To be more scared now than I was of Covid?

[Thesupercosyquilt]

I know IABU. I need to get a grip.

I wasn't frightened of Covid. The first few weeks were scary, all the uncertainty etc. But once my kids school closed, life for our family kind of carried on somewhat normally. DH and I were both out working at that point. I never thought we would catch it, we're all relatively healthy. I understood people felt differently and was sympathetic towards that, despite some of the more extreme opinions.

But now, with fuel price hikes, food shortages and now petrol being rationed, I am actually scared. It feels like all the panic of March 2020 all over again.

Don't worry, I'm not going to panic buy five million loo rolls. But I have such a sinking feeling knowing this is the start of really crap times ahead unravelling right before our eyes.

I’m told that Brexit voters are absolutely not thick, racist and uninformed. So I can only conclude they were aware it was a risk and decided it was worth it.

Agree .
I was told a few years of hardship was worth it by some brexiters….
So I’m going to assume they knew and are not deeply unhappy or worried by the whole situation

My energy tarriff has come to an end and been so badly timed. We've gone paying £40 a month to £90, but to switch suppliers it's £140.
I'm unemployed and unable to find a job to cover childcare fees and bills because employers aren't moving with the cost of living.

I completely get it. I'm feeling very stressed now.

@upinaballoon

I do accept that there have been periods in the past when things have been similar or worse, and people survived.

But what’s hard to accept about this situation is that it isn’t necessary. It’s not comparable to the Suez Crisis or the crises of the 70s because it was entirely optional. And we were promised sunlit uplands.

So I don’t think it really helps to say ‘we survived this or that’ because yes, I hope very much that we will all survive this collective experience, but we’ve spent billions of pounds on Brexit on the basis that we’d get sunlit uplands, so if the result is that we have to huddle under blankets in one room and eat cabbage soup then at some point I think we all have to agree we’ve been sold a turd.

And tbh the situation in the U.K. in the 1970 was. dire.
Not sure it’s something you want to reproduce or be proud of.

Just like people survived the war and made do. But I’m not sure I’d be happy to be in one either.

@upinaballoon

Diceychoice, when I inadvertently became unemployed in the later 1970s, and I believe the tax rate was far higher than 20% then, I took a temp job in a warm factory. I didn't work 12 hour shifts but I worked 13 days out of 14, and took the day off which was dictated to me by the rosta. A friend of mine worked 12 shifts on a regular basis and there are certainly people in my area who work those sorts of hours in factories. Best of luck. My friend and I both survived.

Aye, no doubt I'll survive. After all I've done so up until the small promotion and payrise last year, that took me from just surviving to having luxuries like new shoes before they fall off my feet (for work) and the heating on when it's cold rather than when I can afford it. The extra that I earn is going to be swallowed up by NI (and I'm going to be very interested to see if social care actually improves, or it stays the same and the money just maintains profit margins while I'm racing round like a twat on yet another short staffed shift - but the upside to that is I'm warm!) And increased costs of gas, electric and food. I'm allowed to be a bit pissed off that actually, despite the work I've put in to gain a promotion and slightly better standard of survival, I'm not going to be any better off, and maybe even worse off. Even if you and your friend did survive.

I was born in 1960. The 70s were shit in so many ways. I’m starting to feel that the country is heading for some of the same privations but for different reasons. Yes, we did survive but life was miserable.

Of course we'll survive but is survival all we want? Do we not deserve more? Want more? Especially when it isn't necessary, or certainly wasn't.

Brexit "we'll survive" that's the best they can come up with. So glad I don't live in the UK any more.

I must have lived through a different 1970s to everybody else because they weren’t shit or miserable.

Brexit was completely unnecessary, so to compare this shitshow to the oil shock of the 70s and Suez is less than no consolation.

Since rhe beginning of 2020 and those awful fires in Oz, the world had been lurching from one crisis to another.

Mother Nature wants rid of us.

@Etulosba

I must have lived through a different 1970s to everybody else because they weren’t shit or miserable.

My recollection of the '70s is that there were some shit miserable times, but plenty of fun as well. Overall though life was much more basic then, so people didn't expect too much, and anything good was a bonus.

**You make it sound like BP has closed everything down. The reality is that they have closed a very small number of its many petrol stations. It also did so earlier in the summer IIRC. I think you're catastrophising.

I appreciate this post was made last night but today has been dire, trying to get fuel. The supermarkets have massive queues for petrol and some of the local stations here are empty.
The buses have been told to stop serving Tesco here today because they couldn’t get into the bus stops.
The fuel situation is real and really bad.

Fuel and energy prices going up isn’t down to Brexit though is it?
The EU themselves are short of HGV drivers. About 400 thousand or so.
The EU lorry drivers have left the UK because it’s too expensive to live here and the cost of living is high. Wages have stagnated. So why would they want to drove our lorries here if they can do better in other EU countries?

@upinaballoon

I don't remember the Suez crisis. I do remember the OPEC crisis of the 1970s (rationing didn't happen, but the price increase were concerning. I remember the high inflation (7 - 24%) and tax rates of 35 - 85%, wth a personal allowance that was much lower in real terms. Plus if married, you were taxed at your DH's rate.

Also the 'winter of discontent' when fuel nearly ran out, industry went to a 3 day week, there were power cuts because of shortages (I get nostalgic about the smell of paraffin lamps!) and there was mass strike action - the most memorable part of which was bodies going unburied/cremated.

I don't think we are close to the difficulties of those times. Not yet, anyhow.

Petrol wasn't rationed in 2000, other than by many petrol stations closing - so it was just plain unavailable rather than restricted by rationing. Only those in certain qualifying occupations were allowed in to petrol stations.

Fuel and energy prices going up isn’t down to Brexit though is it?

Not according to BBC - all of Europe has been hit

www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-58650634

and some countries are considering the introduction of emergency measures.

For example, Spain has seen 50% rises for domestic tariffs

‘Brexit "we'll survive" that's the best they can come up with.’

This doesn’t sound like the £350m extra a week and sunlit uplands we were promised. Now survival is the best me and my children can hope for. Jesus H Christ. It’s as if the U.K. has committed hari-kiri. We are being led to our demise by a cult led by a ‘man of the people’ millionaire stock broker. Latest humiliation, begging for food from an Brazilian nut job and being told no. Now we are being told that we should be happy to be sitting in a room wrapped in blankets this winter as per the 70s. This is insane.

The fuel situation is real and really bad.

Because people have been panic buying.

@Etulosba

I must have lived through a different 1970s to everybody else because they weren’t shit or miserable.

Agree. I worked for the North Thames Gas Board. Afaik the supply was never cut off. Gas was very cheap. And I actually had a contract of employment! Of course we didn't have to fund big dividend payments to idle shareholders based overseas for tax evasion purposes. But I digress...

But people panic buying is what people do. When someone says don’t panic buy- what do they all do?.. panic buy!
Didn’t the public learn this from March last year?

I don’t think people are panic buying though. I’ve seen no evidence of that where I live compared to the first wave of Covid. I have noticed the shelves are becoming more sparse though.

I think there are genuine shortages and the media and government are trying to pin the blame on the public by accusing them of panic buying.

We have petrol rations in my area. Some it is £10 a car and some £20. South east, near London

@OhYouBadBadKitten

Moneysavvymam You do realise how privileged you (and I tbh) are to have access to spaces where you can forage. But are you suggesting that people living in cities can scrabble around picking enough weeds to give them nutrition. That's some dystopian image I have in my head right there.

Also, once we get past October, there really is very little to forage. All those leaves you mentioned are not in season or are dying back. Also, where are the calories?

Planting stuff if you have outdoor space is great, but there's nothing really you can plant now, other than some windowsill salad which wouldn't take you very far, to get you through the winter.

2 bed flat in a major city good enough for you? Thankfully we managed to move to a house now but for the last 6 and a half years thats what we ate because we are poor. stfu

@OhYouBadBadKitten

Moneysavvymam You do realise how privileged you (and I tbh) are to have access to spaces where you can forage. But are you suggesting that people living in cities can scrabble around picking enough weeds to give them nutrition. That's some dystopian image I have in my head right there.

Also, once we get past October, there really is very little to forage. All those leaves you mentioned are not in season or are dying back. Also, where are the calories?

Planting stuff if you have outdoor space is great, but there's nothing really you can plant now, other than some windowsill salad which wouldn't take you very far, to get you through the winter.

... apples. abundant. and blackberries. VERY ABUNDANT. Also pears and plums and Damsons which are in season and Fucking everywhere. Crab apples on the side of most roads if you look for them. Thats how I've fed my children fresh fruit for years. And jam. Who the fuck are you to tell me about privilege? And nettles are still around. So are dandelion leaves. Its been a late year aswell so loads of stuff are still around. your problem is you think everyone is like you. pineapple weed is still going strong. Fuchsia berries.

I may be privileged now but thats only because I spent the last few years living on a shoestring finding every free or cheap way to feed my family. And it DID include food on the windowsill. in pot noodle pots from my sisters bin. It did include everything I mentioned. I mentioned foraging because its free, its good for you, accessible to anyone near a hedge and it helped me take control of 1.) food insecurity 2.) my worries over the state of the world and climate change 3.) my actions contributing to that.
Luckily I'm not too worried about petrol prices though because I can't afford to drive.
Ditto the prices of electricity for heating as I havent been able to heat my home for years. but um yeah. It worked for me. It worked for my anxiety and it worked for my children. It also acts as free days out.

I am very privileged living in a big city because it means I have good public transport to get to the parks that have community orchards on. you only have to look at your councils website or contact local allotments and ask the people of there are any about. Thats what I did. Not dystopian. lots of people do it. and we have to deal with prats like you who judge us for taking from nature or subjecting our poor poor children to the wonders of free food. and unimaginable skills.

Thankfully my partners job prospects improved, he worked very hard and got us out of that situation. But I still don't need to touch the heating or the fruit and veg in supermarkets most of the time because I like doing what I do and it managed to save me and my big family enough money to get a deposit on a house and get out of it. That is recent and you don't get to tell me I'm privileged. You are ignorant and you are rude. And to top it all off you're wrong!

And I didn't say only forrage. why don't you learn to read.