It's sunny and dry for the next few days, so lovely washing drying weather, we'll also be able to get out in the garden and finish off the weeding, pruning and general tidying for winter. I've also got some Spring bulbs to plant in pots.
My zombie apocalypse box of emergency supplies is almost complete now, the only things I still need to get are dry dog food and a few treats for Betty, and some crackers, biscuits, nuts and dried fruit for us.
I've been thinking about what disasters might befall us, meaning we might need the contents of the box. We're a smallish village near a small town in a rural area here in the west country, there are no munitions factories or air/sea bases nearby, so I can't imagine that any foreign enemies would be wanting to bomb us. There is a nuclear power station along the coast at Hinkley Point, around 20 miles away, which I suppose could be a cause for concern....Google tells me that we are unlikely to be affected by the initial blast, should it blow up, but might possibly be affected by radiation. But I think it being blown up is a fairly remote possibility, so I'm certainly not worrying about it, I would have thought the ones on the east coast are more likely to be targets.
Flooding isn't really much of a likelihood here - during periods of extremely heavy rain, a river up in the hills on Exmoor above our village does occasionally burst its banks, but the water flows down the main village road out onto the main road, bypassing our estate....neighbours say they've never known it to flood our estate in the 12 years they've lived here. I'm guessing the most likely 'disasters' would be electricity or water being cut off, for whatever reasons, a power outage meaning we'd also have no internet or landline phone, tv or radio. We've obviously both got mobile phones, I've ordered a powerbank to charge them. We've got plenty of torches, battery lights and candles, plus the gas cartridge operated camping hob - we've used it a couple of times and it works well heating up water or a saucepan of food. I know our neighbours have a wind-up radio. I suppose it could be a good idea for us to get one, as without his beloved TV husband would be bored stiff!! If the electricity went off for any length of time we'd obviously have to eat up whatever fresh food was in the fridge first. We have lots of fleece blankets so would be able to keep warm. The portapotti I recently bought would come in very handy if we couldn't flush our toilet! I've got packs of wet wipes in the zombie box for washing purposes - and loo roll of course! So I think we're pretty much covered. I still think it's scaremongering by the Government though - I bet none of them are buying extra supplies, they'll all be safe and sound in their bunkers or safe rooms, us little people will be left to fend for ourselves.
So I've got emergency supplies because I think it's sensible, not because I genuinely think there's any likelihood of an actual emergency, or that we need to be worried about it happening. What about you?
We're in the process of assembling our zombie apocalypse supplies, too. We already have candles and matches, we've just bought a battery torch and spare batteries as the torches we have are rechargeable, and if the power goes off, we won't be able to charge them. We've ordered a battery powered fm radio, which is due next week. We always have loads of loo rolls (husband's pet purchase!). We're slowly stocking up tinned and dried food and bottled water. And we're going to look at camping stoves tomorrow. Like you, I think we're reasonably safe here. Flood risk is minimal, even though we live about a mile from the beach, the ground is mainly sand so water quickly drains away. There is an RAF base nearby, but it's mainly used to train cadets and for private light aircraft, so minimal risk there. I think it's more a case of power outages, than hostile attack. (At least I hope so!) I guess it's always a good idea to have some supplies in, just in case of illness, anyway. xx
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