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Original poster

in the unlikley event that you get to heed warning signs of an impending nuclear attack.......

27 replies

Tortington · 23/08/2006 06:07

where would youe shelter be and what would it be made from
what would yousleep on
what would you eat
what would you do with your pets?
what about your medicines?
what would you do all day

what 5 items non foodstuff would be most useful to you

OP posts:
LadyTophamHatt · 23/08/2006 07:12

christ custy...do you know something we dont??

this sort of thing scares the pants off me!!

eidsvold · 23/08/2006 07:23

no idea

although have no pets so that one it taken care of\

as to what I would do all day - knowing dd1 I would be singing songs and chasing the girls around listening to their squealing.

5 non food stuff

books, photos, precious jewellery ( as in sentimental)

air matresses for sleeping

no idea about the rest

dh would be stuffed re medicine as we would need to get an endless supply of daily medication and dd1 is about to start on some soon probably so that would be an issue.

chocybickie · 23/08/2006 07:59

i would do nothing.
you're unlikely to survive it. if you did well...

what a lovely topic this morning. ;)

nailpolish · 23/08/2006 08:03

i think surviving a nuclear attack is worse than death

so i wouldnt take shelter

hulababy · 23/08/2006 08:04

AS you'd probably have so little time, I'd just gather my family around me, snuggle up and read books to DD or sing songs.

MrsFio · 23/08/2006 08:08

have you been at the meths again custy?

edam · 23/08/2006 08:11

Do you remember those American public education films they had in the 50s, teaching everyone to 'duck and cover'? Or the UK advice in the 80s to hide in the cupboard under the stairs with a tin of baked beans and a radio, while our betters would be safe in their bunkers?

All of the advice was about as much use as chocolate teapot.

My mother worked for a local authority and saw their emergency plans. Apparently the first sign of an impending attack would be that Radio 4 went off air... so anyone listening to any other station would have been f*cked for a start. Always suspected it was a plan to start a brave new world with purely middle-class surivors..

Original poster
Tortington · 23/08/2006 08:15

pmsl!!

OP posts:
LadyTophamHatt · 23/08/2006 08:15

Right....what frequency is radio 4?...i'm going to be there newest listener, listening 24 hours aday, 7 days a week

Original poster
Tortington · 23/08/2006 08:21

dont do it LTH its a fate worse than death.

OP posts:
Spagblog · 23/08/2006 08:23

Couldn't control DS enough, I'd die chasing after him as the bomb hit, yelling "DS STOP! Come here! One...Two...Three!" Kabooooomb

YeahBut · 23/08/2006 08:24

I'll stick with Jeremy Vine and take my chances!

Original poster
Tortington · 23/08/2006 08:34

where would youe shelter be and what would it be made from

i would shetler in the hall way it was no windows and onl;y the front door to tape up to stop ash bits getting in. i would then barracade it with furniture put a mattress ( double ) under stairs. close all upstairs doors put the single mattressess against the doors to act as a filter
what would yousleep on
the double mattress
what would you eat
what would you do with your pets? i would kill the dog - cant keep feeding her. it would be more humane - and i cant kill he kids
what about your medicines? as soon as radio four goes off i am breaking into the chemist at the top of the street and taking all their salbutemol, painkillers, and antibiotics. and owt else that looks tasty
what would you do all day
dunno - cant read it would be dark - no batteries that would last long, no electricity. save batteries for the radio

what 5 items non foodstuff would be most useful to you
canopener
lighter
v. large pan to make a fire in.
smallpan
paper

OP posts:
Blandmum · 23/08/2006 08:54

I live 3 miles from an RAF runway. We'll be gone

If you want to be scared fartless read this happy little poem!

Your Attention Please by Peter Porter

The Polar DEW has just warned that
A nuclear rocket strike of
At least one thousand megatons
Has been launched by the enemy
Directly at our major cities.
This announcement will take
Two and a quarter minutes to make,
You therefore have a further
Eight and a quarter minutes
To comply with the shelter
Requirements published in the Civil
Defence Code - section Atomic Attack.
A specially shortened Mass
Will be broadcast at the end
Of this announcement -
Protestant and Jewish services
Will begin simultaneously -
Select your wavelength immediately
According to instructions
In the Defence Code. Do not
Tale well-loved pets (including birds)
Into your shelter - they will consume
Fresh air. Leave the old and bed-
Ridden, you can do nothing for them.
Remember to press the sealing
Switch when everyone is in
The shelter. Set the radiation
Aerial, turn on the Geiger barometer.
Turn off your television now.
Turn off your radio immediately
The services end. At the same time
Secure explosion plugs in the ears
Of each member of your family. Take
Down your plasma flasks. Give your children
The pills marked one and two
In the C D green container, then put
Them to bed. Do not break
The inside airlock seals until
The radiation All Clear shows
(Watch for the cuckoo in your
Perspex panel), or your District
Touring Doctor rings your bell.
If before this your air becomes
Exhausted or if any of your family
Is critically injured, administer
The capsules marked 'Valley Forge'
(Red pocket in No 1 Survival Kit)
For painless death. (Catholics
Will have been instructed by their priests
What to do in this eventuality.)
This announcement is ending. Our President
Has already given orders for
Massive retaliation - it will be
Decisive. Some of us may die.
Remember, statistically
It is not likely to be you.
All flags are flying fully dressed
On Government buildings - the sun is shining.
Death is the least we have to fear.
We are all in the hands of God,
Whatever happens happens by His will.
Now go quickly to your shelters.

UCM · 23/08/2006 08:57

I have always hoped that should it happen, I will be standing on the x where it falls

LIZS · 23/08/2006 09:02

In Switzerland every home has a shelter !

Callisto · 23/08/2006 09:04

I used to have nightmares about this when I was younger. So scary. Like MB I live very close to a USAF base so thankfully, would be one of the first to go.

As far as building your own shelter out of mattresses goes - it will only be any good if your mattresses are lead lined as (MB I am sure you will set me right here if necessary) radiation permeates everything else.

Blandmum · 23/08/2006 09:09

THe amount of radiation that permiates depends on the type of radiation and how much of it you have.

Alpha particles can be blocekd by a sheet of paper. Gamma radiation needs lead shielding.

The dameger of radiation also depends on which chemical isotope you are dealing with, and how it interacts with the body. So radioactive iodine is in some was more 'dangerous' than say, uranium, since the body activly takes it into the body and concentrates it in the thyroid......many people had thyroid cancers post Chernobyl becuaes of this. Although Uranium has a longer half life (radioactive iodine wastes away to a negligable amount fairly swiftly) radioactive iodine can be seen as more 'dangerous' IYSWIM.

All a long way of saying basically you are fucked!

Blandmum · 23/08/2006 09:12

oh and avoiding the radioactive fall out by sitting under your matress would stop a fair bit of radiation produced by the bomb irradiating dust etc.

did yo know that bombs are planned to detonate close enough to the surface of the earth to maximise radioactive fall out....nice!

Anyone interested in he production of the first atom bombs should read 'The making if the Atomic Bomb' by Richard Rhodes. I shit you not (TM Custy) it is a facinating read.

LadyTophamHatt · 23/08/2006 09:13

Mb, i've said i before but i just love reading your sciencey post.

I wish you were my mum

Blandmum · 23/08/2006 09:15

Shit I'm feeling old enough as it is!

dd has started to say to me, 'I don't want to know that much mum, a simple answer would do me'

I was banned from discussing the formation of sand dunes on holiday....I was cut to the quick!

I am only oposting this stuff to avoid changing the beds!

LadyTophamHatt · 23/08/2006 09:21

LOL

oliveoil · 23/08/2006 09:46

Shelter - dd's walk in wardrobe (big m'focker)
Sleep on - 4 years worth of old baby clobber that needs clearing out of said wardrobe
Eat - dh has the world's supply of tuna and tinned toms for some reason so wouuld bring those upstairs with us
Pets - none thankfully
Medicines - don't have medicine (unless you mean wine?)
Do - argue

5 items - can opener, bottle opener, book(s), teddy each for my girls

nikkie · 23/08/2006 20:05

This stuff terifies me we live in between a nuclear power station, a nuclear powered su/ship building ffactory, another power station and a medicine factory, so we are f**ked!
we regularly get what-to-do leaflets through the door and they test the sirens on a friday but don't think we'd stand a chance.

southeastastra · 23/08/2006 20:06

duck and cover of course