prepp(ar)ing for normal life

[FEISTY]

Firstly, I'm old enough to remember only too well the last zombie uprising (Sennybridge '84), I got through that one so I will be prepared for the next.

Secondly, I'm pleased the 2015 winter Wales camp is back on but I'm only going if:

a) I can wear my Realtree woodland camo trousers

and

B) LoneWolf is checked for sharps, live rounds and pyrotechnics before nightfall.


Finally, the fact one is prepping, for whatever reason, is a good thing.

Wish we had a "Like" button Briggs .

[Briggs 2.0]

Normal life?

So, I'm away from home for another night and I'm sitting outside a hotel pub with my usual pint of Stella. I'm doing a bit of people watching. I'm sure I'm being casually watched too, not in a paranoid way, it's what people do, let's be honest about it. I wonder if anyone has noticed my pack beside me? It's black, pretty normal looking for a rucksack as GHBs go but I am the only person here with one. Other than that, I blend in quite nicely with my Joe 90 plastic glasses on.

However, I'm good to go should things turn rapidly pear. In the car, within sight, 30m away, is my main 72hr GHB pack and get home gear. I reckon 100+ hours at a push for the food and water stocks. More than enough for the 100 mile trek home if my transport was compromised. I'm also packing a QRP HF set, just in case and Mrs B know how to work the set at home.

This sort of preparedness isn't quite normal is it?

I might mellow a bit with pint #2 and #3 with a game of iPad Scrabble followed by some drunken EBay shopping. I recommend drunken eBay bidding because in three days time who knows what exciting and often useless items arrive in the post.

[Briggs 2.0]

Firstly, I'm old enough to remember only too well the last zombie uprising (Sennybridge '84), I got through that one so I will be prepared for the next.

Secondly, I'm pleased the 2015 winter Wales camp is back on but I'm only going if:

a) I can wear my Realtree woodland camo trousers

and

B) LoneWolf is checked for sharps, live rounds and pyrotechnics before nightfall.


Finally, the fact one is prepping, for whatever reason, is a good thing.

Wish we had a "Like" button Briggs .

Seriously, you should get hold of a copy of my first novel.

[Briggs 2.0]

I'm still people watching. I've noticed how noisy suitcase trolley wheels are. They might as well shout 'I'm not from here, rob me!' Try to avoid those if you can, or fit rubber skateboard wheels instead.

Oh, and if that is you I can see with the black SAS smock on, I hate to point out it was never fashion cut to accommodate a paunch.

[FEISTY]

Annoyingly, my latest pair of everyday ankle boots, which were specially ordered (size 33), expensive and came from a really far flung spot on the planet have developed a small squelching sound in the left one - thanks to my son for pointing it out, it's now driving me mad . Buggies and squeaky wheels - as if having a baby wasn't enough to send your senses into overload! Do you really need your pack 30 feet from the car? I can see why people might wonder .

[Plymtom]

Annoyingly, my latest pair of everyday ankle boots, which were specially ordered (size 33), expensive and came from a really far flung spot on the planet have developed a small squelching sound in the left one - thanks to my son for pointing it out, it's now driving me mad . Buggies and squeaky wheels - as if having a baby wasn't enough to send your senses into overload! Do you really need your pack 30 feet from the car? I can see why people might wonder .

I wouldn't worry about the wheels squeaking too much, keeping the babies quiet would be more of a problem, stopping moving for a while and listening for others is easy done, getting my kids to shut up long enough to hear anything else remains a problem into their 20s

[cpslashm]

I might mellow a bit with pint #2 and #3 with a game of iPad Scrabble followed by some drunken EBay shopping.

Do you really need your pack 30 feet from the car?

Did you really need to ask that queston?
30 feet is a long trek after several pints of Stella.

[FEISTY]

I might mellow a bit with pint #2 and #3 with a game of iPad Scrabble followed by some drunken EBay shopping.

Do you really need your pack 30 feet from the car?

Did you really need to ask that queston?
30 feet is a long trek after several pints of Stella.

Fair point .

[J23]

all these bags seem to be weird. I often have my rucksack, and what I carry in it is:
small flashlight
multitools (cheap ones)
tools (screwdrivers, keys etc)
spare innertube for my bicycle
bicycle pump
matches and lighter
bottle of water
umbrella if on foot
pen and paper
nose tissues
small first aid kit
emergency poncho
phone charger
bottle of water

I really don't need axe, gun for 0.22 ammo, tent, sleeping bag, gasmask, and all this stuff

[2ndRateMind]

...Financial safety - this is my main point - when many of you prepare for bug out to your auntie next town or to sleep in woods for the rest of life - how many of you prepare for financial stable future? how many of you secure yourself for situations that are more likely to happen then zombie apocalypse or Yellowstone eruption?
...

I'm on benefit, being schizophrenic. I'm not entirely insane, mostly, but affected enough to find ordinary employment beyond my capabilities. So, it makes me laugh to think about emergency funds, savings, investments, owning two houses, owning an estate car, let alone a 4x4. For me such things are such stuff as dreams are made of. If only!

But, gradually and bit by bit, I'm improving my situation. I plant the odd useful seed on common land, buy an extra canned meal when I visit the supermarket, walk a few miles when the weather is kind, research self-reliance techniques and skills and practice them every so often.

For me, prepping is about resilience. Anyone, at any level, can become more resilient to those inconvenient challenges life fires at us at point-blank range long before we are ready for them. Don't ever make the mistake of thinking prepping is just about money.

Best wishes, 2RM.