Night bug out debrief

[jaffab]

Yep - Was at the same station myself last night- exactly my point (and again, lack of information). In these events of 'People Struck By Train' (cough, JUMPERS), the situation is

1) Pay for a Cab home. In my case, its a 30 mile trip, so I guess I am looking at £200-£300
2) Divert all around the houses (Possibly to Paddington, then across to Reading, then Down from there)
3) Walk. As with you, in work shoes, and I don't fancy either 1) lugging hat, coat, and walking boots around (no lockers anymore in London) or 2) Buying them on the way home
4) Do what I did and join the other 10,000 trying to get on the next train that managed to get out of the station.

I was in London on the day of 7/7 - and I remember that there were NO (zero, zip) tube trains running, so I had a 2 mile walk down to Waterloo on that day with the mass horde. Luckily, there were mainline trains running on that day.

So in the event that something similar happened again, but this time there would be no trains, the key would be to have the knowledge as soon as possible and the ability to pay (cash) to find a cab and get out of the City.

Makes me think that in a London situation, the best GetMeHome kit is a large bundle of cash.

PS - Sorry for the thread hijack

[sethorly]

jaffab, when you've sketched out your GHB you can post it in the slightly hidden EDC/BOB/GHB forum which can be accessed via the Equipment forum. Good place to nick ideas from too.

[Maver1ck]

Your right dude navigation at night is noisy did a lot of it in the military good solution to this though is to make a route plan you can easily do this from using a map providing you know your start point.

I will post a pic if you would like to see one I see used. Simple theory it has your bearings, distances and confirmation points along your route to give you that fuzzy feeling that your on the right track!

I agree there is a lot of noise pulling out maps etc and gives you an advance of the terrain and any potential obstacles and crossing points you might entail.

Hope that's at least a little helpful!

[sniper 55]

I had a tip many many years ago from a WW2 bomber pilot who escaped from France. His no1 tip was always wear shoes you can walk home in. He would fly with a pair of heavy shoes stuffed in his flying jacket. Apparently you couldn't walk far in flying boots.
Worked for him, and ever since I wear either boots or heavy shoes bulled up (still look good enough for functions) and I can walk all day in them if things go belly up.

[shocker]

I can confirm the un-walk-ability of flying boots ; about 25 years back I acquired a pair of Luftwaffe Flight Boots. They were similar to the regular wehrmacht /heer marching boot (erroneously known as "jackboots") in appearance but had a full sheepskin lining and an inner leg slit/fastening. Warm? WARM?? They were sodding tropical, fine for high altitude flying or winter motorcycling. But walking ? The sauna like effect led to instant trenchfoot. Should have thought for more than 3 seconds before buying them. Still, I sold them on to a collector for more than I paid.

[Jamesey1981]

The absolute worst shoes I've ever worn for waking in are road cycling shoes, those are awful, really stiff, and completely smooth soles apart from the cleat that clips into the pedals which lifts your toes higher than your heels!
I have mountain bike pedals on my road bike now, little bit heavier but you can actually walk in mountain bike shoes if you run out of inner tubes!

[shocker]

Oh yes ! Spuds, remember those cycling shoes that shimano launched in the 90s with half of the pedal in the shoe ? You really could not walk in those ! I went with merrel sympatex lightweight hiking boots for mountain biking with bucket type toeclips.

Sadly, mountain biking is a thing of the past for me...my canondale and zaskar with judy xls look folornly at me from the garden but I feel like a defeatist parting with them. Illogical I know - if only I could find offroad wheelchair tyres