A Texan in Surrey

[Doug1943]

Thank you for the kind words, Jenny.

Yes, the British character does differ from the American -- from a 'prepping' point of view -- or perhaps, rather, from a 'survival' point of view, it has both advantages and disadvantages. Americans have less trust in their own government's ability to look after them, but also less of that 'stiff upper lip' and the quality of keeping a cool head during adversity. These are just stereotypes, of course.

On playing the wise ant to our grasshopper neighbors if a crisis comes ... actually, I think there is a problem there, at least for softies like me. I would be VERY unconfortable letting my nice next door neighbors die of thirst, or my beautiful neighbor on the other side go hungry. So I fear that I'm going to be unhappy even if I've prepared well for my wife and myself. (I do try to gently suggest to people in my lane that, heck, it wouldn't hurt to have two tins of beans where they normally have one, and a few empty wine bottles with water in them, etc ... but they probably just think I'm a mad American.

Never mind! I think our message is going to become more and more popular in the coming months and years.... unfortunately.

[Frnc]

Thank you for the kind words, Jenny.

Yes, the British character does differ from the American -- from a 'prepping' point of view -- or perhaps, rather, from a 'survival' point of view, it has both advantages and disadvantages. Americans have less trust in their own government's ability to look after them, but also less of that 'stiff upper lip' and the quality of keeping a cool head during adversity. These are just stereotypes, of course.

On playing the wise ant to our grasshopper neighbors if a crisis comes ... actually, I think there is a problem there, at least for softies like me. I would be VERY unconfortable letting my nice next door neighbors die of thirst, or my beautiful neighbor on the other side go hungry. So I fear that I'm going to be unhappy even if I've prepared well for my wife and myself. (I do try to gently suggest to people in my lane that, heck, it wouldn't hurt to have two tins of beans where they normally have one, and a few empty wine bottles with water in them, etc ... but they probably just think I'm a mad American.

Never mind! I think our message is going to become more and more popular in the coming months and years.... unfortunately.

In a shtf, good links with neighbours will be just as important as what stuff you have stashed as a prepper. That's not to say we should advertise exactly how much we have, but it wouldn't be foolish to help others out a bit. You will probably get something back one way or another. This is called reciprocal altruism, and it's how we survived for thousands of years, most of our evolution in fact, right up to about 6,000 years ago. Your neighbour might go out and come back with stuff and share it, or defend your street.

[GillyBee]

And you can always encouage them with relevant news such as some of the water outages - such as Thames Water today and pointing out that it would be very handy to have had a 5l or two of water in a cupboard ready for a cuppa rather than hoping there is any left when you get to the supermarket. Doubly true if they have small kids or vulnerable adults