Burying your head in the sand???

[munchh]

Personally, I NEVER broach the topic with anyone. In the past I have tried, now I do not bother. Why? Firstly your 'target' will think you are a nutter. Full stop. Secondly, they ALWAYS say that if there is a problem , " we will come to your house".

In my neighbourhood I am the 'Practical Bloke' who has a garden/ animals/ fixes stuff/ chops logs etc. the extent of what I have is known only to my immediate family.

You are so right Jansman, i went to a work thing a while back, i had the normal 1 day get home bag on my back, its not camo, but it has molle on it, the main coments were around "well i know who i want to be standing next to if the shtf"!

It made me realise that i do not want anyone but me and mine knowing what im upto anymore, remember that london blackout program, the moment the neighbours heard the generator they raided the house even though it was a family with young kids, i dont want the same.

the most i talk to people about is the boy scout code and how the olds used to put stuff away for a rainy day, my Nan and Grandad were the best preppers because they did it and didnt know they were doing anything out of the ordinary.

[jansman]

I remember that programme. I must admit I have a BIG gennie. It would only be used if the situation was not SHTF. Even then I would run it to power freezers and charge batteries in the daytime only. Daylight carries its own noise and makes such things harder to pinpoint.

Lighting is another matter too. In a powercut we will use our LEDs. I do not like candles ( even though my Wife does!) and so do our careless idiot neighbours. In a powercut the thought of the fire risk scares the bejasus out of me. Do they have fire extinguishers? They have not even got a hammer or a torch! But we shall keep the curtains shut so the neighbours don't know we have such efficient lighting.

And to be honest if they did realise that we have such kit, they will be told forcefully where to go. After the event will I care? No.

[BlinkingCory]

Only two people know we prep a bit, luckily one is our neighbour. He actually brought up the subject! He's a practical guy and we've got a great relationship, he has our spuds, we have his eggs, he has our toms, we have his apples etc. We've a very broad understanding that we're there for each other if owt untoward is to happen.
The second person is a Tesco deliveryman. I know! I suspect he's much more into the woodcraft/survivalist side of things than us (I pinged his paracord bracelet straight away) though. We made a big order of preps, couple dozen tins meat, couple dozen tins fruit etc. As I helped the deliveryman with the bags to the house, he made an off the cuff comment about having the same tinned meat for his preps too. I stopped deliveries after that.

Personally, I never bring the subject up. I'd hazard a guess that if Joe Public heard me say 'Prepper' they would think I spent my weekends dressed like a SEAL team sniper whilst counting shotgun shells.

[filsgreen]

Jansmann, you reminded me that my mate said he couldn't afford to prep as he wanted to go on a cruise next year. As you say it's all about personal choice; I think £100 wouldn't break the bank to start a stash.
Phil

[jansman]

Jansmann, you reminded me that my mate said he couldn't afford to prep as he wanted to go on a cruise next year. As you say it's all about personal choice; I think £100 wouldn't break the bank to start a stash.
Phil

Spot on!

My Wife just told me the idiot neighbours are off to London today - "shopping"... They have a broken window pane that has had tape on it for over a year now! Priorities?

[filsgreen]

We have a saying in Liverpool "fur coat and no knickers", which means that they may have a big posh house but probably no underwear. Your neighbours will probably come back with Harrods bags and the like, but as you say it's all show.

Phil

[Chairmouse]

A good mate came round the other day for our usually put the world to rights session. Now he probably has an idea that I've started prepping, he knew me way back when I was into survivalism, but we've never talked about the subject directly. Anyway we were talking about how the world seems to be going to hell in a hand basket with alarming rapidity. And he made the offhand comment that religious nuts and the like are all ways profesising some doom and gloom, to which I replied that it's not just religious nuts, look at the economic state of the world. Anyway conversation went on a while longer until I suggested that he may like to do some research of his own instead of just watching the 6 o'clock news, because there was lots going on in the world which never makes it onto the evening news. His response " I'd rather not know, cos I'll just get depressed and upset, cos there's not we could do about it anyway"..............colour me speechless.

[izzy_mack]

Living in the country has it's advantages as most people here have freezers and store cupboards, so at least they're ok for a wee while. I've just totted up and out of 9 neighbours 4 have at least a few hens, it's fashionable at the moment

I avoid telling anyone I'm a prepper, although I'm prepping for more personal reasons, lack of funds, illness etc. I have one eye on the more serious event, in which case I don't want it known what I have.

I never suggest to anyone to become a prepper but do take advantage of news items or turns in the conversation. I recently made a comment when someone said about the power shortages that "I must get some candles, just in case" - I have enough to light a small village! and maybe some extra teabags and longlife milk,cause you know I need tea to function on!, both of which I have in abundance. Not so much a warning as a little seed that just might bare fruit, whilst suggesting that i don't have a lot in store.

What to do if your neighbours are starving is another problem, one that I confess I do bury my head in the sand over, I just don't know how I would react, tough as Jansman said, we do without luxuries to afford our preps, so why should we hand them over to the spendthrifts, but then again could I watch people die of starvation when I still had food, I really don't know.

[filsgreen]

This reminds me of a scene out of the Deer Hunter where, prior to going off to Vietnam, the three friends go hunting. De Niro and Walken bring proper boots but the third friend does not. He asks De Niro if he can borrow his spare pair and De Niro refuses stating he always forgot something and he was helping him. At this point De Niro became the bad guy because he would not lend him his spare pair. At the time I could empathise with De Niro, some people don't take responsibility for themselves and expect others to bail them out.

Phil

[featherstick]

There's a lot of coded conversations you can have that establish whether a neighbour or pal is on the same wavelength.

I met a member of the BBC news staff practising a bug-out once with his young son, they had walked to the train station in London with rucksacks, taken a train, walked to the campsite - ten or twelve miles in the day, a lot for an 11 year old. The newsman kept saying "you have to be prepared..." to me, and we shared some stories over the campfire and kelly kettle.

You can check what websites people read - Orlov, Greer, Heinberg etc. That's a good proxy for whether they are into the kollapsnik mentality, and therefore open to a discussion. From our neighbours I know who would get it and who would bury their heads, more or less. I also know who would be trouble.

It's futile coming straight out and saying "you have to be ready for the collapse...." as people will think you're a ding-a-ling. Test the water, discuss the big picture, find the entry point, then broach the subject. Or not.