What's on your PO shopping list?!

newmac · Post by **newmac** » 19 Oct 2005, 16:39

How is it going to work with my Ecoballs? I know you are all on the edge of your seats waiting to find out so I'll let you know as soon as I try it.

Blue Peter · Post by **Blue Peter** » 19 Oct 2005, 16:59

You're not called "Blue Peter" for nothing, are you!!!!

newmac wrote:How is it going to work with my Ecoballs? I know you are all on the edge of your seats waiting to find out so I'll let you know as soon as I try it.

Are we still talking being beaten with a stick?

Peter.

tattercoats · Post by **tattercoats** » 20 Oct 2005, 13:33

Cracking thread. i've missed you guys - life's been busy and I'm spending more time getting ready and learning and doing than emailing and reading about it, I guess.

The sun's out, and I'd love to stay and read the whole thread, but instead I'm going to go and fill bottles with water. I've been putting it off so long and I'll feel an idiot if winter hits and I haven't finished my prep.

It's good to feel part of a movement of folk that know change is afoot. I don't want to be on my own when things get bad.

snow hope · Post by **snow hope** » 20 Oct 2005, 16:45

Hey tattercoats - why are you filling bottles with water?

Is this for drinking? If so, how long will water last in (plastic?) bottles before bacteria or whatever grow in it?

Post by **mikepepler** » 21 Oct 2005, 09:29

snow hope wrote:Hey tattercoats - why are you filling bottles with water?

Is this for drinking? If so, how long will water last in (plastic?) bottles before bacteria or whatever grow in it?

If you keep it cold and completely dark it should be OK for a month, then you need to rinse the container with bleach, rinse with water and refill. I did this with a 35-litre water container last winter. But now I have a Katadyn water filter this isn't so much of a concern

Andy Hunt · Post by **Andy Hunt** » 21 Oct 2005, 10:52

I'm hoping I won't need any water filters etc - I have a water-butt and a wood stove, so hopefully I will be able to boil pans of water before use if I need to.

The only water filter I have seen was REALLY expensive!

Post by **mikepepler** » 21 Oct 2005, 13:28

Andy Hunt wrote:I'm hoping I won't need any water filters etc - I have a water-butt and a wood stove, so hopefully I will be able to boil pans of water before use if I need to.

I expect filtering it through some cloth and boiling it would do the job, though you then need to make sure you have enough fuel for boiling, and I think it might be a bit of pain to have to do that every time you just want a glass of water.

Andy Hunt wrote:The only water filter I have seen was REALLY expensive!

You can get one in a water bottle for about ?20 I think. I bought a Katadyn Pocket, and yes it was expensive (?185), but they are used on trips up mountains and into jungles, generally seem to last for 20 years and will process 50,000 litres of water on one filter. New filters are about ?100 I think. It's pricey, but could be invaluable one day, as it can turn muddy water from a puddle into something same to drink. Thought I'd better buy one now while I had the cash - ?185 for several years clean water for the two of us seems cheap when you think about it!

tattercoats · Post by **tattercoats** » 24 Oct 2005, 21:56

I like the info on water filters but I'm keeping it simple for now - alongside setting up water butts, of course, I figured that the brewing stuff that sits empty should be full of water, and I'm sterilising the containers as I go. I've also got in a stock of Milton fluid / tablets - they make water drinkable as well as sterilising things, so that seems useful.

Overall I'm not expecting to have to suddenly source everything from stock for a prolonged period, more to take the edge off of rolling shortages and problems.

I also bought food stocks today, and now have to figure out where to keep it all... but I have greatly increased peace of mind as a result. The garden goes over to veg next Spring, and again, I'm not expectign to keep the family solidly on stored food, but a few weeks this winter when the lights are out will be copable. Funny how suddenly all sorts of people are picking up on this notion - folk I'd hesitated to burble peak oil at, now emailing me and saying 'gonna be a tough winter, lay in some stocks'. I think, as a minority, we are growing fast.

Good.

SherryMayo · Post by **SherryMayo** » 25 Oct 2005, 02:47

Tattrecoats said:

Funny how suddenly all sorts of people are picking up on this notion - folk I'd hesitated to burble peak oil at, now emailing me and saying 'gonna be a tough winter, lay in some stocks'. I think, as a minority, we are growing fast.

I've been banging on about energy issues to my parents for ages now -I phone every week from Australia and witter on about the state of North Sea gas and their preparedness for power cuts, food shortages etc. I think when they saw some of these issues turning up in the UK press after I'd been nagging them for months it finally helped the message get through.

Anyway my folks have now brought a generator with a stock of spare fuel, filled up their camping gaz bottles, made sure they have everything to hand for power cuts and stocked up on long-lasting food and food which doesn't need much/any cooking. They've already insulated their house thoroughly and my Dad is now looking into possibilities of photovoltaics, solar hot water and domestic turbines.

They've made me proud!

Andy Hunt · Post by **Andy Hunt** » 25 Oct 2005, 14:15

That's a proper achievement. You might have saved their lives! Quite right for you to be proud!

tattercoats · Post by **tattercoats** » 25 Oct 2005, 22:32

Absolutely. Well done, Sherry!

Today's small triumph was finding tree surgeons at work in my street and inviting them to leave all the wood they can in my driveway a few doors away...

That's a lot of wood gonna be arriving tomorrow...

Incidentally, has anyone heard *when* the hard winter is supposed to start?

skeptik · Post by **skeptik** » 25 Oct 2005, 22:51

tattercoats wrote: Incidentally, has anyone heard *when* the hard winter is supposed to start?

11.33 am on November 7th

SherryMayo · Post by **SherryMayo** » 26 Oct 2005, 00:55

Andy Hunt wrote:Quite right for you to be proud!

Well it wasn't just my droning on that did it - what struck me was that it was my parents getting the message from more than one place (eg from the media too) that opened them up to what I was saying. Its the same as Tattercoats said above with people she expected to be resistant now picking up on these things.

These memes about energy, gas and oil are spreading and that will make more and more people receptive to Powerswitch and the peak oil message.

Joe · Post by **Joe** » 26 Oct 2005, 07:01

Yeah, I noticed that the rate at which new members are joining these forums has accelerated recently too, although I'm not sure if that's as a result of general exponential growth in awareness in society or as a result of PowerSwitch gaining more exposure at the recent conference (the rate at which new members are joining seems to have gone up from around the 11th October). Either way, it can only be a good thing.

grinu · Post by **grinu** » 26 Oct 2005, 22:21

People seem now to be more aware than they were even a few weeks ago, although I don't know if that's just because I'm finally drumming the message in to them (e.g. by forwarding a couple of links to mainstream headlines every week or two to back up what I'm saying).