Are we ready if there is a National Emergency?

Whitewavemark2

Perhaps we ought to buy a horse for transport?😀😀

Not with the cost of hay to feed it today, crazy prices.

Perhaps we ought to buy a horse for transport?😀😀

I’ve got two big bottles of water in my garage, and I’d still fill the bath if I knew the water would be cut off,, because of washing and toilet flushing. I also keep the water butts in my garden about two thirds full in the winter, just in case.
Our power goes off fairly frequently as I’m in the country so we are low priority compared with bigger areas of population, and a lot of people have small generators as well. I’ve been thinking about that.

www.sainsburys.co.uk/gol-ui/product/highland-still-spring-water-10l

Invest in some large bottles of water, WWM2 They are likely to stay cleaner than an open-topped bath anyway! If the dog decides to go for a swim in that inviting swimming-pool, you may not fancy drinking it.

I have a 10 litre box of Highland Spring Water in the corner of my store-cupboard, on the floor. It takes up very little room. It cost me about a fiver from Sainsburys. I am thinking of getting some more.

I haven’t read it, but the BBC has an article on its web-site asking if the zUK is prepared for war.

I do hope this doesn’t become a WW1 scenario.

I haven’t got a bath!

I did listen to Trumps rant and the truth hurts me, we are weak we can’t respond to Putins aggression we can’t control illegal migration. It’s not just the whole of Europe is impotent, Western Europe is vulnerable to aggression from Russia, our biggest worry is “ Will the US back us if there is a war”. Thats not just a Trump question, any other US government is likely to be just as reluctant.

The biggest threat we have is Trump and Putin. Height her have any time for Europe and between them could wipe us out. Trumps horribke rant about us and Europe yesterday was sickening but some of what he said was right, we are in trouble of our own making, putting other people ahead of our safety and not knowing what criminals we have let in. Our safety should be paramount and our infrastructure , but it's not. Prisons are full and the NHS breaking point, still no one takes notice.

Oreo

Always helps to have a few things handy for a power cut tho, where I live workmen are always cutting through cables by accident.
I have a couple of good torches, some bottles of water, soup and so on and a gas canister cooking ring, and candles.

I feel almost reassured reading that - re workmen cutting through cables.

Right now I've been sitting here thinking "Why don't they put electric cables to houses in the normal way here - ie underground?" Answer being that I gather it's a combination of this is a remote area and it's cheaper to put them up there hanging from poles for the smaller number of houses here.

Am fed-up with knowing my electric will flicker if there's a noticeable wind - and this is West Wales (ie there's often noticeable wind!).

When I read this could cause a fire that was nowt to do with me = that did it and I've got it arranged for them to at least come in and swop their flippin' cable (as it doesn't look right to me anyway - as well as the whole fact of it being up there feels so odd to me).

I don't know/the jury is out personally re global warming - but, at a personal level, I reckon the winds here have gotten even stronger since I moved here. They broke the tv aerial on the roof recently - cue for me having to have it removed and one put internally inside my roof and a booster down in my sitting room. So all round I'm getting aware the winds have gone from "stronger and more frequent than I'm used to" that I noticed when I moved here to "Oh boy - even more so" level.

Also it didn't occur to me when I'd recently moved here to have anything other than an ordinary fence put up at a place where I wanted it in my garden - so just as well the workman that I called in to quote for it for me clicked I am a city person and Southerner obviously, summed things up as to what I'd be used to and said "You can't have a fence like you want here in Wales - the wind will destroy it" and I promptly decided to have a much stronger/different style one instead. I watch standard type ones here fall like matchsticks around me in the worst gales - even one neighbours one I thought was pretty strong is now "going" and I'm giving it a couple more strong gales before that one is on the ground too and so that one is an aspect we need to bear in mind in case this is a permanent change for the worse in our weather.

So - time to check the electric cables if one is in an area where they're up in the air, rather than down underground. Also for checking fences are stronger than the standard type (or have a wall instead) if you're in a windy area. I mentally give standard type fences a maximum of two years in the area I'm in now before they're wrecked by the wind.

if China moves totally to non- fossil fuels their emissions will become less
Meanwhile they have opened the largest coal mine in the world in Serbia 🤬

Ambergran ^"All the reflective particles in the clouds that used to bounce the sun's rays away from earth are disappearing, so now we get the full force below the clouds."* Now we get more and more greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide polluting the air, so the heat that rises high above the earth is trapped below a layer of Co2 and other gases and water vapour, altering the patterns of air movement from one area to another which cause violent storms and so on.

If China moves totally to non-fossil fuels, their emissions will become less, but that is not immediate.

Always helps to have a few things handy for a power cut tho, where I live workmen are always cutting through cables by accident.
I have a couple of good torches, some bottles of water, soup and so on and a gas canister cooking ring, and candles.

sue421

Back in the early 60s we were worried about a nuclear war. My parents were involved locally, our school told us how to cope. It was the most frightening experience of my early teenage years. The precautions we were expected to take were absolutely ridiculous.
But is this a scare mongering time?

Oh yes,I read about that.
Get under the solid pine kitchen table👀
It’s pointless worrying ourselves about different scenarios.

“with China's emissions getting lower and lower as they switch to sustainable power things will get worse. Basically we're damned if we do and damned if we don't.”

That’s not true, they have stopped rising, they produce 35% of global emissions

A friend long ago told me that her father had fought in the war and for ever after, if there was concern about another war, the first thing he did was fill the bath with water.

Might sound barmy but it's brilliant planning. Without power we have no water, unless you live close to a drinkable stream or have a well. We can go longer without food than water. Plus we need water to cook lots of things.

We probably haven't helped the weather by getting rid of air pollution. All the reflective particles in the clouds that used to bounce the sun's rays away from earth are disappearing, so now we get the full force below the clouds. And with China's emissions getting lower and lower as they switch to sustainable power things will get worse. Basically we're damned if we do and damned if we don't.

Back in the early 60s we were worried about a nuclear war. My parents were involved locally, our school told us how to cope. It was the most frightening experience of my early teenage years. The precautions we were expected to take were absolutely ridiculous.
But is this a scare mongering time?

Absolutely.
No criticism.

Just an observation on how difficult it all is.

Beyond me🙂

Lathyrus3

All manufactured in China and shipped halfway across the world for us to buy, I expect😬🤣

Yes, my Duronic wind-up torch was made in China, but if the mains power and the streetlights go off I would rather have it than not.

David49

We are geared up for at least a week of isolation with a wood burner for cooking and heating and a shed full of wood, we did have 4 days of no power about 30 yrs ago, a storm brought down power lines

Cooking on an open fire then, it was fun for a few days but not a good option for a long period, that’s not an option for most, electricity is the one thing that is not replaceable and so much of our lives is vital to it. Even if you have a gas boiler it doesn’t work without power

We have had many days without electricity living in rural France. Essentials are a wood burner with flat top, bottled gas hob, barbecue, kind neighbours with generators to charge up the freezer and strong community spirit.
The worst thing is when your septic tank normally pumps grey water uphill and you have to empty it with buckets.
In 1999 our village had three weeks without power.

All manufactured in China and shipped halfway across the world for us to buy, I expect😬🤣

Applegran Wind-up torches and radios are available - no batteries needed. I have a torch/ lantern that is rechargeable plus it works on mains power or by winding a handle. It has three modes - torch, lantern and flashing red danger or "help" signal.

There are others which spend most of their lives plugged into an electricity socket doing nothing, but spring into light if there is a power cut.

I would think as grandparents our biggest contribution would be the skills we bring for cooking from scratch using stored staple ingredients, growing and preserving food and make do and mend when resources are scarce.

I think it is about not panicking but making sensible preparations. Most of what is needed has to be done by government - but we can do some appropriate things for ourselves.

I have a stock of tinned food and candles I can cook outside if needs be .
I bought some containers of drinking water
today .,but I forgot soup .
Ill health has made me manage without a proper shop for three weeks .
I can manage,but not without my meds .

I don't know anyone with a nuclear bunker-perhaps that's what we need !

i think in the Blitz families were ready with food and water and warm clothes in case of need. Now what would we add? Torch and batteries, radio .......
A friend long ago told me that her father had fought in the war and for ever after, if there was concern about another war, the first thing he did was fill the bath with water.