How did you became interested in prepping?

[jansman]

If this happens today I get stuck and have to wait for help so the 2nd question is irrelevant....I could also try googling how to chew my way out of a seatbelt!

I'm all for a bit of of flippancy but have you pondered the scenario Andy presented and developed your own plan for such an eventuality. This sort of what-if exercise is essentially what being prepared is all about. If you're still on the forum, perhaps you can share what you've considered and put into practice. If you don't have a car, then consider you're in a minibus or in a friend's car.

And if you chew the seatbelt off and get onto the embankment, it’s -10 and no fuzz coming. You will quickly succumb to hypothermia. Fact. However, preppers tend to carry stuff to circumvent these situations, even if only a Mylar blanket.

[GPS]

You ask how much of our prepping is down to" mistrust of media and government ?" Already my alarm bells ring loudly that we could be labelled as something like Anti Government Whackos.Sorry,but that's how I read it.

Anyhow, you ask about my comment about a Brave New World. You are probably aware of the book by the same title by Aldous Huxley.Well it ain't that! I don't have a vision of some engineered society ( well not in my lifetime).

What I mean by that is the radical societal change we are experiencing.Technology,aging population, the probability of zero retirement,shrinking incomes,reduction in welfare assistance,economic instability,rationed healthcare.
In short; The degradation of previously accepted social expectations.If you cannot look after yourself its gonna be a rough ride.

As preppers,do we have to suffer stress by being hyper vigilant? No.We should,as humans ,be switched on to our environment. This is something that we are increasingly losing: That awareness.Personally,I am politically aware,I watch the news,and as a country boy I watch the weather.I am not,contrary to what you may think,in a constant state of red alert! Nor is prepping constantly on my mind.I lean more towards self sufficient living,which is a lifestyle tbh.Constantly looking after my animals and gardens,preserving food etc .I also love to fish, have a party,go on holiday and all the rest of the fun things in life.

I don't think mistrust of media and government is a partculalry niche thing, if anything i think most people would feel that way (particualrly with government) so I apologise if you think I was hinting at an alternative subtext. I suppose a more simple way of putting it is how you think the government are prepared for some of the big potential emergencies?

[Arzosah]

Before you try to understand us let's play a little game:

I assume you drive?

Now it's -10 snowing you skid on the motorway go into a crash barrier on the hard shoulder and come to a stop on the shoulder car is dead and the pretensions / air bags have gone off seatbelt won't release .......

So how do you get out?

Once you have got out you stumble to the orange box and police tell you they are swamped but not to sit in your car but get up the embankment and await recovery truck estimated at 90mins it's blowing a gale and snowing bitterly cold and cars and lorries are whipping up a slusshy mess

What do you do?

If this happens today I get stuck and have to wait for help so the 2nd question is irrelevant....I could also try googling how to chew my way out of a seatbelt!

So, try googling "seatbelt cutter".

The reason people are coming back to answering that scenario is that that could give us your intent - if you're not prepared to take us seriously enough to give thought to a very common situation, then that gives a subtext about how you might really regard us, for all that I've currently agreed to speak with you.

It's the difference between 'show' and 'tell'.

[GPS]

I know I was joking in terms of my answer but the reality of the situation is actually true for me if it happened today. I am being honest in saying that if it happened I wouldn't be prepared at all. However, I am willing to throw myself into learning and you are correct in identifying this as a good exercise. I suppose I could be prepared for a variety of similar situations by having a portable mobile phone charger, the blanket (as mentioned), a first aid kit and water/tinned food ready in the car.

I presume there are a lot of things I am overlooking. It will be interesting to hear your comments on this.

[ukpreppergrrl]

I don't think mistrust of media and government is a partculalry niche thing, if anything i think most people would feel that way (particualrly with government) so I apologise if you think I was hinting at an alternative subtext.

Mistrust of media and government may not be a niche thing but it is a very emotive phrase to use and that's what's causing alarm bells. "Mistrust" is a definite, black/white word and has the ring of paranoia beloved by shoddy journalism. Do I mistrust the media and government? No I don't. Do I trust them implicitly? No I don't. There's a massive grey area in the middle and that's where my feelings lie about the media and government. I'm also not sure why the media and government are being lumped into one category...

I suppose a more simple way of putting it is how you think the government are prepared for some of the big potential emergencies?

Everyone knows the answer to this if they care to look. The Government publishes a National Risk Register every couple of years which tells us how prepared they are. https://www.gov.uk/government/publicati ... 17-edition But to my mind therein lies a crucial difference between a prepper (labelled or not) and a non-prepper: "if they care to look". Non-preppers aren't interested, for whatever reason, in looking.

I suspect for a lot of people "prepping" is a journey. It starts simply with common sense: you don't wait until the last toilet roll has already run out before you buy the replacement. Nothing contentious there. No-one thinks twice about having a spare toilet roll on hand, next to the loo. It's just common sense. Unless you are a seriously laissez faire person this little act of common sense will be replicated around your house with coffee, tea, bread, milk, nappies, washing powder, cat food, cat litter etc.. Then the supermarket has a BOGOF on toilet rolls, so you buy two packs. Again, this is just common sense. It works out cheaper. You don't think about toilet paper for a while because you now have lots. But then a month later the supermarket has a BOGOF again on toilet rolls, and although you've still got 6 rolls left from the first BOGOF, you buy two more, because it works out cheaper. That's just savvy shopping - it's not like you aren't going to use them! Then whilst you're finding space for your toilet rolls the lights go out. It's a power cut. Boo! So you stagger around your house in the dark trying to remember where you put last Christmas' candles and end up having to light them on the gas cooker because you've got no matches (you're not a smoker, why would you have matches?). But you now have illumination. You feel proud. You pose a glass of whisky next to the Christmas candle in an artful manner, take a photo on your phone and whatsapp it round your friends and they whatsapp their power cut photos back to you. All perfectly normal.

The next time you're in the supermarket there's no BOGOF on toilet rolls but you do drop a box of matches and some dinner candles into your trolley as your knee is still sore from when you whacked it against the coffee table during the power cut and you don't want to repeat that experience! Turning the corner you find the supermarket is remaindering the Festival Camping stuff, so you also drop in a reduced price battery operated lamp and torch, it's only a couple of quid for both of them. Bargain. Your knee is now safe from further bangs. And this to my mind is the key turning point. You're either the sort of person who adds those things to your trolley, "just in case it happens again" or you're not. If you are, then you'll probably repeat this scenario a number of times with different items. For example: the water company puts a leaflet through your door that your water is going to be turned off next Saturday for emergency repairs. You have a BBQ planned for Saturday. Boo! You mutter about how the country is going to the dogs. But whilst you're in the supermarket buying the beer and burgers, you remember the leaflet and add 4 x 5L bottles of water to your trolley. They're only a quid each. Better to have it and not need it than not to have it. Saturday arrives, your BBQ is going well. The neighbour rings your bell. Do you have any water? The taps don't seem to be working and they have a baby who needs its bottle making up. You say "Did you not get the leaflet?", and you give them one of your 5L bottles of water. "Ooh you were prepared" they respond. Not really, it's just common sense. Just as an aside...because I know most people on here will be thinking it....if you were really a prepper: a) you'd already have the water just in case it got switched off without the warning; b) you'd also know that you can't flush the toilet if there's no water [well you can once, but that's all] so if you're having a BBQ at home and the water's off you'll need a lot more water available to keep the toilets flushing

As was mentioned earlier, I suspect the line between common sense and prepper is simply the amount of water or toilet rolls that is deemed socially acceptable to have in your house just in case. The difference between us and our grandparents is that they could have a great deal more stored away just in case before being labeled as something other than just having common sense, as our grandparents generation could rely less on supermarkets, refrigerators and convenience foods.

[ukpreppergrrl]

I suppose I could be prepared for a variety of similar situations by having a portable mobile phone charger, the blanket (as mentioned), a first aid kit and water/tinned food ready in the car.

Congratulations. Now you're thinking like a prepper. The preps you've described are indeed the basis of all prepping and cover a wide variety of bumps in the road from your-car-has-run-out-of-petrol, through job-loss, via financial-collapse, to the-aliens-have-arrived/the-zombies-have-arisen (insert your The End Of The World As We Know It scenario of choice). Some, possibly most, preps will cover most scenarios (no matter what happens you’ve got to eat so storing extra food will probably never be wasted). Others will be specific to only one situation (there’s only one reason you might want to stock Potassium Iodide tablets – radioactive fallout). Some may even be mutually exclusive (there’s no point saving up 6 months worth of bill payments in your bank account if you’re in a period of hyperinflation). And, my personal tip, always stock up on toilet paper. When the bottom falls out of your world and the world is falling out of your bottom, you'll wish you had more than just a dock leaf.

[GPS]

I completely understand the prepping for the majority of events mentioned here like accidents, water shortage, insurance etc. etc. I am also getting a clearer picture of how simple a lot of it is to prepare for. Looking through these forusm has definitely provided a lot of food for thought

However, one thing that I am keen to discuss with you all is the potentially more catstrophic events that would likely take out the vast majority of people (e.g. Nuclear Apocalypse). These events are more difficult to prep for obviously but the question is why would you want to survive something like this when the world is essentially destroyed and more than likely a horrible place to survive in. I understand the human instinct to survive and I have no doubt I would be scrambling around like anyone else to survive but I suppose what it boils down to is if it is actually worth successfully prepping for something like this. I suppose I am kind of playing devil's advocate here as I don't really know if I agree with my own premise.

[Deeps]

I completely understand the prepping for the majority of events mentioned here like accidents, water shortage, insurance etc. etc. I am also getting a clearer picture of how simple a lot of it is to prepare for. Looking through these forusm has definitely provided a lot of food for thought

However, one thing that I am keen to discuss with you all is the potentially more catstrophic events that would likely take out the vast majority of people (e.g. Nuclear Apocalypse). These events are more difficult to prep for obviously but the question is why would you want to survive something like this when the world is essentially destroyed and more than likely a horrible place to survive in. I understand the human instinct to survive and I have no doubt I would be scrambling around like anyone else to survive but I suppose what it boils down to is if it is actually worth successfully prepping for something like this. I suppose I am kind of playing devil's advocate here as I don't really know if I agree with my own premise.

Personally I think the "catastophic events" scenario is incredibly unlikely but going with it, you ask if its worthwhile surviving something like a nuclear war. Ultimately you'd be unlikely to but you might anyway, unless you're up for topping yourself you'll still need to eat, drink, wipe your arse etc, the logic of not 'wanting' to survive an event like this might not be up to the individual. I have no NBCD preps or bunkers, I've not got any Faraday cages or the like either, but if we get a full blown 'end of days' and I'm lucky (debatable) enough to survive it then either with or without a bunker full of survival gear life will go on, hopefully mine for a long time. You kind of play the hand that's dealt you.

[ukpreppergrrl]

However, one thing that I am keen to discuss with you all is the potentially more catstrophic events that would likely take out the vast majority of people (e.g. Nuclear Apocalypse). These events are more difficult to prep for obviously but the question is why would you want to survive something like this when the world is essentially destroyed and more than likely a horrible place to survive in. I understand the human instinct to survive and I have no doubt I would be scrambling around like anyone else to survive but I suppose what it boils down to is if it is actually worth successfully prepping for something like this. I suppose I am kind of playing devil's advocate here as I don't really know if I agree with my own premise.

Ah...here we are. The let's talk about The End Of The World As We Know It because, after all, that's what all you nutters are preparing for isn't it?

In the entire history of the planet, which is a pretty long time, the world has only been destroyed to the level you are talking about (aka a Mass Extinction Event) a few times. Five to be precise. None of them within human history (though the last mass extinction event, did allow us mammals to become the dominant creatures, seeing the dinosaurs off as it did). Whilst there are those who predict that the earth is overdue a sixth Mass Extinction Event, the likelihood (and you really should have gathered by now that prepping is about likelihood of events actually happening, not "what's the worst possible scenario I can think of, and how or why would I prep for that?") of such a thing happening within our lifetimes is so small as to be non-existant. Such is the stuff of science fiction writers. Why don't you ask them what they'd do and why they'd do it? Or pose the question to psychologists if you're interested in why a human being would or would not want to survive such a situation. Bottom line: it's not worth prepping for such an event, not because it'd be so terrible you'd rather be dead, but because it's so unlikely to happen. At best it's a naive question, at worst it's a stupid question.

Actually it's a stupid question because by its very definition you are 99.99% likely to die, and if you are the 0.01% of the world's population who amazingly find themselves still alive (which at this level of extinction will have been by luck rather than any amount of prepping) what are you going to do if you're a bit miffed by your new-found situation? Take your knife and slit your throat? Stab yourself in the heart? Rip out your intestines? Ingest vast amounts of poison? Trek to the former USA, dig a gun out of the rubble, rummage around some more until you find a bullet, realise it's the wrong calibre so trek to the only standing Public Library and self-issue The Encyclopaedia Of Guns (4th edition), after much searching locate the correct calibre bullet, oil the gun, put the bullet into the gun, put the gun to your head and pull the trigger? Despite all the odds you're alive and unless you do something to cease your existence you will remain alive. Having an existential crisis about the nature of life and your personal future in it is probably going to be at the bottom of your to do list. Maybe do some research on why all the Jews in Auschwitz didn't kill themselves as that's about as close to the scenario you are describing as we have ever got as a species. And that's still a very, very, very, very, very, very, very long way away from your scenario.

Moreover, your concept of nuclear apocalypse is very 80s. Perhaps you've just watched "Threads" (1984) or "The Day After" (1983)? These are works of fiction. Do not let their documentary style fool you into thinking you're watching something real. They do actually not give factual accounts of what would happen in a nuclear exchange and what would happens afterwards. Both films are designed to scare you shitless. They are fiction. (And we're back to why you should be asking science fiction writers this question rather than preppers). Try instead reading something like Peter Laurie's "Beneath The City Streets" (2nd edition 1979). Did dropping two nuclear bombs on Japan in 1945 trigger the level of apocalypse you talk about even just in Japan? Even just in the cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki? No, they didn't.

Please do some more research before asking questions that are naive, stupid and just going to annoy folks. If you are genuinely interested in The End Of Days, then research the five Mass Extinction Events the earth has seen so far. Research the deadliest events there have ever been in human history: were they caused by war, by sickness, by the weather, by meteorites, by volcanoes? How close have we as a race ever come to extinction? Research plague and pandemic and its world-wide effect (or lack thereof). Do you know the deadliest plagues/pandemics the world has ever seen? Research volcanic eruptions - do you even know how many VEI8 eruptions there have ever been on the the earth without running off and googling it? When the last one was? Has there ever been a VEI7 in recorded history? What happened in 1815 (besides the Battle of Waterloo)? Why 1816 was known as The Year Without Summer? Research what the actual blast area is for a 1 or 5 megaton hydrogen bomb, not just what you've seen on the telly. Indeed research what the difference is between an atomic bomb, a hydrogen bomb and a neutron bomb, and how they are and are not any different from conventional bombs. If you really want to terrify yourself, then research just what every country that signed the Geneva Convention in 1975 promising that they wouldn't continue their research into biological and chemical warfare has been doing since they signed the document! And it isn't sitting on their hands being good boys and girls. When you actually have some concept of the nature of the question you are asking, then come back.

[Brambles]

Owned. Where's the 'LIKE' button when you need it.