How current events are changing how live and do things

[short circuit]

Junmist be good if someone invented a copper car paint and a silicon top coat as to turn the car into a solar panel

[Arzosah]

Just on the subject of ready meals ... my mum uses ready meals constantly - as she says, she's been cooking for 60 years (she's 86), and she's fed up of it! She also buys them only from Waitrose and M&S, so she feels safe (its amazing what a teacher's pension does!). Its really starting to be one of the things that enables her to live independently of any help at all, apart from me and my sister both getting the vacuum out when we visit.

[jansman]

OP says it all really. We are going back to the 1970's. I always said this was the standard of living we would gravitate back to. Since the mid 80's when Credit got stupidly easy to get, we have been Living The Dream. Now , since 2008, the dream has become a Fookin' nightmare!

The fat, easy, lazy years are gone. Fuel is expensive. So we have to put more clothes on, shut doors, cut wood, put up, shut up and realise that we cannot walk round the house half-naked in January!
Food is the same. We will have to learn that the seasons will dictate what is available. Fetching grub out of season from the other side of the planet will not be viable( see the price of fuel, above). Interesting that "Grow Your Own" is popular/trendy again. When I first got married, a generation ago, I set my garden with spuds and beans. Now my garden is LARGE. Very large. My neighbour asked me if we were poor!( because I grew my own food ) They were the lazy years. Folks are gonna have to realise that what they need/want will mean a bit of work.

[tshw1973]

OP says it all really. We are going back to the 1970's. I always said this was the standard of living we would gravitate back to. Since the mid 80's when Credit got stupidly easy to get, we have been Living The Dream. Now , since 2008, the dream has become a Fookin' nightmare!

The fat, easy, lazy years are gone. Fuel is expensive. So we have to put more clothes on, shut doors, cut wood, put up, shut up and realise that we cannot walk round the house half-naked in January!
Food is the same. We will have to learn that the seasons will dictate what is available. Fetching grub out of season from the other side of the planet will not be viable( see the price of fuel, above). Interesting that "Grow Your Own" is popular/trendy again. When I first got married, a generation ago, I set my garden with spuds and beans. Now my garden is LARGE. Very large. My neighbour asked me if we were poor!( because I grew my own food ) They were the lazy years. Folks are gonna have to realise that what they need/want will mean a bit of work.

Totally agree with this. I don't see this as a bad thing. I think it's funny that people think you are poor by growing your own veg. They are idiots.

[short circuit]

I have noticed people cannot see the lighter side of things now, in the 70's we went thru power cuts, miners strikes, three day weeks etc etc but one thing we never lost was one our pride and two the ability to laugh and joke with each other about current avents of the time...
don't let all this sh** make you sad I know its hard but the more you get down about stuff the harder it is to get up again, that is how I feel on current avents anyway...I don't want to be sad all the time, and a lot of people joke about stuff because its there way of dealing with the tention.

[jansman]

I can see the light side. Having lost a job of God knows how long, getting another and it lasting 2weeks, you HAVE to smile,at least!
Tshw1973, you are right, the idea of growing food is a good thing. Many other skills are going to be useful too, but it will mean work.

I am now at the point where I will TRY to provide what I want/need without spending cash. That will make the cash I do earn go further. That means growing food, I rear some of my own meat, I fish and shoot, brew my own booze and gather my own heating fuel amongst others. All this is not entirely free, but if it means I can work less hard( especially as it looks like 70 ish is going to be State Pension age) then it will be positive and empowering. A good thing, to smile about I reckon.

[Dumbfuker1983]

Gas prices are definitely going to rise substantially over the next 5 years and beyond for us here in the UK, since Fukishima the Japanese intend to faze out nuclear power in favor of natural gas this will drive up competition in the market but also our production in the UK has dropped and I have seen more LNG vessel visits to the UK then previously, we have no serious plans to increase our domestic production until around 2020 if they do go ahead with the shale gas extraction plans.

[nickdutch]

A crisis can be healing. If a crisis situation can help humans start behaving and living in a more responsible manner, then that is a good thing.

[junmist]

Junmist be good if someone invented a copper car paint and a silicon top coat as to turn the car into a solar panel

Please Please someone anyone Pleasssssse

[dazz675]

my flats use a form of heating supported by solar panels , its a honeywell boiler but the system is mini city indirect . for the last 6months all my heating as been included in rent , so i could have my heating on all day and every day for 7 pound a week, however the system changes after april , where will have to pay according to usage..... fair enough i suppose.... though my tropical flat may in future become more temperate. so will have to adapt. Another aspect where ive changed is i really hate being a wage slave, not had a drink since new years day , spent money on prepps, end of the year will be mostly debt free , hate the thought off debt now, when i was being moved about at work to different parts of the city with very little notice, need the job not a lot i can do.....the main obstacle we are continuing to face is peak oil transition , how smooth will it be ? countries fighting over scarce resources? or will we muddle through as we have in the past