KlutzyDraconequus, start a gang, and find a base.

Or more likely, if possible, pay a mint for a ticket back to France.
If not possible, check the content of my oh shit bag, hunker down, take stock and hope for the best.

Stay out of the way! And it's not that unbelievable look at what happened in the 2011 riots many areas of London, Birmingham and Manchester were no go zones for a few days.

The British people of NI do civil unrest every fucking summer.

@Blinkingblimey ha cross post!

Dd & I plan to takeover the local Sainsbury’s in the case of a Zombie apocalypse. It’s got ovens, toilets, food & a large booze section ( Dd is 12, she can’t drink but I will let her loose on the sweet aisle)It also has a home dept with plenty of pillows for comfort. We will protect our small kingdom by pelting looters with swedes & cabbages ( and maybe some Molotov coctails using the less appealing booze)
I think they also sell tellys so we won’t be bored

Candles, matches, water purification tablets, tinned food and dry goods, fuel for a fireplace or log burner, condoms (for the hysterical bonding), meds, sweets, first aid kit, hand wash laundry liquid, solar lamps.

I always have food stocks. I’ve been snowed in (rurally) more than once, sat out the London riots a few years ago by working from home and raiding the larder and also vaguely remember that the petrol shortages of 2001 were a royal PITA.

There’s always a chance of some disruption or other kicking off.

Candles, food, camping stove, batteries and a non-mains radio are just sensible things to have around.

The leak this week did make me think we should try to get a small jump on medications too.

Lots of logistics are run on “just in time” systems now. There aren’t local stocks of goods; Just what’s on the shelves. Daft not to be a tiny bit prepared for contingencies.

Civil unrest? Probably just hang around drinking tea for a couple of days.

Apocalypse type scenario? I'll be the first to shoot myself in the face- I've watched enough Post Apocalyptic dramas to know I don't want to be part of that world

I’ve got a fairly large foodstock for an emergency. In the triangular bit of the cupboard under the stairs where nothing else really fits, I’ve shoved loads of tinned fish, rice pudding, beans, lots of nutrients dense foods like tinned spinach and blackberries, plus loads of pulses, pasta and UHT Milk. We’ve got a massive water butt outside and also some packs of water purification tablets and silver blankets.... plus a lot of camping stuff. Strangely I’m not at all a doom and gloom type of person and certainly don’t stress about the future or what will happen. I don’t particularly worry about attacks or anything. I just see it as a simple practicality, just in case. We were in the epicentre of the riots in 2011 and another disaster abroad years back, but I don’t even really think it was that. I’ve always been mega organised and like having things prepared, my nanna used to say I’d unherited her “wartime mentality” because I keep my cupboards and freezer fully stocked at all times. I buy 24 rolls of toilet roll and 2-3 tubes of toothpaste at a time. I hate being caught short! Other than that I’m actually pretty adaptable and spontaneous

We used to get snowed in loads where I was brought up so buy in bulk- stuff like rice, pulses, tea bags, wine.... so we wouldn’t starve for a bit. I share an allotment with a friend so we should have veggies too. I’m with tsb (soon to move!) and was shocked by how much that meltdown affected my life so keep some cash around now as it made me realise how totally dependent I was on having a working banking system. Also share in the urge to throw a few bricks so could be quite exciting till the shit hits the fan properly. By then will either be in prison or too pissed on the wine to care.

My plan is to head to my local Tesco, lock it down and stay there. It has everything you need - food, drinks, medications etc

I will overpower and kill any threats as I have 4 shotguns and 3 rifles to hand

I would retreat to my allotment and live off that.

If I double locked the gate so no one else could get in I would probably do okay. Water, shelter, fruit, veg, livestock.

Dammit, I'm off in the morning!

OP, I think you're asking a great question to get people thinking. I would never have thought that I needed to have emergency supplies and a plan but ended up experiencing a major natural disaster that cut off water and power in many parts of my city, closed shops and other infrastructure for some time.

I was lucky in that we were able to go and stay in a relatively unaffected area with relatives so didn't go without for too long. BUT, if that option hadn't been available to us, I don't think we would have managed very well. Many people had no clean water for weeks, even after the power was back on. Public transport was disrupted, roads were closed etc. For months afterwards. This was in a first-world country with a generally excellent standard of living and robust and seemingly well-planned emergency services, and that has a known risk of natural disasters.

It really pays to be prepared. If things were that disrupted in a country that is 'prepared' for disruption to services, then it will be far far worse in a country full of people that believe there is no risk.

I would hunker down, organise a rota of watches to protect our supplies, pretend to any neighbours that we too were struggling for food and water. And sit it out.

As a woman on my own in a city full of ravenous hangry people, I ain't gonna stand a chance if it comes to a fight

Have you watched any of the walking dead? As long as you wax your legs and pluck your eyebrows you will be fine.

OP

Wasn't the plan for the zombie apocalypse to buy the Ark Royal?

Actually in an 'equality and diversity' class where the students were at fist glance not very diverse (all white, female English as a first language) we looked at zombie apocalypse skills.

It turns out that on the Welsh/English boarder there are teenagers who can shoot, skin a rabbit, dive tractors, throw knives, make their own booze and a few other skills so that's where I'm heading, because for some reason in the zombie apocalypse you cannot stay put.

It is hilarious to think about zombie apocalypses but, leaving that to one side for entertainment, have a think about more likely stuff. Weather related usually. Or power failures . Or both.
The fear of shortages around Brexit are not total fantasy although there is disagreement as to whether and what extent. Mull it over for your situation but don't become obsessed. Focus on sorting out your water sorted. Stash some bottles. Learn how to boil to purify it - here's the lesson:boil it for about 10 mins. Filter it through a tshirt first to get crappy bits out. There, you've learned.

By the whole tshirt/boiling thing, I meant water you collect that isn't your bottled stuff. I assume most people have limited space.

I remember the last petrol crisis - I walked a lot and shops still had food if not what was needed, but as a student moving house it was a nightmare.
I've had 24 hours without electricity with a baby, which involved a lot of bf in the dark - thankfully he wasn't yet mobile, I was happy just to sleep all evening, but it showed we needed to keep matches as well as candles near the front door.

We try to have about £50 in cash at all times (handy for those emergencies requiring a take-away...) and enough food for a week, which is enough prep for any likely crisis given I live in London.

We are so dependent on computers and electricity that we fucked if anything goes wrong with either of those

This. Have a radio that works on batteries so you can listen to government announcements, a la all nuclear war films. Don't imagine that WiFi will be working so we're all on our own and will have to have memorised the tips from here..

Also, wouldn't tinned stuff you can just eat be better than dried rice/ pulses you'd need power and water to cook?

Most likely lock the doors, go back to bed and wait for it all to blow over tbh.

I have some extra tins in, food in freezer and a big bottle of several litres of mineral water and a lot of old thick blankets put away.

There was an extreme weather event ten years ago across my entire city and particularly my local area. We had rolling power cuts (so maybe on for 3 hours, off for six hours while other areas had it), periods without tap water. no public transport, shops schools and offices closed for several days and roads impassable.

It was fine. I wasn’t particularly prepared for that and it was okay. People were generally helpful and local churches opened their doors to help people who were particularly hard hit (eg had no food in) and people assisted vulnerable neighbours if needed.

People are generally sensible and stoic about this stuff. It was somewhat of an adventure.

Food in freezer keeps longer even after electric goes as it is ‘as fresh’. You just need to unplug so it doesn’t refreeze, but maybe allow freezer to rechill for a little bit while electric is on so it acts as a fridge.

We have torches and a gas fire in living room if electric goes. If gas goes as well, we would simply drag duvets and quilts down to the sofa and huddle up there. Not the end of the world for us. I think what I would miss most is the internet if it went down.
Also have a wind up radio we could listen to.
OP do you know Jehovas Witnesses are supposed to keep a years supply of tinned/dried foods in case they lose their job. They are not supposed to claim benefits. So if a neighbour is a Jehova Witness and you are short of food, you know where to go.
I remember a couple of years ago a bit of land with a nuclear bunker being sold about an hours drive away. Maybe I should have bought it?

It does make sense though to have torches where you can easily find them and some spare food in the house if you can afford it.

I am 100% with @twattymctwatterson

Civil unrest I can sit out at home nice and safe and eat out of the freezer/cupboards.

Genuine end-of-civilization-as-we-know-it - FUCK THAT - I'm jumping off the 42 story tower block at the end of the road.