They just do not store stuff like us lot!bulldogeagle wrote:most people live from week to week or payday to payday, go into their houses just before payday and its like "mother hubbard"-the cupboard is bare! these people are the first down the food bank when they get laid off, when the "long emergency" comes there wont be any food bank, guess who is the first to die of starvation?
Being the Gray Man or Woman
Re: Being the Gray Man or Woman
In three words I can sum up everything I have learned about life: It goes on.
Robert Frost.
Covid 19: After that level of weirdness ,any situation is certainly possible.
Me.
Robert Frost.
Covid 19: After that level of weirdness ,any situation is certainly possible.
Me.
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Furrytired
Re: Being the Gray Man or Woman
A lot of folk have never been touched by "bad times", that is why they don't stock their kitchen etc, food has always been varied and plentiful. My grandparents were chalk and cheese, the set who lived in the city all their life had very little food stored away. The set who lived in the country were stocked to the gills with a minimum of 3 months of supplies at any given time.
Re: Being the Gray Man or Woman
One other difficulty I think is valid to raise, one I rarely see addressed is the staying "Grey" when all around you are starting to look like they haven't had a good meal, and you're still healthy. What do you do then? It's something that plagues my mind. For those of us who have decided to remain where they are It's something to think about. And I have no idea how to address it.
Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain~anon
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bloke
Re: Being the Gray Man or Woman
I have actually been giving this some thought and as I am generally rather rotund, I decided that for me personally a near starvation diet is the answer. Eat enough to remain healthy but allow the pounds to shed very fast and make sure I still wear all my old clothes to accentuate the weight loss. To some extent make sure I am seen shuffling about as the house "rep", the others are all very slim and fit.Brambles wrote:One other difficulty I think is valid to raise, one I rarely see addressed is the staying "Grey" when all around you are starting to look like they haven't had a good meal, and you're still healthy. What do you do then? It's something that plagues my mind. For those of us who have decided to remain where they are It's something to think about. And I have no idea how to address it.
I think at some point in this type of scenario it's just going to be a waiting game.
Re: Being the Gray Man or Woman
Being Distincly Rubenesque myself, may be an advantage in the short term. I hadn't looked at it this way. Maybe make sure we all stock up on theatrical makeup toobloke wrote:I have actually been giving this some thought and as I am generally rather rotund, I decided that for me personally a near starvation diet is the answer. Eat enough to remain healthy but allow the pounds to shed very fast and make sure I still wear all my old clothes to accentuate the weight loss. To some extent make sure I am seen shuffling about as the house "rep", the others are all very slim and fit.Brambles wrote:One other difficulty I think is valid to raise, one I rarely see addressed is the staying "Grey" when all around you are starting to look like they haven't had a good meal, and you're still healthy. What do you do then? It's something that plagues my mind. For those of us who have decided to remain where they are It's something to think about. And I have no idea how to address it.
I think at some point in this type of scenario it's just going to be a waiting game.
Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about learning to dance in the rain~anon
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bulldogeagle
Re: Being the Gray Man or Woman
I have actually been giving this some thought and as I am generally rather rotund, I decided that for me personally a near starvation diet is the answer.
I think at some point in this type of scenario it's just going to be a waiting game.[/quote]
The one thing about being bigger is that i have fat reserves to keep me going, skinny people will go first, although it may be quite a time before anyone realises i am not suffering from lack of food it would probably be wise to keep a low profile until the rest of the neighbourhood are too weak to do anything about it.
I think at some point in this type of scenario it's just going to be a waiting game.[/quote]
The one thing about being bigger is that i have fat reserves to keep me going, skinny people will go first, although it may be quite a time before anyone realises i am not suffering from lack of food it would probably be wise to keep a low profile until the rest of the neighbourhood are too weak to do anything about it.
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Triple_sod
Re: Being the Gray Man or Woman
I think you have to make the distinction between people going hungry and genuinely starving. From a prepper’s perspective the first one is where the trouble lies.
If the government/army manages to maintain a semblance of order, that’s probably what you’re going to see, them taking control of what food there is and then rationing it to the public. On things for sure, it wouldn’t be much, certainly not the excesses people are used to. Yet at the same time it would be enough to keep them functioning. That could go on for weeks months or even years and where you’re really going to have to be the gray man if you chose to stay around population centres. (Personally I wouldn’t no ifs, no buts I’d be out of there.......) As bloke said though, if that’s what you’re going to do, you’re going to have to look like the rest of them.
On the other hand, if there is true starvation then the situation would be grim hellish and yet much more straight forward.
The chances are if it’s that bad there’s going to be no mains water so people will be drinking whatever they can get their hands on. Some will improvise crude filters and boil the stuff but I reckon most will take pot luck....causing all sorts of terrible diseases. So if we are talking a complete collapse of infrastructure they’ll be none of the hungry mobs we’ve seen in all the ‘survival movies’. It’ll be more like one of those adverts put out by ‘save the children’ that put you off your lunch. You don’t see them trying to rush the aid wagons, most of the poor buggers look like they’ve enough on trying to stand up.
Of course as callous as it sounds, preppers in that situation probably wouldn’t do too bad. As all those around them (and their wouldn’t be many) who’d survived the first few months would have one thing in common, that being they could feed themselves.
If the government/army manages to maintain a semblance of order, that’s probably what you’re going to see, them taking control of what food there is and then rationing it to the public. On things for sure, it wouldn’t be much, certainly not the excesses people are used to. Yet at the same time it would be enough to keep them functioning. That could go on for weeks months or even years and where you’re really going to have to be the gray man if you chose to stay around population centres. (Personally I wouldn’t no ifs, no buts I’d be out of there.......) As bloke said though, if that’s what you’re going to do, you’re going to have to look like the rest of them.
On the other hand, if there is true starvation then the situation would be grim hellish and yet much more straight forward.
The chances are if it’s that bad there’s going to be no mains water so people will be drinking whatever they can get their hands on. Some will improvise crude filters and boil the stuff but I reckon most will take pot luck....causing all sorts of terrible diseases. So if we are talking a complete collapse of infrastructure they’ll be none of the hungry mobs we’ve seen in all the ‘survival movies’. It’ll be more like one of those adverts put out by ‘save the children’ that put you off your lunch. You don’t see them trying to rush the aid wagons, most of the poor buggers look like they’ve enough on trying to stand up.
Of course as callous as it sounds, preppers in that situation probably wouldn’t do too bad. As all those around them (and their wouldn’t be many) who’d survived the first few months would have one thing in common, that being they could feed themselves.
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Selfsufficientwoman
Re: Being the Gray Man or Woman
I agree with "bloke" - you will have to play the game of losing enough weight (if your not already very slim) to "fit in" with others who are losing weight - though there is assumption that there is an orderly process going on with the government rationing food going on and moral cohesion within the community etc.
This may be true for rural communities but in inner cities if you choose to stay put the reality of people forming orderly queue's like in the 30's I don't see that happening - preppers would seriously need to consider burying their food/ hide at the bottom of plants etc - because if there is any kind of order - you could see inspections of homes to ensure your not hoarding food.
If your staying home - it is worth taking note of your sorroundngs in the house - like the weakest point in your house for sound proofing . Unfortunately my kitchen is the weakest is point - I hear everythng the neighbour says and does in the kitchen and visa versa. To be the grey woman short of boiling the kettle - no cooking would be done in the kitchen because I might clearly be cooking something that is rationed -
Most of my neighbours are aware that I grow food and I would maybe be more so a target because of this. I do talk to 2 of my neighbours and wouldn't mind sharing food with them but the other neighbours are transient - even more a reason to bury/hide outside most of my food
If I have the option of leaving populated areas I will - particularly as I live in the inner City and crime is on the rise in my area - it would not be a place to stay when TSHTF even to be the Grey Woman
This may be true for rural communities but in inner cities if you choose to stay put the reality of people forming orderly queue's like in the 30's I don't see that happening - preppers would seriously need to consider burying their food/ hide at the bottom of plants etc - because if there is any kind of order - you could see inspections of homes to ensure your not hoarding food.
If your staying home - it is worth taking note of your sorroundngs in the house - like the weakest point in your house for sound proofing . Unfortunately my kitchen is the weakest is point - I hear everythng the neighbour says and does in the kitchen and visa versa. To be the grey woman short of boiling the kettle - no cooking would be done in the kitchen because I might clearly be cooking something that is rationed -
Most of my neighbours are aware that I grow food and I would maybe be more so a target because of this. I do talk to 2 of my neighbours and wouldn't mind sharing food with them but the other neighbours are transient - even more a reason to bury/hide outside most of my food
If I have the option of leaving populated areas I will - particularly as I live in the inner City and crime is on the rise in my area - it would not be a place to stay when TSHTF even to be the Grey Woman
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coulesy
Re: Being the Gray Man or Woman
Sorry to go off the convo, but being grey to me is about fitting in with the locals, not being diff, not sticking out, not getting noticed, this can be further broken down into sub headings......all of the below is based around being after the event.
Food/Water
If the family next door, a month after the event are losing weight and generally look as if they are in need of a sandwich or two and you are still plump and pink your gunna get noticed, if no one has food in your immediate vicinity and all your neighbours can smell is your evening scoff your gunna get noticed. From a visual point of view if you have a water butt or two in the old garden people will see and you will get noticed.
Being in your local area
When being out and about doing recce`s on shops/building etc, if your are carrying a big old B.O.B or seen using military equipment or seen wearing a few Gucci(the army mob will understand the term) items all these things will get you noticed and possibly make you a big walking shiny squeaking target.
You’re B.O.L/House
Our home being our castle should be able to with stand and a fair bit of punishment from a few nasty buggers!!! but if your house has a nine foot electric fence and CCTV cameras outside with guard dogs patrolling and sentry guns in sangers, ok I’m getting carried away here but by now you should get the point, PEOPLE WILL NOTICE THESE THINGS. There is plenty that can be done to make your home a castle without Joe public being aware that if they try and kick your door in they will be having a very bad day out. With all this said it boils down to my final and the entire point of all stated above that is .....................................OPERATIONAL SECURITY
Operational Security by definition from one of my fav websites is
Analysis of Threats: the research and analysis of intelligence, counterintelligence, and open source information to identify likely adversaries to a planned operation.
Assessment of Risk: First, planners analyze the vulnerabilities identified in the previous action and identify possible OPSEC measures for each vulnerability. Second, specific OPSEC measures are selected for execution based upon a risk assessment done by the commander and staff.
Take from the above what you will, but it comes down to simply being aware of your actions all the time and not making yourself a big walking target, trying to fit in with your environment in its current climate and lastly not being a numpty if you are putting the hard work in now and prepping generally being smart, take the time to think about your actions as to not comprise all your hard work, get you family and fellow preppers within your local group to maybe set some ground rules kinda like SOP`s but at the very least it’s worth a conversation.
Food/Water
If the family next door, a month after the event are losing weight and generally look as if they are in need of a sandwich or two and you are still plump and pink your gunna get noticed, if no one has food in your immediate vicinity and all your neighbours can smell is your evening scoff your gunna get noticed. From a visual point of view if you have a water butt or two in the old garden people will see and you will get noticed.
Being in your local area
When being out and about doing recce`s on shops/building etc, if your are carrying a big old B.O.B or seen using military equipment or seen wearing a few Gucci(the army mob will understand the term) items all these things will get you noticed and possibly make you a big walking shiny squeaking target.
You’re B.O.L/House
Our home being our castle should be able to with stand and a fair bit of punishment from a few nasty buggers!!! but if your house has a nine foot electric fence and CCTV cameras outside with guard dogs patrolling and sentry guns in sangers, ok I’m getting carried away here but by now you should get the point, PEOPLE WILL NOTICE THESE THINGS. There is plenty that can be done to make your home a castle without Joe public being aware that if they try and kick your door in they will be having a very bad day out. With all this said it boils down to my final and the entire point of all stated above that is .....................................OPERATIONAL SECURITY
Operational Security by definition from one of my fav websites is
Analysis of Threats: the research and analysis of intelligence, counterintelligence, and open source information to identify likely adversaries to a planned operation.
Assessment of Risk: First, planners analyze the vulnerabilities identified in the previous action and identify possible OPSEC measures for each vulnerability. Second, specific OPSEC measures are selected for execution based upon a risk assessment done by the commander and staff.
Take from the above what you will, but it comes down to simply being aware of your actions all the time and not making yourself a big walking target, trying to fit in with your environment in its current climate and lastly not being a numpty if you are putting the hard work in now and prepping generally being smart, take the time to think about your actions as to not comprise all your hard work, get you family and fellow preppers within your local group to maybe set some ground rules kinda like SOP`s but at the very least it’s worth a conversation.
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bulldogeagle
Re: Being the Gray Man or Woman
i was looking around the supermarket this morning, and being my old cynical self, was just thinking that come "the big event" very few of the people around me would survive, because people dont have stuff in their cupboards and dont prep stuff, this is a town where as soon as they are made redundant they run off to the local food bank, our food cupboards are full to overflowing plus 2 freezers worth and that is 2 pensioners on Pension Credit buying a bit extra each week, our average weekly shop is £40-£50!