being prepared

Hi folks,
I don't know where that last post came from, must of been when I was down but I'm up again now, lol.

The title of this missive is being prepared... what does that mean to you? I ask as we have just had a new boiler fitted and when the men came to fit it they found a gas leak on my hob AND oven so they cut them both off and condemed them. Therefore for 3 weeks we have only been able to cook in a microwave which for a cook like me is worse than being in hell for eternity.

We have had to wait 3 weeks as we didn't have the money to buy a new cooker / hob until this weekend and it got me thinking as to what would happen if we were hit by this swine flue pandemic or in the winter when it returns. What would we do for food, water, electric light etc? I've got a website in progress that was going to be all about self suficiency but there will now be a section on being prepared for a major crisis.
Speaking of which, North Korea are playing silly buggers again. I reckon that kim jong ill is ready to check out of this world and like all dictatorships they want to leave a mark for history to condem them by hence the escalation in the tensions in the region. This brings me back to the point above. What would we do if the shit hits the fan in a big way?

I'm starting to prepare a contingency plan, stockpile food, medicines, water etc in case we need it. Some people will say this is being alarmist but even the British Government says we should all have 3 weeks worth of supplies in our home in case of emergency or a terrorist strike etc.

Take for instance if the part of the country you live in or indeed the whole country was subject to an EMP or electro magnetic pulse. This would knock out all electronic items including mobiles, landlines, tv's, cars, electric and gas power stations and water treatment plants.

So you are sat there with no water, lighting, heating or mobillity [cars]. You will not be able to get money out of cash machines or banks and food shops will not be able to open either as they are run on electric. What will you do? How will you survive? Will you be able to feed your family and yourself ?

If you stockpile food and water, enough for 3 weeks as a minimum then at least you can stay at home for a bit. Without being prepaired you will encounter serious difficulties. If the trouble goes on longer you will need to be able to defend your plot, i.e. house, garden, allotment etc from scavengers and hungry people.

If you have made preperation for events then you can at least be more comfortable and safer than many of your fellow neighbours.

Going back to the alarmist point. If I prepare and you don't and nothing happens then we are both ok. If I prepare and you don't and something major DOES happen then I'm ok and you will be dead.....