Be the person that nobody remembers

[adam2]

I have long held the view that it is prudent to keep stocks of supplies against an uncertain future. This of course might make one the target of thieves or looters, official or otherwise, and therefore it is most important to keep a low profile. Try to be the man, or woman, that nobody remembers both whilst times are normal and even more importantly during any emergency.

It is clearly desirable to keep a stock of food, I would urge that such stocks be obtained discreetly, either a little at a time, or by bulk buying for cash in another town. Such supplies should be stored out of sight and preferably well hidden.
Do not use credit or debit cards for bulk purchases, nor any form of supermarket loyalty card, nor a home delivery service.
When the emergency comes, curtail your food intake both to make supplies last longer and to avoid looking too well fed.
Keep a stock of foods that can be eaten without any preparation or heating, dried fruit, chocolate, lifeboat rations and the like. Although a hot cooked meal would be more enjoyable remember that a hungry (and perhaps armed and desperate) man can smell cooking food from a surprising distance.
Consider how to dispose of food packaging in an emergency, certainly not in any way that links it to you! Burn, bury, store, or dump some distance away.

A motor vehicle and a reserve of fuel can be very useful, but nothing expensive, ostentatious, or unduly noticeable in any way. Remember to keep fuel reserves hidden and don't fill multiple jerry cans at a filling station where you are known. Don't drive more than you have to since so doing advertises that you have fuel.

Wear dull or dark coloured clothing, avoid military style camo or bright colours that tend to stand out and perhaps be remembered. (bright or dayglo clothing is probably safer on roads whilst times are normal, but avoid during any emergency)
Clothing and footwear should look cheap and uninteresting.

Off grid heating and lighting equipment and supplies could be very useful, but again remember discretion and try to be the "person that nobody noticed"
Emergency lighting that can be seen from outside should be minimised and in a severe emergency entirely concealed. Blackout curtains are desirable.
If fuel be very short, think twice about showing smoke from a fire or stove, smokeless fuel is better than coal or wood in this respect, paraffin or bottled gas better still.
Any significant stashes of fuel or batteries should be well concealed.
Do not carelessly discard spent batteries, paraffin containers, boxes that contained candles, coal sacks or nets that contained fire wood. Burn, bury, hide or store such waste.

A generator can be useful for short term power cuts but might be best avoided in the longer term due to the most unwelcome attention that it could attract due to the noise.

Think twice about making ANY needless or attention attracting noise. Certainly don't play amplified music as so doing advertises power availability.

In most emergencies it is probably best to stay indoors and therefore well away from any panicking crowds or potential disorder.

A gun could be useful both for hunting and as a last resort for self defence, very much a last resort though, remember that the other lot may be better armed, more numerous, or simply lucky. The report from a shotgun can also be heard for miles, especially in the absence of background noise.

If, like me, you discuss preparations on line, keep your physical location private.

[AutomaticEarth]

This seems to be quite a 'doomy' sort of a post from the likes of yourself.

Are you expecting something to happen in the near term of is this just general advice? Whatever the reason thanks for the info.

[UndercoverElephant]

He's just sort of doomy...

[clv101]

There is, and has been for years, a non-trival chance of 'something' happening. There are dozens of scenarios for which adam2's advice could be useful.

The something could be sharply localised and short lived like flooding, or a village losing it's electricity for a week right through to... well anything you can image tsunami up the Severn estuary, nuclear accident, economic collapse (we wouldn't cope anywhere near as well as Russia did in the '90s, and that wasn't nice!), war...

[emordnilap]

A generator can be useful for short term power cuts but might be best avoided in the longer term due to the most unwelcome attention that it could attract due to the noise.

Think twice about making ANY needless or attention attracting noise.

The above cannot be stated clearly enough: during a power cut last year, a neighbour's generator could be heard distinctly: he's nearly two kilometres from me and there was no doubt as to what the noise was nor its location.

Apart from weather and animal sounds, both of which are mostly quite pleasant, all noise comes from humans, who make quite a lot of it. Don't be one of them.

[kenneal - lagger]

Must get round to that bit of soundproofing!!

I was thinking of running the exhaust pipes just underground in a greenhouse to use the last of the waste heat from the engine. With a suitable diameter pipe and a baffle at the end that should take out the remainder of the noise from the exhaust. The engine is in a 450 thick cob walled enclosure. I'm putting a heavy fire door on the entrance and a cob baffle wall in front of the door to block any sound emanating from there. The ceiling of the shed will have 50mm of dry sand with 100mm of Rockwool over. The ceiling will have to be sealed to the walls as well.

[another_exlurker]

Must get round to that bit of soundproofing!!

I was thinking of running the exhaust pipes just underground in a greenhouse to use the last of the waste heat from the engine. With a suitable diameter pipe and a baffle at the end that should take out the remainder of the noise from the exhaust. The engine is in a 450 thick cob walled enclosure. I'm putting a heavy fire door on the entrance and a cob baffle wall in front of the door to block any sound emanating from there. The ceiling of the shed will have 50mm of dry sand with 100mm of Rockwool over. The ceiling will have to be sealed to the walls as well.

Put old carpet/rugs on the walls, floor, door and ceiling of the interior to help with sound dampening. They'll help in preventing the room acting like a reverb chamber and amplifying any noise generated.

If you're going to put a generator in an out building, make sure it's a small one with no windows. Windows are an expensive nightmare to effectively soundproof.

It might sound (ahem) a bit silly, but have a look at sites that show how to build a home recording studio for tips and tricks on sound dampening that can be adapted.

[emordnilap]

With so many McMansions built in Ireland during the (ahem) 'good' years, I like to think our little cottage isn't worth bothering with, says he, touching wood.

In other words, looking poor, needing a lick of paint, having a very modest-sized house, having no expensive gear visible in the house, having a relatively scruffy patch of land, are not bad things.

[kenneal - lagger]

Put old carpet/rugs on the walls, floor, door and ceiling of the interior to help with sound dampening. They'll help in preventing the room acting like a reverb chamber and amplifying any noise generated.

If you're going to put a generator in an out building, make sure it's a small one with no windows. Windows are an expensive nightmare to effectively soundproof.

It might sound (ahem) a bit silly, but have a look at sites that show how to build a home recording studio for tips and tricks on sound dampening that can be adapted.

Thanks very much but you're trying to teach Granny to suck eggs here!!

[kenneal - lagger]

It's a bit difficult to adopt a low profile when you're trying to teach your fellow man what is needed for the future. As a result, I have a very high profile locally as quite a few others on this board probably do.

[Catweazle]

Put old carpet/rugs on the walls, floor, door and ceiling of the interior to help with sound dampening. They'll help in preventing the room acting like a reverb chamber and amplifying any noise generated.

If you're going to put a generator in an out building, make sure it's a small one with no windows. Windows are an expensive nightmare to effectively soundproof.

It might sound (ahem) a bit silly, but have a look at sites that show how to build a home recording studio for tips and tricks on sound dampening that can be adapted.

Thanks very much but you're trying to teach Granny to suck eggs here!!

It was more for anyone in the audience who might not have thought of it.

Much appreciated.

[adam2]

This seems to be quite a 'doomy' sort of a post from the likes of yourself.

Are you expecting something to happen in the near term of is this just general advice? Whatever the reason thanks for the info.

I am feeling a bit more doomerish, nothing very specific, just a feeling that natural or man made doom may be becoming more likely.

Lawlessness seems to be growing even whilst times are more or less normal. I feel that a prolonged power cut is now much more likely to lead to violent disorder than would have been the case even 10 years ago.
Burglary and violent street robbery seem subjectively to have increased in both frequency and violence, yet are regarded by the police as "minor property crime"

I was shocked by the scale of the rioting of a few years ago, large scale looting and arson in major cities, even in daylight, with the police apparently powerless to do much about it. Some of the worst rioting was within sight of my then home in London and was a factor in my decision to leave London.

Also, as a society we seem to be becoming steadily more vulnerable to disruptions of any sort. Vital businesses, utilities and public transport facilities seem to be more and more vulnerable to bad weather, supply disruptions and IT failures.
A few inches of snow stopped all the buses in London recently, years ago buses ran in the snow.

Sooner or later I fear that a snow fall, an oil delivery strike, and a terrorist attack (or any other 3 unrelated problems) will coincide and result in total chaos rapidly followed by large scale disorder.

[odaeio]

I certainly agree with Adam that "something" does appear to be on the cards, however I am not quite so "doomish" - I may be wrong of course! I hold out hope that, even though things may appear to be horrendous, in reality it will be temporary, and actually designed to prevent, or at least lessen, the "Zombie Horde attacking and killing it's way through the scraps of food that are left".

Personally I am hoping for a temporary "Gestapo Jackboot" type clamp down initially, and properly organised and co-ordinated food, energy and water supplies rationed and delivered. After a month or two, when everyone realises that the "Zombi Apocalypse" isn't actually strictly required, the "clamp-down" can be slowly lifted so life can return to a once again relaxed atmosphere. It may be an entirely different way of life than we currently know, but it doesn't need to be insufferably uncomfortable.

Well, that's my hopes anyway - only time will tell what actually happens.

No harm in "prepping" though - always good to be prepared, even if one doesn't need all of it in the end.

Personally I am happy to live off the land, and out in the sticks, I will do that anyway, just because it's my cup of tea.

[adam2]

IMHO, it is prudent to keep a reserve of food and other supplies even if only to see oneself through any short term or transitional disruption.

Unless you live in an EXTREMELY remote location, it is in my view most unwise to count on "living off the land" during any emergency.
In a suitable location and if properly equipped and experienced, it is certainly possible to live off the land whilst times are normal, but in an emergency you will likely face a lot of armed and desperate competition.

A years worth of food and other supplies could save your life during disruption.

[vtsnowedin]

IMHO, it is prudent to keep a reserve of food and other supplies even if only to see oneself through any short term or transitional disruption.

Unless you live in an EXTREMELY remote location, it is in my view most unwise to count on "living off the land" during any emergency.
In a suitable location and if properly equipped and experienced, it is certainly possible to live off the land whilst times are normal, but in an emergency you will likely face a lot of armed and desperate competition.

A years worth of food and other supplies could save your life during disruption.

Do you expect that in a major disruption you would have no opportunity to grow or gather any food beyond your prepared stores? In a years time with no paying employment you would have about 3000 waking hours which you would have to divide between personal defense and food procurement. I can't imagine many people so inept that they would gain a zero net food supply given such conditions.
The zombi hoards of starving people will come in a wave after your supper markets go empty shelf and benefit cards go useless. Within a couple of weeks they will either be killed by you or they will have killed you and now own your place. After that you should be able to get into your gardens in season and grow your next winters food pretty much un molested.