Greetings from Gloucestershire!

[Hillybilly444]

Hi all! Joined this forum a few days ago and found it to be a mine of useful info, so many thanks to you all. Thought it was about time to say "Hi".

My partner & I have, over the last few months, been discussing the "what if" scenarios as the planet and "society" (esp the US of A) seem to be heading towards something approaching meltdown. (May have watched "The Book of Eli" once too often too?!). We therefore formulated our own ideas/plans of what we (a couple plus dog) should be doing to "be prepared". We don't have TV and had never even heard the terms "preppers", "bugging in/out" etc until last week when we stumbled across something on t'internet...since then we have been avidly reading and researching around the topic.

Our short term plans are pretty basic, really based on nowt more than common sense (to us). Stock up on essentials to see us through a month or so (food, fuel, meds etc). We are fortunate in that we live in a semi-rural location already with many, many sources of water. We are a bit "spacially challenged" as we live in a trailer (= large American caravan lol, yes, we are trailer trash!) and so storage space is hard to come by so we have to be creative in that respect. Our "weekend hobby" means that we spend a lot of our spare time camping and so we already have a lot of camping equipment etc. but there is always room/need for more (eBay shopping!). Trying NOT to go OTT in this department and stick to acquiring things that we know we will use anyway (wind up torches/radio, candles, thermos etc). Our home is predominantly running on bottled gas with solar/battery back up. I lived in inland Spain for many years (where power outages were commonplace) and set up my house there to be totally off grid. I used to shop in bulk, keep vehicles fuelled up etc...since returning to the UK I have become lazy about such things, what with shops being open on Sundays and everything...I need to reset my way of thinking.

I'm a civil engineer/building surveyor by profession and my partner is a skilled mechanic/welder - so we like to think that we are practical enough to cope come SHTF but I certainly would like to add more skills to my prepping CV esp first aid...I'd be as useful as a bunch of parsley if faced with any sort of medical emergency!

Mostly I would just like to say that it is very reassuring to discover that there ARE other people out there who think a bit like we do!

[preppingsu]

Hello and welcome from another Gloucestershire prepper!

Hope you like the forum and find it useful, there is a lot of info on here.

As regards first aid, there are a lot of courses available (but you will need to pay for them) but start with getting a first aid manual

I have this one and its quite good.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/First-Aid-Manua ... 1405362146

[nickdutch]

Welcome


(one thing to note is that The Book of Eli seems to have been based on the characters in the old testament, 1 Samuel Chapter 3. However it was also a cool post apocalyptic story too)

[Oldarborman]

Hello and welcome

[jean405]

hello and welcome

[tigs]

welcome to the forum

[NickyJ]

Hello and Welcome

[Hillybilly444]

Thanks your the first aid book recommendation - found a copy on ebay for 3 quid and have ordered it!