DH wants to build a bunker/shelter in the basement

[DHmad]

I wish I was kidding!

DH has decided it would be sensible to create a bunker/fall out shelter in the basement in case of nuclear war/war. I feel like he’s gone mad!

A time for this cheerful novel to surge back into popularity perhaps. I've not read it for about 30 years but I have some recollection the family sheltered in the basement and ate the cat. It had quite a few other riveting details I'm sure he'd find helpful as well

Children of the Dust

@ODFOx we watched that school, it was terrifying!

^ Just taken a look - perhaps it wasn't the basement - funny the tricks memory can play - however I still think they ate the cat!!

I was googling what to do if theres an attack - hide in the understairs cupboard seems to be the best option. I then filled a bag with bottled water, wind up radio and snacks. I wont be telling people in real life, but having a vague plan makes me feel less helpless and like I can help my kids. So I can relate to your husband.

Once you have all done a poop In the emergency portable potty where does he think it will go ?

Anyone else find this discussion completely surreal. It hadn't happened this time last week, I was merrily watching University Challenge and feeling quite chuffed I'd managed to answer 4 questions and less than a week later we're peering at faded copies of 80's bunker building leaflets in case of nuclear war. Wtaf? Some sort of glitch in the matrix?

I then filled a bag with bottled water, wind up radio and snack

I'd last about 12 minutes and would then be bored and look out of the door and whoosh - toast

Not too long ago , the Irish government issued every household with iodine tablets in case of emergency. I eventually threw them out , wish I hadn't now bit they were probably out of date if there is such a thing.

It’s no stupider than insurance. The doomsday clock is at 100 minutes to midnight, which is much gloomier than it was in the early 80s “protect and survive” days.

I’m not expecting to need a bunker, but if I had a cellar ATM, it’s where I’d keep emergency supplies anyway. So let him if it makes him happy.

100 SECONDS to midnight, I mean.

I presume too that is coming from a place of fear. Doing something can be good to regain a feeling of control in stressful situations. I did start to prep in January 2020 and I have to say it did help my MH.

Unless it's going to take lots of time and money I would let him indulge to an extent. But keep talking to him and set firm boundaries.

Nuclear attacks are something I want to resist. I live 30 miles from London and with my limited memory of Threads I wont survive the blast which is probably for the best.

@Deliberateplanning made me laugh, that would be me!

@Cecillie

There's a good book called the stranding where two people survive an apocalyptic event by sheltering inside a beached whale . If you could put one of those in your cellar it might work ? Certainly keep him busy looking for one anyway

He just needs to remember whales are deemed 'Royal Fish' and he needs to offer it to the Queen for her own nuclear bunker before he can use it in his own (although whether that's just if he goes whaling rather than stumbles across a beached one I don't know).

I read a book when I was a teen called Children of the dust. It's all just shit!

@AngelinaFibres

Once you have all done a poop In the emergency portable potty where does he think it will go ?

What to do about the poo? You basically did it in plastic bag lined bucket poured disinfectant on it and lived with it. Leaflet says 14 days mim for after blast.

It’s nice to have a hobby..

We lived in tornado alley in the US for a few years when the children were tiny. We used to sit in the closet with our cycle helmets on when the tornado warning sirens went off, which the children thought was a brilliant lark.

I’m in the “wouldn’t want to survive / would want to be vapourised immediately” camp. Thankfully in central London so that’s likely. We do have a cellar, but I’ve watched Threads and I don’t want to spend months down there, eating tinned beans and crapping in a bucket while my teeth and hair fall out.

A better use of his time would be creating a "grab bag". 3 changes of clothes each, passports, proof of address (e.g. utility bill),
phone chargers and some long life food (e.g. cereal bars) etc

Not just for war - also useful in the event of a flood, fire or emergency hospital admission.

@listsandbudgets

^ Just taken a look - perhaps it wasn't the basement - funny the tricks memory can play - however I still think they ate the cat!!

Are you thinking of Threads? That definitely involved a basement and possibly a cat? Some pet related issue, anyway.

In CotD, I think they all stayed in the kitchen, with mattresses against the windows & plastic sheeting over the table and the youngest child refused to come out from under there. I remember a dog related it point. Not sure about a cat.

@spacehardware

I suggest a family double bill viewing of threads and where the wind blows

He will love it

Never saw Where the Winds Blow, but Threads - I can still remember. With horror. I'd add Blast From the Past, a Brendan Fraser film, but that probably puts too cheery a tone on bomb shelters.

Akire makes some good points - "do you have resources for own water supply, air filters pluming and generators? Space to keep few years worth of food and rubbish?" I'd probably be pointing out this to him, that if he is serious then this is the level of preparation he is talking about.

And then I'd try and lead the conversation to why he feels this is necessary and get him talking about where these excessive fears are coming from; and try and get him to realise that it's an over-reaction. But those fears of his need addressed.

I'm an old gimmer who went through the whole 'Protect and Still Get Vaporised' shiz back in the late 70s/early 80s. Even then we knew this was utter nonsense so far as protection from nuclear war was concerned. There was also a particularly chilling TV series called 'Threads" where, amongst other scenarios, the council's emergency planning team took to a nuclear bunker under the Town Hall. You might care to point out to your DH that the upper floors of this building fell down after the bomb dropped and all the staff in this bunker died a lingering and very unpleasant death trapped underneath the remains of the Town Hall with nobody above it in any position to rescue them. So basement bunkers may offer protection from some sorts of warfare but are by no means any great help in a nuclear strike.

I’m in the “wouldn’t want to survive / would want to be vapourised immediately” camp. Thankfully in central London so that’s likely. We do have a cellar, but I’ve watched Threads and I don’t want to spend months down there, eating tinned beans and crapping in a bucket while my teeth and hair fall out.

I used to think that, but now the children who were biddable then, are opinionated young adults, and I now have a third who is still semi-biddable. I can’t imagine saying to them all “right let’s do nothing” in the event it did all kick off. Especially not with the combination of the two age groups.

I think it’s parental instinct to want to assuage their fear with purposeful activity. Which, coincidentally, is the spirit in which the original 80s “protect & survive” guidance seems to have been written. 😐 Some of it utterly bonkers, but of course you can’t tell people “when you hear the warning siren, lay down and die”.

m.youtube.com/watch?v=Qwz7JkqF-gk

How can wales be 'royal fish' when they are not fish. Anyway surely if he finds a beached one it's 'finders keepers' or should that be 'flounders keepers'

Let him build the bunker OP, it'll keep him busy and you can enjoy the comfort of your sitting room in peace!

I thought Vlad was meant to be quite keen on the environment? I would have though exploding a bomb full of toxic shite would be an environmental catastrophe, I mean sure, it might deal with a few troublesome humans, but it would also take out a huge amount of wildlife, marine life, trees and well pretty much whole ecosystem. It's not very environmentally friendly is it?

I was in the forces in the 70's i well a discussion we had about bomb shelters - warning macabre!
either death by BBQ or dry crispy roast
If you were immediately below bomb you wouldn't survive & further away in fallout area you would need a shelter with lead lining probably 10 underground with air purifiers (radiation) & about a years supply of food water & a space for your waste. Plus medical equipment.
If they swamped the country with multiple bombs - well bluntly pray it doesn't happen-

Once worked on someone's house that had a fully equipped nuclear bunker, rad suits, Geiger counters, a year's supply of food and water, it was pretty impressive

If I had loads of money and didn't live in a flat I would probably have one. If you don't survive the nuclear holocaust you're not gonna get to rip around the desert in turbo charged cars scrapping over petrol, and isn't that what we've all been waiting for? 🤔