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Post by ziggysdad on Jul 7, 2017 10:08:03 GMT 10
Part 1
Mid-afternoon - You go to pay for your lunch at a local restaurant and they inform you that the EFTPOS terminal has gone offline. A minor inconvenience, but you have cash, so you settle the bill and depart. On your way back to the office you stop at an ATM only to find that it too appears to be offline. After a 2pm meeting you check your phone and comment - half to yourself - how odd it is that you haven't had a single email in the past couple hours. The CFO fills you in on the fact that the company's finance system went down a little before 1pm and email and internet services blinked out soon thereafter. How did you miss that?
The landline phones are still operational and your mobile phone appears to be fine (less internet/data) as you SMS your partner. S/he confirm that the internet is down at your house and that FOXTEL is out - but that could just be because you use an IQ box.
With no emails and no internet (all your files are in the cloud) you decide to call it a day. On your way home you call your sister to check in and she advises that her husband (ICU Intensivist) might be stuck at the hospital. Apparently they've cancelled all elective procedures and warned the medical and nursing staff that there is 'a situation' unfolding that may require them to remain at or close to the hospital for the foreseeable future. Sounds like the administration is worried about the ability of staff to get to work. Your sister says that she and the kids have been invited to join her husband at the hospital, but that she thinks that is overkill and will remain at the house - plus, they've got two dogs to care for.
Despite the fact that there is no EFTPOS, it appears that the supermarkets are operating judging by the full parking lot at Woolworths. They must be cash and carry.
You've got $25 in your wallet and $200 at home. The shops should be open for another few hours.
No EFTPOS, Banks are offline and the internet is down.
What, if anything, do you do?
Further details will be revealed in the coming days...
Part 2
Most of us (the prepared) chose to top up on fuel and add a bit of extra food and water to our storage - do nothing - or sit back and grumble some combination of 'sheep', 'sheeple' and 'baa' at the unprepared.
The evening passes uneventfully, though most of the population is quite disturbed by the fact that they've lost access to Facebook/Twitter/Instagram, etc.
For those with little to no food in the house and no cash - most 20-30 year-old people I meet these days (you know, the ones who go out for two $5 coffees a day, pay $15-20 for smashed avocado for breakfast, $10-15 for their sushi lunch and usually eat/drink dinner out as well) there is some definite grumbling and people might be going to bed and waking up hungry for the first time in their lives.
You wake up and confirm that the power is still on. Internet is still down as is the television, but everything else in your home environment seems normal.
Out of curiosity, you try an ATM on your way to work, but they remain down. The bank appears open, but there are signs in the doors advising that all banking has been suspended. You pop your head in the door, noting two armed guards standing just within, and make your way over to the customer service desk. Before you even say hello the person behind the desk preempts any questions by saying that without internet access all banking has been suspended and that withdrawals in any form are currently impossible. Interestingly, she adds that cash deposits can still be taken.
You continue on to your office and find most of your colleagues milling around discussing the events. The COO confirms that the organisation's data is backed-up offsite, but with the internet down, your IT supplier won't be in a position to re-image the system until the following morning (all of their clients are in the same position). The CEO gathers the team together and advises that the office will be closed at mid-day and that people should take this opportunity to catch-up on any filing and shredding and/or general office clean-up. He also notes that there may be a delay in payroll, which is due to be paid tomorrow, but there is currently no way to upload the payroll files to PaysOnline and even if there were, there is no banking. Several employees begin to speak at once that they have no money and that the restaurants and shops are only accepting cash. The CEO offers up the limited petty-cash, but notes that ~$400 will not go far. Those that complain the most each receive $20 and promptly head out to buy a coffee and or get something to eat. The rest of the staff mill about and slowly start to drift out of the office. By 10 am there are only a handful of staff left in the office and everyone agrees to call it a day. You SMS your partner and start your walk (or drive) home.
There are a surprising number of people wandering around the city streets, seemingly without direction or purpose. Many more have piled in their cars to head home, only to find that the parking garage will not raise the gates without cash payment. Tempers flare and the police are called by several irate individuals, but the cars at the front of the line are trapped and appear unwilling to ram the gate despite the encouragement from the individuals behind them. You continue on your way, glad that you aren’t dealing with that bullshit.
You arrive home and find your daughter is delighted to see you – “daddy’s home and it’s still light out” – and a surprised but pleased partner. Turns out she never received your SMS and you never received hers asking you to pick-up a few items from the store. You check your phone – no missed messages. You try to call your partner and determine that the mobile network is down.
No Mobile Network, No Internet, No Television and No Banking.
You grab lunch and decide to putter around the garden and then take a much-deserved nap.
That evening you turn on the radio and are surprised to hear that the city is in near-riot with reports that people are only being permitted entry into shops if they can demonstrate that they have cash up front – and several instances of people forcing their way into shops and/or stealing sacks of groceries directly out of people’s carts as they make their way from the shops to their cars. More frequent are reports that grocery stores have locked their doors and retail shops have locked their doors due to a combination of absenteeism and in an attempt to avoid those members of the public that are increasingly outraged. Other reports speak about long line-ups at petrol pumps, cars being abandoned where they are when they run out of fuel and a few automobile accidents that have not been cleared (perhaps not even officially reported due to the loss of mobile phone network and/or wreckers choosing not to work without cash payment). Police presence within the city appears to be quite elevated and there is a report noting unprecedented levels of absenteeism in the workplace, but there is no mention of anything that might require medical staff to be sequestered at the city’s hospitals.
Hard to believe that things could deteriorate so quickly within 36 hours. That said, you still have power and water.
The next morning you wake up to discover that the power is out.
What, if anything, do you do?
Further details will be revealed in the coming days...
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Post by graynomad on Jul 7, 2017 10:42:43 GMT 10
I was just reading about this sort of thing the other day, the author said that when bugging out many people will still obey the road rules to the extent of not crossing median strips, white lines etc. I find this to be totally incomprehensible, even now I will do whatever is required, for example by mistake I drove into a pay park at the airport last year, the only way out was to pay at the boom gate but I was not going to fork out $10 for just driving through the place and the boundary was just a concrete island. I'll let you figure the rest out
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Post by graynomad on Jul 7, 2017 10:57:12 GMT 10
Meanwhile back at the scenario, we don't know that the power is out because we are off grid but clearly things are getting serious, nothing to worry about yet but time to break out some kit I think.
That said I have plenty of cash, is it worth going into town to buy some building materials or something? I consult with my neighbours over the Baofengs (that have been switched on and to hand since yesterday) and we agree that it might be worth it, depends on how things are in town. So we tool up (in a non-obvious way) and drive into town. There are signs of panic at Aldi, Woollies etc but Bunnings is almost deserted.
We load up my ute with nails, bolts, screws, hinges, in fact anything that looks vaguely useful, while writing down the Fineline numbers and prices of each item.
On presenting the list to the one remaining checkout person they couldn't give a toss, "Take what you like mate, I will" he says while eyeing off the float in the till. So now it's open slather. Bill brought his ute as well (as a backup) so we drive that into the timber section and load up the racks with timber, 35x75 studs on the roof and bracing ply in the tray.
Not wanting to push our luck we leave town. Is it worth another run with the trailers as well? Maybe.
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Ammo9
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Post by Ammo9 on Jul 7, 2017 11:52:40 GMT 10
Haha my hilux is an urban-off-road vehicle too. Also at work, I regularly get to practice driving above the speed limit, through red lights, on the wrong side of the street, the wrong way down one way streets, etc.
In the scenario though, I think I'd have a breakfast fry up. Cook the bacon and eggs in the fridge then probably head into work (firey). At the moment I'm on far more often than I'm off so probably meant to be working anyway, but if not just see if i can get some info on what's going on.
Then either strap in for a busy shift or go home and do a thorough inventory of food, water, batteries and fuel. Calculate roughly how long me and the girlfriend can bug in for. Make sure one car load of stuff is by the garage door ready to load and bail if it comes to that.
It takes me 4 minutes to drive to work, so on one tank of fuel I can drive there and back roughly 100 times so I'm not concerned about that. I could even walk to walk and depending on the prevalence of cars still around or risk of crime i might drive or walk. Play that by ear.
I'd also be carrying more kit than usual. Ya know
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spatial
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Post by spatial on Jul 7, 2017 17:17:33 GMT 10
I was just reading about this sort of thing the other day, the author said that when bugging out many people will still obey the road rules to the extent of not crossing median strips, white lines etc. I find this to be totally incomprehensible, even now I will do whatever is required, for example by mistake I drove into a pay park at the airport last year, the only way out was to pay at the boom gate but I was not going to fork out $10 for just driving through the place and the boundary was just a concrete island. I'll let you figure the rest out That happened to me I was at Coles they have an underground parking garage beneath the shop - the sign said closes at 7pm got back from shopping at 6:50pm and the two exit gates were closed, there were 5 of us trapped, big steel gates. When to see the management at Coles and they said a private security guys locks the gates will go all his round and might come back to open for us. Went back down to the parking garage there is a staircase that leads there, found another guy who was inspecting the switch that controls the gate that was locked with a padlock. He said if we take the control unit off next to the switch we might get the gate open, so got a screw driver from my car and dismantlement the controller and pushed all the switches down and manged to get the door to open. Yeah left the switch dismantled. The door are operated by electric motor so if power were to go down then things would get interesting..
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spatial
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Post by spatial on Jul 7, 2017 17:44:42 GMT 10
Waking up with no power, I would be thinking this might be more than a few days. So will check news and radio for any additional into.
Actions I would take.
Get enough food out for breakfast then tape the fridge and freezer closed to prevent too frequent opening and loss of cooling. Fill up the few 20L water container that I have as when power goes down water supply is not long behind. Will also fill up the bath etc for more water storage. Might need water to flush toilets soon. Will check the two rain tanks that I have installed for their levels. They are mostly full as have good all year rain. Will get the children and wife out of bed and motivated, take the car and trailer into the nearby crown lands which start a few houses away and go and collect a trailer or two of fire wood. I still live in the dark ages and only have a few bow saws and number of axes and choppers, hatchets but no mechanical wood saws (chain saws). Mostly just picking up dead wood very little wood processing will be needed.
Have a very large pot for water bath 'canning' and will use as much wood cooking as possible to save on gas and small propane camp stove. Have a full set of cast iron pots that have never been used that need to be seasoned so will do that....
Might take walk around and if find any neighbours in the front of their house, will go and speak with them and see how they are coping and if they have any further Intel. I am sure there will be lots of people out on the streets wanting to talk. Mid afternoon if power still out will go to a prepper friends and see how they are doing and make some plans and also try and negotiate to get a few chickens from them to start beading my own. Will also go around and try and get some more rabbits have two cages but no longer any breading pair. Know a few people that keep rabbits so will try them.
Will go visit shopping centres on my bicycle to check how things are going, might be time to start what we call in Africa democratic shopping (looting).
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Post by jo on Jul 7, 2017 21:26:42 GMT 10
Funny had that exact same senario yesterday (without the looting and pillaging) home power was down so no phone, water, internet or mobile for 8 hours - a day off from working at home luckily as work had no internet for the first few hours they were open, local shop had no power either so no petrol, eftpos/atm, it was so quiet you could hear a pin drop, loved every minute of it.
With this senario I would just "drop off the radar" - no need to make heaps of noise or drive around having a sticky beak, time to sit tight and see how the situation unfolds, if it is a pandemic best to not mingle with people, if it is just a cyber attack I can't do anything about it and if it is anything more serious like war etc best not draw attention to myself by using power tools etc, it is amazing how quiet everything is when the background noises stop
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blueshoes
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Post by blueshoes on Jul 7, 2017 22:33:30 GMT 10
We're midway on an interstate trip in this scenario still too, cos we left early - so we get petrol mid way and then eventually make it to family. Join them in eating whatever perishables they have on hand. Wander into the yard and review the garden for edibles/possibilities. Then sit around playing board games with the kids to keep morale up, while chewing the situation over...
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Post by Joey on Jul 7, 2017 22:52:10 GMT 10
As my primary plan is to bug in at the moment. I would stay around home and start locking the place down and setting up a defensive perimeter, locking gates, shutters etc as it's only really going to be 1 more day before sheeple start rioting and going house to house for food once the shops start locking down and refusing service.
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paranoia
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Post by paranoia on Jul 8, 2017 0:21:52 GMT 10
So part 1 I simply topped up the fuel tank, checked the water tanks were full & had a cup of tea. The power out coupled with the previous days events triggers full lock down, no going back to work. For the internet, mobile towers & power to all be out, somthing serious is going down. I chain and padlock my perimiter gates (I have 5 unfortunately but a nice collection of padlocks/chain). Blackout kit comes out, kitchen geared up for off grid cooking. Given the series of events that have taken place I abandon all hope of keeping fridge/freezer contents. We have an amazing cookup for lunch/dinner. Load up the magazines & clips but everything goes back into the safe... go check on the neighbours. (I have one house within a few hundred meters... its around 2km to the next property, I'd only be checking on the close ones) Then its time for books, board games, music & camping activities... With the dog I know pretty quick if anyone comes anywhere near the property. Just spent time with the family and enjoy the time off work.
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fei
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Post by fei on Jul 8, 2017 2:23:09 GMT 10
Assuming this is happening now, with us in summer; the local habit of always eating meals cooked from scratch, with ingredients brought fresh every day would also affect people very quickly if food is not available... Having checked with family in other areas (as mentioned in part 1), I guess I found that they were having the same problems as us. I remember I said I'd wait and see though. So, following on: After getting up and finding no electricity, my fears are confirmed that something big is happening. Wife tries to ring her family but finds the mobile network is still down. Luckily our three external battery packs are charged, so can keep our radio going. Looped broadcast says people should not be alarmed, but should conserve water and gas. Realising these will be probably be next to go, we immediately fill the bath, basins, buckets, pots and pans with water. Start boiling water over the gas hob (tap water needs boiling before drinking where we live anyway) and storing potable water in all the thermoses, jugs etc on hand. Also give the roof garden a good watering while still able to, as well as filling the garden pails and other water storage containers. Do a quick inventory of the fridge and freezer, then move anything that absolutely needs to stay refrigerated to the freezer. After a quick breakfast, we try to ring around on the landline*, but no-one is answering or the numbers aren't in use anymore. Luckily wife's granny out in the boonies does answer, and mentions that some of the extended family had turned up at her place late the night before; although the usual 1.5 hour trip ended up taking 6 hours. Agree with granny that we will call in every day to swap news, and hope uncle can ring too with news of the route he took and potential obstacles. Do a room by room inventory of all useful stuff, then head out to the local stores with a pocketful of cash. Visit the small stores in our apartment complex. The two owned by locals are open, but are pretty much sold out. The chain store is shut, although a couple of younger guys are hanging around outside, hoping it will open soon, meanwhile playing games on their phones. I wonder what they will do when the battery dies and they still haven't had anything to eat? Walk towards the local supermarket, but beat a hasty retreat after finding a mob trying to break in (I've seen a riot in the supermarket before over a perceived shortage). Supermarket staff are trying to fight them off, while a lone security guard is calling for back-up. Hurry back to the small store whose owner I'm friendly with, tell them what's happening, then buy what little useful stuff they have - a bottle of bleach, two cakes of laundry soap, a lighter and a packet of lollies. On the way home I run into our neighbours, who are out hoping to buy cigarettes. They say all the stores they've visited have been shut or are price gouging what little stock they do have. We go back to their place, and find my wife and kids have been by. As soon as I get home, ask the wife what was discussed. It seems she may have mentioned we have some food, although she realises she shouldn't have. After much discussion, we empty the pantry, hide most of our food and just leave a few items on the table in case anyone drops by and tries to eyeball our supplies. After making sure everything is safe, and putting the kids to bed for a siesta (nothing else to do when its 36 degrees outside), I go out to recce around the neighbourhood. Don't see much, although there are dodgy looking people about. Make a note to carry some sort of weapon next time I venture out. Go home and start cleaning the rust off our ornamental swords. As the afternoon wears on, start checking out all the torches, batteries, candles etc in readiness for the evening and/or bug-out under cover of darkness. Make a call to granny and get the good news that my in-laws had appeared there too after a full 13 hour (usually 4 hours) journey, including doing the last 10km on foot after running out of petrol. Neighbours appear on the doorstep around 4PM, suggesting we have dinner together. Fobbing them off would appear suspicious, so we take some veg and a small pack of noodles down to their place. Over dinner they ask what our plans are, then eventually suggest that we band together "for mutual safety". Have we found the beginnings of our prepper group? *Landline phone use in blackout: community.norton.com/en/blogs/symantec-cyber-education/will-my-phone-work-during-power-outage-depends
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fei
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Post by fei on Jul 8, 2017 2:24:13 GMT 10
Oops, didn't realise I'd written a book there!
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paranoia
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Post by paranoia on Jul 8, 2017 11:20:17 GMT 10
I notice some people plan to stuff themselves with meat from the freezer when the power goes out. An over eat before it spoils plan. Anyone think defrosting most of that meat and turning it into jerky over a small fire would be a better option? Absolutely! I've never done it though. Plenty of experience using a dehydrator with thermostat but I've never tried over a fire.
Do you use like a smoke box or something to hang it in? Any tips?
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feralemma
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Post by feralemma on Jul 8, 2017 12:08:52 GMT 10
Tbh the only things I'd notice in this scenario is the lack of internet and phone (which is really patchy here anyway) and if the power went out. We are fairly remote and don't have tv reception so I would probably just go about my normal day thinking that the power was out again 😂 abc radio is one of our only sources of info without the net. However my husband would probably be sent home from work as without power they can't do much.
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paranoia
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Post by paranoia on Jul 8, 2017 12:15:07 GMT 10
When we've done it at my retreat we take one goat or deer, slice thinly removing all fat, marinade overnight, then we slowly dry the meat on clean chicken wire over a low fire. You don't want the meat to cook just dry. I beleive you can achieve the same result in a solar box but never tried it. I'll have to have a bit of a play with the wood bbq once spring hits. I have a outdoor brick fire with stainless grill I could build the walls up higher to put some hangers over... Can only try. Thanks for the idea
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spatial
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Post by spatial on Jul 8, 2017 13:02:47 GMT 10
I notice some people plan to stuff themselves with meat from the freezer when the power goes out. An over eat before it spoils plan. Anyone think defrosting most of that meat and turning it into jerky over a small fire would be a better option? Keep a good few spare canning jars so will water bath can most veg, fish and sausages. Will be lucky if 20% of the contents in the freezer/fridge is suitable for jerky or biltong.
If winter like now will make biltong with the good pieces of meat just cure in vinegar and salt, then put in the drying box no smoking or dehydration required.
Made jerky in the dehydrator then vacuum sealed with oxygen absorbers in mylar bags. Would need to construct a smoker as over an open fire too much of a risk that the meat will be cooked, as don't have systems in place to smoke meat.
Will approach the supermarkets to get meat at a discount or get it for free. During the April 2015 east coast storms power was out of 5 days in many places the supermarkets and neighbors were giving their meat away as it was spoiling. A day after power out negotiate with the supermarkets for their meat at a big discount price then write and IOU. I have read similar instances in the US where people have got meat from supermarkets and wholesalers in areas where power has been out for an extended period. Australians are mostly very fussy eaters if the meat is out of a fridge for a day they don't touch it. I get lots of free food at work that people are throwing out as it is a day old.
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fei
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Post by fei on Jul 8, 2017 15:30:32 GMT 10
Tbh the only things I'd notice in this scenario is the lack of internet and phone (which is really patchy here anyway) and if the power went out. We are fairly remote and don't have tv reception so I would probably just go about my normal day thinking that the power was out again 😂 abc radio is one of our only sources of info without the net. However my husband would probably be sent home from work as without power they can't do much. Considering the info provided (ie. no internet, power, phone network) and hospital staff all told to stay at work (+the forum we're on ), I figure this is "the big one". From some previous experience of people going a bit crazy with shopping before a typhoon, the fights we saw in the supermarket after Fukushima (when the local uneducated populace believed rumours that we would all be nuked), and just the usual road rage etc that happens when everyone decides to take a road trip over national holidays, I reckon things would break down pretty quickly where I am (urban apartment living in a city of several million in China). A week of enforced quarantine (ie. locked in our apartment, with police guard on door 24/7) during SARS also makes me think that I don't want to be in the city if that happens again. The one thing I keep coming back to from that experience was that as we had just moved house, internet wasn't hooked up + didn't have much food, so were relying on the TV for news and the local authorities to bring in food every day. So what would've happened if the disease had kept spreading and there were more people in isolation / hospital / dying than there were to do the daily health checks and deliver food? How would we know that that stage had been reached if we were locked in and had no way out (we were on the fourth floor and could've climbed down fairly safety due to the design on the building; but some colleagues were on the eighth floor).
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feralemma
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Post by feralemma on Jul 8, 2017 21:46:12 GMT 10
Tbh the only things I'd notice in this scenario is the lack of internet and phone (which is really patchy here anyway) and if the power went out. We are fairly remote and don't have tv reception so I would probably just go about my normal day thinking that the power was out again 😂 abc radio is one of our only sources of info without the net. However my husband would probably be sent home from work as without power they can't do much. Considering the info provided (ie. no internet, power, phone network) and hospital staff all told to stay at work (+the forum we're on ), I figure this is "the big one". From some previous experience of people going a bit crazy with shopping before a typhoon, the fights we saw in the supermarket after Fukushima (when the local uneducated populace believed rumours that we would all be nuked), and just the usual road rage etc that happens when everyone decides to take a road trip over national holidays, I reckon things would break down pretty quickly where I am (urban apartment living in a city of several million in China). A week of enforced quarantine (ie. locked in our apartment, with police guard on door 24/7) during SARS also makes me think that I don't want to be in the city if that happens again. The one thing I keep coming back to from that experience was that as we had just moved house, internet wasn't hooked up + didn't have much food, so were relying on the TV for news and the local authorities to bring in food every day. So what would've happened if the disease had kept spreading and there were more people in isolation / hospital / dying than there were to do the daily health checks and deliver food? How would we know that that stage had been reached if we were locked in and had no way out (we were on the fourth floor and could've climbed down fairly safety due to the design on the building; but some colleagues were on the eighth floor). Rather you than me 😮 This has got me thinking. We may be blissfully unaware that shtf had even occurred for anywhere up to a week other than the phones/internet being down and no power! Not a good situation when knowledge is essential!
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blueshoes
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Post by blueshoes on Jul 14, 2017 23:28:54 GMT 10
Have we got power back yet or are we still eating random things like lentil pikelets, 12 year old tins of creamed rice, and eating jelly made from scrounged fruit, water boiled on the camp stove and the out of date gelatin out of the back of my folks' pantry?
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Post by jo on Jul 15, 2017 11:31:28 GMT 10
Have we got power back yet or are we still eating random things like lentil pikelets, 12 year old tins of creamed rice, and eating jelly made from scrounged fruit, water boiled on the camp stove and the out of date gelatin out of the back of my folks' pantry? i for one have trained my killer chooks to retrieve human flesh for my other slack pets.... been eating dirt and have girt my loins with the hide of a few random dogs... pity it is only day two.... maybe the lack of info mimics the real situation
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