To be really scared by this messaging from the government?

[sookiestjames77]

As someone who really struggled during the pandemic this has really scared me. I have done a big order of hygiene basics to arrive tomorrow (12 x packs of wet wipes etc) and will be heading out for a stock up shop tomorrow to fill up on tins etc.

I’m considering ordering 12 of those water refills for water coolers and a pump that fits in the top, but I don’t know if that’s overkill. I alone drink 4-5 litres of water a day, plus cooking water!

I am really scared. How is everyone else dealing with this?

I have kept a store cupboard in my garage for over 10 years, mostly tins and jars, so it's nothing new for me. We also have 2 generators and plenty of fuel for them, hundreds of candles, a new stock of logs for the wood burner and plenty of food in the freezer, a Camping Gaz cooker and a good supply of wine in the garage! This wasn't done by design but gradually built up over the years.

😂😂😂

Oh for goodness sake. It doesn't need a formal address to pander to people who can't take a measured view of events. In any case I for one had had enough of formal addresses after Boris Johnson. They're not needed unless there's a national emergency, and there isn't one.

I think the issue is our lives nowadays are so dependent on power and the internet. If the power goes down (due to weather or war), shops can't open because their tills won't work and they won't be able to process payments. The same applies with Russian interference in web systems forcing banks and retailers to shut down until they have rectified the problems. I think the advice is just to build awareness and to ensure we are OK for a few days. Both of these threats are very real and we are pretty defenceless against them.

I do have a few huge deliveries of wine next week but that's because I like to stock up for Christmas while its buy 6 at 25% off

You don't need to carry it, it is for your home.

I can see the point of the govs announcement.
Not that long ago. Woke up to find no water in the taps, whole area, we weren't quick off the mark but local supermarket shelves were already sold out of bottled water when we went...luckily it was all resolved fairly quickly but initially there was talk of setting up water stations in case it wasn't.

I wondered if gov were reacting to something like that and made me think maybe we could be a little better prepared, it can't hurt. We probably already have three days supply in hand without realising. (apart from bottled water) Maybe they are trying to avoid the Covid Toilet Roll stampede...

I'm reading a book called Becoming Sherlock (Anthony Horowitz is one of the authors) atm set in a future London which has been crippled by a series of calamities inc climate change, and transport, communications, financial and political crises but struggles on in an impoverished way. It's made me think about how reliant we are on things always continuing to work smoothly.

I think the stocks of medications is particularly stressful for people who are allowed a month at a time. If there is a spare of people going to their GP because ' the dog ate their heart meds', (and I've seen this approach discussed) it causes knock on problems.

Build a bunker in back garden?

If you are being evacuated because your house is flooded or about to burn down due to fires then you will need to leave fairly urgently with the basics of proving your identity/address and might end up in a church hall for a while until you can secure alternative accommodation. You will probably also want to ensure you know who your insurance provider is and how to contact them. I think you are ignoring all the people who are giving obvious answers to your questions because you want someone to validate your worry that the advice is actually to prepare us for something like imminent war, which it isn’t

Thank you for all your advice.

Erm.....have you heard of 9/11?

The four men captured were born in Egypt, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Lebanon.

They all entered the USA legally, which means they must have been background checked, whereas the illegal immigrants we have here are unchecked.

Why is it that you beleive that legal migrants can coordinate bomb attacks, but the illegal migrants can't? Can you explain?

This is precisely what went wrong during the insanity of 2020. Previously, it was tabloids who frightened the public for shits and giggles (and money), with terrorism, paedophiles etc. Then the government joined in with “frightening the pants off the public” (their words, not mine), and “when do we deploy the variant?”, which is in the WhatsApp messages, in black and white.

I think this was one of the government’s worst moves; worse than month after month of extremely damaging lockdowns, which was bad enough. Because they had frightened the public so “successfully”, they had shot themselves in the foot, and made it politically impossible to ease lockdowns: they had to keep the fear narrative all through the summer, pushing the second wave into winter. They could not say “actually, it’s not as bad as we thought, better to have a wave in summer, rather than winter”. It now means that I (and many others) will no longer take government messaging seriously, especially combined with Partygate, which proved that the government knew their own fear messaging was bullshit. And what really worries me is now they have seen how readily people not only complied, but pleaded for more restrictions, it may now be decided “frightening the pants off the public is a method which is proven to work”. (Not on me, it won’t, as I said, but probably still would for many people.)

The emergency alert of “don’t have barbecues” didn’t help either. That should have been ordinary text message: the emergency alert should be reserved for “wildfire in your area, stay inside”.

For the love of god, woman, get a grip. I once knew a family whose house burned down. Speaking to the mother later, she said that as well as the huge things they had to deal with afterwards, there were many that were more minor in the great scheme of things but annoying and time-consuming to sort out and affecting their ability to try to get back to normal. Loss of their glasses was one thing she mentioned and loss of all their paperwork was another. If they had had a bag in the corner of the room they could have grabbed on the way out it might have helped. Same with floods. I live in inner London and even here we have floods sometimes and people have to leave their homes at short notice.

At least it’s happening when supermarkets are able to replenish their stock the next day and not during a cyber attack when it may take several days to replenish stock!

I was just coming on to post that I have (a nice new) rain butt. Plus I live somewhere wet. It'll do for a bit.

PS OP, surely everyone with room for a rain butt should have one anyway? What about your garden? Rainwater's better for your plants, even if you have an outdoor tap. Never mind global warming.

Knicker drawer

Can you point to where on the checklist they're suggesting you carry one about with you?

It's fairly standard and sensible for people yo have first aid items in the house.

The 9/11 bombings were carried out by immigrants. You must know this, surely?

Because as someone up thread mentioned, the younger generation don't seem to have stuff in the house for a 'just in case scenario'. As a child my parents always had a first aid kit, candles, matches, a well stocked pantry etc and I have always had this as well. Nothing scary about it.

I don't think we are as resilient as a nation as we used to be. Younger people are used to using the Internet and asking AI for advice. If the Internet is down then a radio will be very handy for local information.

I didn't say it was normal, I said I did it because I have fragile skin but I'll bet there's a lot of people who have a few plasters, blister plasters,. paracetamol, etc in their bags.

Bore off and start your own thread on AIBU (Am I bigoted unnecessarily)

Fires in October?! I’ve heard it all now

If the government believed all this stuff they wouldn’t be trying embed AI in all their systems so no bugger ends up knowing how things actually work. I was thinking of getting an electric car when my current one dies, now I’m thinking I want a well cared for basic car of at least 25 years old. Complexity brings problems - hence when the shit hits the fan we’re told we need battery or wind up radios. Am wondering if it possible to get a landline now that won’t die in a power cut - when I was growing up, I think ours
was ok until we got a cordless one where the base for the handset needed plugged in then no power, no phone.

OP, calm down. Nobody knows anything sinister that they’re keeping from us. It’s a response to a) recommendations arising from the covid inquiry and b) recent climate phenomena. Just get a bit of extra water in if you’re fussed. I was in Tesco and Sainsbury’s today and both were fully stocked.