so, when will you be starting stockpiling I wonder?

Very confusing.
My DD drove a small truck when she did her own removals. Presumably a Light Goods Vehicle in those days.

MaizieD, Gillybob, apologies for not replying to your LGV enquiry before but I thought I would reply to POGS first as I have been working all day

LGV is an abbreviation of "large goods vehicle"

HGV is an abbreviation of "heavy goods vehicle"

It was always referred to as HGV in terms of driver and vehicle until they reclassified the driver licence weight limits. That introduced the three and a half ton and seven-ton categories and they then changed the term to LGV.

Heaven above only knows why.??!

especially when we thought that LGV was Light Goods Vehicle

Someone should have told them at the time

I was thinking laterally MaizieD - but this is what happens when people panic buy and stockpile. Supply will not keep up with demand. Others are left short and usually those who can least afford it.

Yes, I got that Jalima. But my suggestion was that if people were stocking up now shops would have a chance to restock. So, unless there was a world shortage of a particular item, they shouldn't run out.

So what tonnage is an LGV vehicle, grandad?

That's fine for those of us with the spare cash to stock up, but what about the millions who live from one poor pay cheque to the next?

MaizieD, the maximum weight for an LGV vehicle on British roads is 44 metric tonnes (43.30 Imperial tons)

That maximum weight has to be carried over a minimum of six axles.

I think some people tend to keep on buying and stockpiling until they have cellars or rooms full of tinned and packet goods - much of which will end up being ditched because it has gone out of date.

varian precisely.

We live near a small town town on the edge of the Somerset Wetlands. In winter what is known locally as the "Rhines" regularly overflow onto the roads and transport can become difficult.

Therefore we always stock up with tinned vegetables and meat etc just in case of a long flooding period on the local road.

This year we have decided to stock slightly higher, obtaining that on a weekly basis each time we visit the supermarket usually starting in September or October.

The food never gets wasted as come springtime if it has not been used we give it to our eldest daughter and her family who then use it up when they are away with there motorhome.

Thank you for extending my education Grandad I have visited Somerset a few times as DD and SIL have a weekend/holiday house there but this is the first I had heard of the local term for ditches (?) so I googled Somerset Wetlands and learned all about “rhynes and rills” - including how to pronounce “rhynes”
Could come in useful next time I am on a pub quiz team.

Glad to have been of service MawBroon. We have lived in the area for over forty years now and would never wish to live anywhere else.

Wonderful wildlife out on the wetlands even in winter with not too many tourists as you have probably realised when you are down here.

Great area to visit for those that have never been. So, glad you have enjoyed your time down here.

Did you try the local farm made cider MawBroon? If not that surely is something to tackle.

Heading down again on Monday grandad fo a few days with DD and the DGCs.
There is a cider farm quite near them I believe.
If I take your advice on the cider - beware!

Strangely enough I am up in London for at least two days next week. I am definitely getting to old for all that underground stuff and traffic grime you feel on your skin all the time you are in central London.

Best part about it is when you get on the train and it heads out of London at 130mph back down to Somerset.

Still if all goes well I should be back into retirement in October, this time for good, hopefully.

Have you seen that spectacle - a murmuration of starlings, Grandad? Does it happen near you? It's something I would love to see but haven't managed it yet.

Fair enough, remembering the flooding on The Levels not that long ago, I can see why you would keep a well-stocked store cupboard.

Jalima1108, yes the murmuration of the Starlings does happen over where we live. I have always found the best time to see that is in the early to mid-Autumn when it is really spectacular to see.

Strangely enough, the best of that seems to occur in recent years over the M5 between Taunton and Weston Super Mare with the Starlings in vast numbers forming ever-changing shapes in the early evening sky.

If you are on the M5 at when that takes place you will feel all the traffic start to slow as motorists take in the sight from their vehicles.

Quite something to see.

Thanks Grandad - we always seem to catch it on the news after the event!
Must try to get there this year.

What a load of old rubbish. Stockpiling is unnecessary. My drinks cabinet has enough scotch to see me through to Christmas. We will, also be able to eat British caught fish when we can stop the French and Spanish nicking ours. Roll on BREXIT!

Grandad 1943.
Seems that the starlings are a danger to road users, perhaps the local Council should fine them for obstructing traffic.
Seriously, it is a fantastic sight to see them just before nightfall when they are going to roost. Nature is wonderful. Biggest mistake was humans!

Yes, I suppose if we run out of food we could turn to drink - our drinks cabinet is stocked with stuff that has been there for years - origins forgotten in the mists of time.

Baggs Irish peasants lived on potatoes and not much else without getting fat

Irish peasants were thin because they did not have enough to eat. The composition of your diet is irrelevant if your calorie intake is insufficient to meet your energy requirements.

In the Great Famine of 145-1849, a million people died. The population decreased by 25% due to mortality and emigration. (Source Wikipedia).
In Boston, there is a moving statue of an Irish immigrant family dedicated to those forced to make the journey to America to escape starvation.
There were other famines too. Don’t tell me that the rest of the time, the population of Ireland didn’t suffer hardship and hunger.

Whatever the outcome of the Brexit negotiations, I doubt that anything like the privations that those people suffered nearly two centuries ago will be visited on us.

1845-1849

We don’t “own” any fish- they can swim from one national water to another. Anyway, a large % of fish caught in our waters are exported to the EU- langoustines etc

janea, I am fully aware of the history of the Irish famine. While the potato crops were healthy, Irish peasants did have enough to eat and good food too, which potatoes are. That's why the potato blight was so devastating, along with bad decisions by the British government which exacerbated the problem.

Whatever the outcome of the Brexit negotiations, I doubt that anything like the privations that those people suffered nearly two centuries ago will be visited on us. Exactly. Talk about stockpiling and food shortages are ridiculous fear mongering. We have an obesity problem because food is over-abundant and we have not adapted biologically to deal with that uet, as I've said a few times on GN before.

My point was that carbs, per se, do not make you fat. Too much food does that. I also disagree with the implication in your post that filling up with bread and potatoes (or other high carb staples) is a bad thing in general. It's what human beings have done and still do ever since they invented farming.

A somewhat smaller choice of fruit and veg, should it occur, isn't going to do us any harm. It's only recently—during ur lifetimes—that the choice has been so wide.