How did you find out about PO?

[Initiation]

Hi, i'm newly registered here. But been lurking for probably almost a year (cant really remember).

First read about peak oil in the summer of '05 after a bored afternoon browsing wikipedia Didn't really sink then in but a few months later I started reading up more on it and since then have been posting on and reading various websites. Being 17 and hence still at home it's difficult to try and prepare to any extent. Have dropped countless hints to my parents, left PO books lying around, PO websites open, tried pushing conversations that way but no luck as yet. Have told a couple of friends, 1 immidiatly got the problem but is still planning on becoming an airline pilot , the other is in total denial spewing out total bull**** about how ethanol and biodiesel will save us all.

I'm hopefully of to uni this October(need 3 B grades), got an offer from Exeter to do a BSc in renewable energy and really looking forward to it.
http://www.ex.ac.uk/cornwall/academic_d ... ndex.shtml

[Vortex]

I have no time or money for re-training or learning.

Hmm ...

On the time front ...

* Do you watch TV?
* How much time do you spend on the Web?
* How much time to you spend sleeping?
* How much time do you spend reading?
* How much time do you spend commuting?

On the money front ...

* Do you have an agressive contract agency?
* Are you prepared to do ANYTHING to get the pennies in?
* Is there anything you can cut back on?

There are usually options in life.

[Vortex]

I'm hopefully of to uni this October, got an offer from Exeter to do a BSc in renewable energy and really looking forward to it.

Jammy git. Well, YOU won't be one of those who are sent to work in the fields ...

The 'reassigned' web developers & telephone sanitisers need a bit of encouragement to start lifting the leek crop

[jmb]

I probably asked for that, but I've been through all of these and more...

* Do you watch TV?
No, we don't have one, and have never wanted to. We have the internet for news, which is all we'd watch.
* How much time do you spend on the Web?
Work: maybe a couple of hours a day outside of my regular working hours (past 7pm most days), occasionally up to 6h.
Non-work: less than 2h/day, including general housekeeping, finance, news, PO (not enough!) etc
* How much time to you spend sleeping?
Not enough! Probably about 5-6 hours at the moment.
* How much time do you spend reading?
Fiction: about 3 books in the last year, one of which was Last Light... I used to read a book every few days.
PO Prep (e.g. gardening, building, heating): not enough - maybe a few hours a month
NF: Only what I need to get work done - another few hours/m
(and the only person I know who reads faster than me is Shira!)
* How much time do you spend commuting?
I loathe commuting and have always tried to keep this to a minimum - at the moment work is ~15m each way by car, or (as I found out last week when car was off the road) 1.5 hours each way by bus

Also, did I mention disabled wife? She does all that she can, but when I get home, I have to pick up the slack, including food shopping, helping with washing up and cooking, etc... Hospital appointments and travel take a significant chunk of time (adding to the working hours I need to make up).

Having actual leisure time would be nice. I've heard rumours that people have "holidays".

On the money front ...

* Do you have an agressive contract agency?
I'm working full-time at the moment, but am looking at moving to contracting. If you have any good pointers for agencies, they'd be most welcome.
* Are you prepared to do ANYTHING to get the pennies in?
Not "ANYTHING" - there are plenty of other constraints, as I'm sure you've gathered by now. I've not even covered my own health issues. My wife keeps suggesting I'd do well selling my "tender young boyflesh" out on the streets, but I'm not keen...
* Is there anything you can cut back on?
Not any more... rent? food? My wife grew up very poor, she knows how to budget!

Anyway, this could make a whole topic in itself, and I'm sure there's plenty of discussion about such things elsewhere on the forum...

[Vortex]

Err ... umm ... it seems that you are indeed a bit 'stuck'.

Do you have family or friends to team up with?

[jmb]

Why not make the most of our technology to drag us through the coming mess?

How much of a "through" is there? Are you of the opinion that we'll get through the mess to a time when easy power will be plentiful again and IT skills will be back in demand? Actually, don't answer that - debate left to the gentle reader on their own time.

I'd certainly like to re-use as much of my skillset as is possible in the short term (hopefully more than helping maintain this site!) but there's a tradeoff in the transition to a time (I feel) when they won't be useful.

Do we have a particular area of the site for discussing skills, transition and retraining, or is it all lumped under Preparations ? Would a separate area for this be useful, or sticky topics with collected wisdom on various subjects?

-jmb

[Shira]

Err ... umm ... it seems that you are indeed a bit 'stuck'.

Do you have family or friends to team up with?

We are a bit stuck, aren't we? Annoyingly, our families think we're mad and are all firmly in the denial/the market will sort it/Someone will come up with Something/nuclear will save us all! camps, and of our (few) friends who are peak-aware and willing to do something about it, roughly half are financially very comfortable and wouldn't be at all keen on having passengers like us, and the other half are as stuck as we are. We really want to find a community to be involved in but that would mean having a clue where to go (we'd love to go to Ireland), having the money to go there, and finding a community willing to accept us and not have a problem with someone like me who is not able to participate in many things. I've never been afraid of hard work and doing without, but there's a limit to what my body will allow and believe me, that makes people impatient even in times of plenty.

[Keela]

Hi, i'm newly registered here. But been lurking for probably almost a year (cant really remember).

First read about peak oil in the summer of '05 after a bored afternoon browsing wikipedia Didn't really sink then in but a few months later I started reading up more on it and since then have been posting on and reading various websites. Being 17 and hence still at home it's difficult to try and prepare to any extent. Have dropped countless hints to my parents, left PO books lying around, PO websites open, tried pushing conversations that way but no luck as yet. Have told a couple of friends, 1 immidiatly got the problem but is still planning on becoming an airline pilot , the other is in total denial spewing out total bull**** about how ethanol and biodiesel will save us all.

I'm hopefully of to uni this October(need 3 B grades), got an offer from Exeter to do a BSc in renewable energy and really looking forward to it.
http://www.ex.ac.uk/cornwall/academic_d ... ndex.shtml

Hi Initiation and welcome.

My daughter is 17 and also awaiting offers from Unis. She has applied through UCAS for various Biology type courses and just recently has also applied to Dublin and Cork - - - and has this time also included some environmental courses! (So perhaps some of my rambling is sinking in!) The course you have in mind looks excellent and will no doubt be incredibly useful in the coming years. (I might have pushed that one if I'd seen it earlier... but then as you know 17 year olds like to make their own choices )

Sally

[Initiation]

Hi, i'm newly registered here. But been lurking for probably almost a year (cant really remember).

First read about peak oil in the summer of '05 after a bored afternoon browsing wikipedia Didn't really sink then in but a few months later I started reading up more on it and since then have been posting on and reading various websites. Being 17 and hence still at home it's difficult to try and prepare to any extent. Have dropped countless hints to my parents, left PO books lying around, PO websites open, tried pushing conversations that way but no luck as yet. Have told a couple of friends, 1 immidiatly got the problem but is still planning on becoming an airline pilot , the other is in total denial spewing out total bull**** about how ethanol and biodiesel will save us all.

I'm hopefully of to uni this October(need 3 B grades), got an offer from Exeter to do a BSc in renewable energy and really looking forward to it.
http://www.ex.ac.uk/cornwall/academic_d ... ndex.shtml

Hi Initiation and welcome.

My daughter is 17 and also awaiting offers from Unis. She has applied through UCAS for various Biology type courses and just recently has also applied to Dublin and Cork - - - and has this time also included some environmental courses! (So perhaps some of my rambling is sinking in!) The course you have in mind looks excellent and will no doubt be incredibly useful in the coming years. (I might have pushed that one if I'd seen it earlier... but then as you know 17 year olds like to make their own choices )

Sally

Cheers, I know what you mean about how parents ideas differ from their childrens, my parents for some reason got it into their heads for a good few months that I wanted to do a degree in physics. OK i had mentioned it and I got an offer to do a masters at Exeter, but it didn't take my fancy. As well you can't beat Cornwall for locations especially for Renewables in the UK, only thing is it's miles from anywhere.

[Eternal Sunshine]

Hi Initiation and welcome.

The degree course looks good. I'm currently doing a BSc in Environmental Management. The MSc in Sustainable Development at Exeter looks good, might be something I would be interested in eventually.

You're very clued up for a 17 year old. My daughter is 17 & has applied for various history degrees. She's aware of PO but I think she thinks it's just something her mum's obsessed by. (I like to think that she's a bit like the daughter, Leona, in Last Light, and that enough PO stuff is going in there for her to know what to do in a crisis!)

Shira & JMB hi - I don't think I've spoken to you yet.

I think the same as you, the best hope we have if TSHTF will be good communities working together. Even if you don't think you're able to make too many preperations make sure you are making friends with those around you. And make sure you enjoy your life now. We don't know how or at what rate things will change in the future, and it would be a shame if we waste all our time worrying about what might happen.

BTW - jmb can you not commute by push bike?

[Keela]

She's aware of PO but I think she thinks it's just something her mum's obsessed by.

Why does that sound familiar?

Actually my daughter admitted to me that if I wasn't pushing it then she probably would be! In other words she agreed, but it's really not cool to totally agree with a parent's view!

Initiation, it's great to have you here. Hopefully you'll feed us a few gems of info if/once you get onto that fascinating looking course. . . . Part of me would love to start studying again. (Just without all the exams and stuff!)

Best wishes to all.

[RenewableCandy]

. . . . Part of me would love to start studying again. (Just without all the exams and stuff!)

Ever thought of the MSc at CAT? It can be done by distance learning, you do projects/coursework not exams, and you don't need a degree to get on the course. I've just completed it and can say with all honesty it's full of useful stuff!

[Keela]

True - I could.

However I'm a full-time science teacher and have plenty to research and learn up for the new courses I teach each year. So to be honest with that and the marking etc. my pressures are high enough already!

I suppose I should rephrase that quote to read - I would love to be 17 and about to embark on a course of study again . . . !!

& To be honest I did look at some of the courses at CAT a while back, but they do work out fairly expensive and at the mo my main priority has to be to help pay for my offspring's education.

Excuses excuses I know.. . . .

[jmb]

BTW - jmb can you not commute by push bike?

I wish. Just over a year ago, when I was working in Slough, and we had to leave our lovely house in Burnham, we picked somewhere much closer in, and I discovered that my drive increased from a consistent 15m to 20-30m... I realised that I could cycle in the same 15 minutes, on a little bit of local road and very quiet Jubilee River (Thames flood relief scheme) cycle paths ... so I bought a bike.

It was great for about a month, then I got a job up in Cambridge - initially my drive to work was 15min through countryside with winding lanes and poor visibility, dangerous enough for cars; I was still considering cycling, I thought I could find some footpaths etc to reduce risk, but still not keen; fitted bike with rack, expensed a bike laptop bag - and lost the job before the weather was good enough to try it out.

My drive now is 15min on a very fast brand new stretch of dual carriageway up until it joins traffic off the busy M11/A14 and gets distinctly hairy. There's no direct safe cycle route. Cambridge is great for cycling, as long as you're between the middle of it and the suburbs...

Want to see my best route at 68min each way? I like in particular the end section which breaks down the trip into environment, with Hostile 40MPH making up the largest part and Busy Road not far behind. The wife is Not Keen. The quietest route is more like 1? hours each way, including dismounting for bumpy paths...

I've been considering a motorbike, which could be more economical and be able to weave through the frequently-stationary A14 traffic, but involves diversion of funds and time from basic necessities.

-jmb

[jomtones]

Hi I'm a big Jeremy Clarkson fan and I found this site while googling for his recent doomer rant!

Not really... but damn those "AA" intros at the start of this thread look familiar. Bloody Matt Savinar's LATOC eh.... for my part I stumbled over it a few months ago surfing around for some information on the current economic - what to call it? collapse? depression? - we'll find out soon I guess.

Yeah that site sucks.

Anyway yeah I teach music tech and play electric guitar in a couple of bands. Considering switching to acoustic, dunno about the job! Permaculture looks interesting too - been watching all the Mollison vids etc. Anyone know somewhere I can study it in the London area? Haven't had much luck searching the web so far.

Anyway thanks for setting up this site, it's good to read some Brits discussing the issues - yanks have such a different sense of humour, and take themselves too seriously, heh.