So I see Andy Burnham has advised us all to 'stock up for an emegency' and have 'at least three days food and some cash' handy. I did some googling and it has been suggested that figures of between £60 - £100 per day per person. All across Europe similar advice is being given. I think having a bit of cash is not a bad idea, I always try and have some in my wallet. Back in the days when I did IT Consultancy, I did some work, for a very brief period for the FDA, for a company that had a contract with them. It was in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. One of the biggest problems was that people all congregated on the football stadium and services got overwhelmed. It was suggested that it would have been far more cost effective to give everyone $1,000 dollars in cash, so they could get out of the disaster area. This stuck with me. I am quite frankly appalled at the complete failure of the UK government to actually give us any proper advice at all.
Having large amounts of cash and a big stoc of food is not necessarily the best way to survive a disaster. There are all manner of not very nice people who night just decide to help themselves. Although I am no fan of open access to firearms, the US mentality is far better suited to Armagheddon than the British. What would we all do if we can't boil the kettle for a cup of tea. Whilst there is a mindset in the US that fantasises about being hold up, eating corned beef with assaukt rifles, the British would prefer to sit at home, drink tea and wait for things to return to normal.
My mother told me that the most surprising thing about the second world war was not that the British survived, but that people did everything possible to not let the blitz and the privations affect their normal life. When there was an air raid, as soon as the all clear went, if your house was still there, you went home and had a cup of tea. When rationing was at its height, people would try and have one day a week, where things were as normal as they could be.
We are being advised to stockpile bottled water and tinned food. This is presumably because government disaster planners think we'll lose access to safe water and cooking facilities. They are not advising those of us with gardens to stock up on charcoal for barbecues and beer. To me, this seems far more sensible. when covid struck, I spent most of lockdown in the garden, drinking beer and having barbecues in the sunshine. Do you recall what the first shortage was? It was toilet rolls, but Burnham seems to have forgotten. The government has rushed headlong into decommissioning of analogue TV and Radio, which are far moreresilient to cyber attack than digital ones. We should also be stocking up on batteries and torches.
But all joking aside, does anyone really believe that any of this is about cyber attack or bad weather. If it was, all they have to do is legally require shops to have resilience plans in place to take cash and distribute products. What no one wants to say is that we seem to be lurching into WW3. If you are a survivalist in Montana, that would be you big moment. If you live in Mill Hill, not so. I am not sure if MilL Hill would survive a nuclear atatck on central London. I'm not even sure I'd want to. If I did, I'd much rather have 20 bottle of whisky than 20 tins of sardines.
I always believed that the world was ultimately run by sane, rational people, who would never by so insane as to start a nuclear war. Now I am not so sure. I do not believe the Russians would. I am not so sure about Trump and his cronies. Someone asked me if I thought Trump was a Russian agent this week. I said "I hope so, because if he is, he won't lose his rag and start nuking them". But I honestly do not know.
One of the interesting things is that it was suggested that we have 'enough food for 3 days'.My first thought was "We probably keep enough food for a week without even trying", although a few bottles of water wouldn't go amiss.
Anyway, I gave this some thought and this is what I think you'd be advised to have in the house
1. A weeks supply of water.
2. Two weeks supply of bog rolls.
3. Two weeks supply of wet wipes, deodourant, etc
4. Two weeks supply of alcohol.
5. Enough choocolate and biscuits to keep youself stuffed for a week.
5/ Any tinned foods that you actually enjoy eating cold/
6. Some good books.
And if it is a nuclear attack and you survive, I'd do all the scotch in one go, as I suspect that will be a quicker and more pleasant end than one where there are no hospital services working and you are succumbing to radiation sickness.
And on that note, have a lovely weekend
No comments:
Post a Comment