Hello there

New Members - Introduce yourself, and say a few words
MBJ
Posts: 125
Joined: Wed Jan 18, 2017 8:35 pm

Hello there

Post by MBJ »

Hello there all,

I'm fairly new to the idea of prepping. I have been aware of it for awhile due to my uncle but have never really given it any serious thought until recently. However, my father and uncle were of that generation who still have vivid memories of rationing after the war and of the three day working weeks with blackouts. Speaking of blackouts, my father and his fiancée experienced a 6 day blackout last winter, and if it were not for a few simple precautions such as something to cook on or some spare lighting sources, they'd have been in fair bit of bother.

After all, it does seem only sensible to have some precautions in place for those rainy days or emergencies.

Now I'm not talking the Zombie Apocalypse, nuclear fallout, alien invasion or even an EMP or total collapse of society. Those I believe are either extremely unlikely or ridiculous. At least for my own geographical location and personal circumstances anyway. I have read that a prepper should prepare for the events that are likely to effect them after all. I happen to live in a large inner city area of the UK which is very high up and therefore not on a floodplain. Moreover, natural disasters such as earthquakes, hurricanes, blizzards, tornadoes or even volcano eruptions are fortunately not something that effects the UK and therefore do not need to be considered.

However it is much more likely to expect that I could:

A) Lose my job.
B) Suffer a severe blackout.
C) Suffer through a fuel crisis (like the one when the lorry drivers went on strike).
D)Be a victim of a terrorist attack.

In regards to A, I have already invested in physical bullion on the advice of my uncle and have a significant amount of savings saved in the bank. Enough to easily see me through 8 months of bills without any income whatsoever. I would however like to convert some of this to physical cash to be stored in my home as I feel uncomfortable about keeping it all in the bank. If Northern Rock taught us anything, it's that your money isn't safe in the banks.

I do however find myself incredibly underprepared for the other scenarios and would welcome any ideas and advice, as well as advice for financial prepping too.

Lastly, I would like to say that I am fairly open with working with others. I wouldn't advertise the fact I prep to the general public, but by the same token I dislike the lone wolf ideology and believe it is ultimately doomed to fail. Humans by our nature are social creatures and we have worked together for thousands of years. It only makes sense that we work together, strength in numbers after all.

Thank you for reading,
MBJ
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Deeps
Posts: 5797
Joined: Sun Nov 09, 2014 8:36 pm

Re: Hello there

Post by Deeps »

Welcome to the forum mate, by the sounds of it you're on the same page as a lot of us, no zombie hordes etc, just the more mundane reasons to prep. There's a wealth of info on here so whatever you feel your priorities are there's a fair chance the UKP brain trust has debated it. ;) Have a swing through the various threads and feel free to ask questions, no such thing as a stupid question, just stupid answers. Enjoy the prepper process. :D
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tigs
Posts: 1350
Joined: Sat Jul 21, 2012 5:16 am
Location: south yorkshire

Re: Hello there

Post by tigs »

Welcome to the forum
Ready for Anything

http://autonopedia.org/ if still out try facebook https://www.facebook.com/Autonopedia

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pseudonym
Posts: 4550
Joined: Wed Jul 27, 2011 10:11 am
Location: East Midlands

Re: Hello there

Post by pseudonym »

Hello and welcome to the Forum. :)
Two is one and one is none, but three is even better.
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whenfires
Posts: 189
Joined: Tue Apr 21, 2015 2:42 pm
Location: UK

Re: Hello there

Post by whenfires »

Hi and welcome to UKP!
Website: http://www.whenthefiresburn.co.uk
Twitter: @whenfires
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MBJ
Posts: 125
Joined: Wed Jan 18, 2017 8:35 pm

Re: Hello there

Post by MBJ »

Cheers guys, thank you for the welcome.
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sethorly
Posts: 389
Joined: Sun Jul 17, 2016 6:33 pm

Re: Hello there

Post by sethorly »

Hi. No-one really thinks there'll be a zombie apocalypse, but it is two things in my mind:

1) The visuals and storytelling in various media mean it provides an easily visualised scenario for prepping. Sure, when SHTF it's not going to be zombies, but there'll be man against man, a breakdown of law and order, and possibly pandemics etc. We can learn from the various media. Preparing for a zombie apocalypse is preparing for a whole host of thought-of and not-thought-of potential scenarios.

2) The CDC in the USA and other professionals and scientists working to fight viruses and disease treat the zombie apocalypse seriously with research papers for the same reason as (1) above - it provides a good approximation of a terrible saliva-bourne virus which can then be modelled and planned for. They're not expecting zombies either, but if anything similar happened they'll be better prepared. By comparison, ZIKA or AIDS are far harder to transmit, so it's good the CDC and others are researching worse nastiness.

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If you're like me you'll write a list of possible events and assign each one with (i) a probability (ii) a threat level. Then use that to guide you. I bet that this will show you need to address water shortages/contamination first due to its threat level!

Have fun on the forum!
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