I am not an "end of the world as we know it" died in the wool survivalist inspite of owning a 4WD, but a number of events over the past year or so have shown up the need to be prepared.
Firstly I had to evacuate after a fire, and did not take a lot with me, I was not much better prepared the second time either when I left altogether quicker than the first time forgetting my keys to let me back in again when it was all clear.
I now have a fire evacuation bag packed with the most essential things packed, including spare keys. It contains insurance documents, cheque book, essential clothing and all those essentials I would otherwise have to buy, and what is in it is not based on any hypothetical shit hits the fan list, but on what I had to buy last time.
I could if I had to, leave my flat naked like Archimedes straight out of the bath, grab the bag which is always by the door, and be able to make myself decent in the meantime from the contents of the bag.
However my more recent emergency showed me that is not preparedness enough, because I was faced with a different kind of emergency where taking that amount of junk was simply not appropriate. So I have resolved to pack a hospital emergency bag now, which contains the basics you need for a short stay in hospital, pajamas, slippers, clean underwear (yes I know - as your mother always told you - you are supposed to be wearing it, but you will need a change) basic wash kit, and a cheap novel aswell.
Apart from that long experience has taught me to be prepared for other emergencies such as power outages, Having grown up in an era which included the miners strike and the three day week, I always have a supply of candles, hurricane lamps and fuel, and camping stove. I actually have more than this in that I have my usual camping gear as well which includes chemical toilet, 12v gel battery, lamps and solar panel.
I have to admit however I don't yet have any defense against the proverbial Zombie attack, that is something I shall have to work on :)
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Sailors, well good ones anyway, always have grab bags.
I have candles. And a generator. Our power to this part of the village comes in all on one 11kV line - through tress and when the wind blows...
Our phonelines come in on a one inch cable that hangs over a brook (ie 8 foot deep, 20 foot wide and often a raging torrent), it's supporting iron pipe long since rusted through. You would've thought the budget for a 2 mile fibre optic cable would include a new bit of pipe.
Anyway, drunk and rambling. And leaving.
I'm afraid I'm very much unprepared. Thanks for the "heads up".
It's mostly hurricanes to fret about around here. I continue to be amazed about the panic expressed by recently-arrived yankee golf trash every time one approaches. I remember when Georges was approaching; I put up the shutters on our house and the house I was watching for a neighbor, and went to the Publix to buy beer. (I was afraid they'd forbid alcohol sales as they'd just done in Key West, a bit further south.)
All the silly northern yuppies were buying insanely-expensive bottled water. I explained one person doing so that all you need to do is scrub out yer bathtub, fit a good tight drain plug, then fill it up at the last opportunity. We've always had kerosene lanterns and camp stoves, etc.
Of course, for Wilma I bugged out to North Georgia with the kitties and family documents.
Different kind of thing, I know. These days one has warning of hurricanes. Larry and other people are right about keeping a "bug-out bag" handy for grabbing in an instant, when something happens instantaneously.
We don't have much by way of hurricanes here, but they do have the odd Tornado in Brum, always in the same place too, wierd that.
Anyway it is a good idea to keep a little water by, particularly when there is a zombie problem, over the last couple of summers I have had my water cut off because of the local zombies opening the fire hydrants to cool off, that means that people in the flats can't get water because of the drop in pressure. In fact Seven Trent even went so far as to cut the water off completely till after dark because of the zombies, as soon as they turned off one hydrant another would come back on so they gave up. What is worse I got a mouthfull of abuse from an irate parent when I told off there kids for opening up one of the hydrants!
In high summer it makes sense to keep the bathtub up, what is more it actually helps cool the flat.
Gotta watch out for them zombies.
Doc Films, the student-run film society at my alma mater, the University of Chicago, published capsule summaries of the films it screened each academic quarter. One of the perennial favorite cult films back in the mid-1970s was "Night of the Living Dead", and it had the distinction of having the shortest capsule summary of any film in the Doc Films schedule, a mere 3 words in length:
Finger lickin' good.
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