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?

I deliberately use cash for good and petrol now as otherwise we might find it is abolished and we are stuck. I deliberately won't have a smart meter. I like everything disconnected and separate so if one thing fails i have back ups. I don't cloud store for most data. I have paper records. I have some plants in the garden (not many) I could eat. However I don't think people need to be too worried about all this. We are a relatively stable society.

@exLtEveDallas - I'm presuming from your user name you've read the JD Robb series? I'm have a binge re read and was chatting to DD about them. We wondered if the world would ever have something like the urban wars. The books are set in the middle of this century and suddenly it doesn't seem that far away or unlikely.

It would have to be global to really fuck us up.

As if something really shocking happened in the uk and we had no food, I would expect that allies would fly over and drop aid for us.

Plus I am too tired to plan more than a day/week at a time

I was an aid worker in a war ravaged country with many hungry displaced people and no way of getting in or out of the town I lived in.
Airports closed, roads mined. Gunfire outside my house,
I did have some food and was provided with armed guards to protect it. I was actually more scared of the guards than of anyone breaking in to steal my food.
Wood burning stove.
Water from the nearby, very polluted river which was filtered twice and then boiled.
So maybe a water filter, wood if you either have a fireplace (could cook there also) or a garden to make a fire.
Plus points if you have trees you could cut down.
Dried beans, rice etc are easy to store and last forever.
I’m not going there yet nor thinking about it.

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

Truth. And those of us with any sense either leave the country or stock up on snacks, lock the doors, put the car in the garage and work out way through our Netflix queue.

Bloody 12th.

Right. I'm gonna dig out my SAS Survival Guide and foraging books, so I can find them in candle light. (When I was younger I used to write my own post-apocalyptic fantasy cringe and got really invested in researching how the emerging hippy commune type lot actually survived.)

Cupboard under the stairs has lots of space.

DH and I joked about zombie apocalypse type situation, and our main plan ended up being to make sure we have enough sedatives and alcohol to overdose on before the zombies come knocking...

MilkTwoSugarsThanks

LOL

My dad was 2 at the start of WWII, his mother bought chocolate and stored it in a shoe box so that he could have some for birthdays / special treats because she knew Chocolate would not be available.

It was a good plan, until my dad found the box and played a game of 'grocer' handing it out to the local children.

back on topic

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

You can get self heating cans from camping shops, they cost too much to stock up on but would be handy for a power outage.

You can learn how to can - what the Americans call sticking stuff in jars (including meat if you have a pressure canner/ or tomatoes and other high acid food if you do water bath canning); you can learn to dehydrate food including meat and vacuum sealing - dead cheap equipment.
Useful if the freezer goes down and you can no longer rely on what is stored there.

I've got a decent supply of gin and roasted pistachios laid down. I intend to get totally squiffy until things return to normal.

Gin is quite regularly the answer. Actually if you buy gin miniatures that's a good bartering supply. And, at a pinch, good antiseptic terrible waste though

I'm going to win the apocalypse because most of you will be drunk by the sounds of it.

We need long period of hot weather,I have noticed that civil unrest rarely occurs when it's raining.
I will then sit in my garden drinking stockpiled gin and ice-cream as due to lack of petrol I will not be able to get to work.
I should last a while as doing little burns of fewer calories and would hopefully Lose a bit of weight.4 weeks should do it.

My OH is a retired fisherman, and we have a boat. He also grows loads of veg and he is well fitted to be a survivor and look after me too. We have lots of wood for the stove, and several large gas canisters and we live in a rural part of France. However ... he is nearly 80 and the spirit is willing but the flesh is getting weaker so I don't rate our chances of fighting off the ravening technological-dependent younger generation for very long. Maybe we can pacify the first invaders by promising to look after them if they keep the next lot at bay. That's my plan anyway.

DH works on a military base with a big fence, gates and soldiers with guns. I have a pass for said base so I would take myself there!

Hi @Blobbyweeble Yep, that's where I got it. During a particularly shitty time in my life Eve Dallas was an escape and I wanted to be as tough as her (plus I'm a coffee fiend too!)

The urban wars are a terrifying prospect, but yeah, not as far fetched as I once thought . Although, I quite like the idea of stunners over firearms, so not all bad.

To the lady on page one with a few hundred yoyos laid by to escape to Ireland, I think I.ve spotted a flaw in your plan

Well I've checked my mini cellar, and I have enough tins and packets to make a months food with and enough gas for camping stove to do it on.
Have an air rifle And then whatever I can grab to protect it.

Hopefully by then the trouble will have disappeared, however if at anytime I know we can't but in and must big out, I'm not footing it out of there to the south coast and nicking a boat.

I'm going to storm a castle with a moat.
Then I'm going to paint myself with woad and tribal dance naked on the battlements armed with a crossbow

Check out the wonderful Swedish Govt's advice in case of war. 'Blueberry and rosehip soup'!

www.dinsakerhet.se/siteassets/dinsakerhet.se/broschyren-om-krisen-eller-kriget-kommer/om-krisen-eller-kriget-kommer---engelska.pdf

Don't leave me hanging, where's the blueberry and rosehip soup - I grow both of those!

It is not attached lostinsunshine??

To use my Delorain and go back to the future

“It’s hip to be square”

Regarding water - I have a lifestraw from previous adventuring, and a couple of water buts in the garden which collect water off the down pipes for the garden.

So I guess I’d be ok for water.

I’ve got a camping stove and a few bottles of spare gas. And a pack of 100 tea lights.

Might buy a few more tins of vegetables and fruit to relive the storecupboard beans and tomatoes boredom.

Unless it is only for a few days, getting food and water is not the main issue. The main issue is other people. I have watched lots of zombie films and environmental disaster films, and the main issue is always other people wanting to kill you for your food and water.
There is no way we would be able to defend ourselves. So I would expect to quickly perish.

Don't leave me hanging, where's the blueberry and rosehip soup

I'm sure there are recipes out there for blåbärssoppa and nyponsoppa, but I think up there it's something people can buy in cartons or even as a powder that you mix with water. They're sweet, and from what I remember pretty nice. :)