Every day carry kit

Yesterday we talked about your Personal Survival Kit. Many people did not see this as a Personal Survival Kit because it was too bulky to carry with you all day every day. I agree that the kit I had is not suitable for carrying all day every day but I still see it as the Personal Survival Kit as it is for one person to survive in an emergency and is never going to be too far from your person. Nobody needs to set up a camp at such short notice they cannot get to their car or bike to collect the Personal Survival Kit first.

I do agree however that there is a smaller kit you should carry with you all the time but it is just a basic kit for every day use. I call it My Every Day Carry Kit. This does not contain anywhere near enough to keep you going in anything other than a basic work situation although it can be carried with you at all times as everyday tools. Anybody who needs this is already doing it and if you use tools on a daily basis there is probably much more in Your Every Day Carry Kit. It is simply some useful tools.

On your person you should have at all times;

• A Swiss Army Knife type tool with a long blade, a pair of scissors, a screwdriver, tweezers and a spike wrench.
• A pencil torch.
• A gas lighter.

All mine are attached to my keyring which I never let out of my sight. Nobody else gets to use my keys or my tools.

I’ve used each and everyone of them on a regular basis. I rarely require much more and if I do I also have my main kit in the car which is rarely too far away. I’ve only needed to dip into the Personal Kit, in the car, a couple of time in over a decade and both times it was for someone else who needed an aspirin or an elastoplast. Nothing in there is needed at such short notice that I cannot get to the Personal Kit in time.

Some words of warning. Having a Swiss Army Knife on your person and easy to access will have Plod accusing you of having an offensive weapon. They will want to confiscate it and give you a caution. Do not accept a caution as that is a criminal record. They may take the knife but be prepared to argue this as they are unlikely to want to take you to court if you have done nothing else wrong. My own knife I have had for decades and I not been on a murdering spree yet. Of course that is all out the window if you have committed a crime. The knife will be added to the list of offences and you will be punished. Don’t break the law.

As Skvez points out : Accepting a caution is acknowledging that you have done something wrong and a commitment not to do it again.
If you get a caution for carrying a (legal) penknife and you are caught carrying another (legal) penknife (within two years) you can (and probably will) be charged the second time and it will be much harder for your lawyer to argue that you have done nothing wrong if you’ve already accepted the caution (admitting that you were in the wrong).