Start Here

If this is your first time to the site then please read the Welcome Page.

Feel you are the only one concerned about the future? Read Am I Alone?

This site will help you generate Shopping Lists and To Do Lists from your specific set of risks and concerns. The Get Started Here page, also available via the Toolbar, will walk you through it.

The Forum will help you discuss your issues, learn about how others and tailor your preperations for your situation.

How we need to prepare


Categories

Clearing our awkward hurdles

Hurdles

These are several hurdles in the way of our desire for self sufficiency and prepping. The key ones are;

  • Financial issues
  • Location issues
  • Space issues
  • Time issues
  • Legal issues

The first four are obvious. The more money you have the less of an issue the other hurdles are. The better your location the less of an issue it is for bugging out and you can get started on self sufficiency. The more space you have the more you can store, we would all want a barn, and finally getting the time to do everything you need to do whilst still working is always an issue. All these hurdles we can prepare and find ways around without too much issue.

Legal issues

Legal Issues though are, for the most of us, the government’s way of sticking its nose in even after it is gone. The rules that are put in place now, for whatever reason, are the rules that stop us preparing fully for the future.

I’ve worked for the government, the rules that you and I have to face are ignored by government. Their stockpiles for after an event contain items that you can only dream of because;

  • They have guns and ammunition which you cannot have
  • They have large containers of fuel which you cannot have
  • They have basic medicines you cannot have
  • They can build where you cannot
  • They can build buildings you cannot
  • They have equipment you cannot have
  • There are basic building tasks you cannot perform
  • There are basic actions you can no longer perform

Everything they do that causes them issues can be subject to waivers and license, licences that you can only get after paying a fee and being approved, Also if something gets in their way they just sign themselves an exception to it and it is all legal. If they break the law themselves they just approve an exception and it is OK and if a fine is paid, they don’t care, it is you and I paying that fine, nobody goes to prison unless it is a token sentence where they are treated separate from the rest of us. They do what they want and if you get in the way they just imprison or shoot you and make it all legal.

I believe now that there are so many laws that most of us are illegal without even knowing it. Storing paraffin in a shed, what about some old weed killer in a cardboard box, do your own wiring? Nobody now, including plod, knows what is illegal or not, excepting motoring offences of course or other offences that lead to taxes fines.

If anything shows how ineffective our laws are the fact that prisoners can get hold of illegal drugs, make weapons (including guns) and run criminal businesses while serving time. I actually believe that it is because we are too lenient on criminals and there is clearly something to that view. I think we are too lenient on real criminals. Nobody is deterred from crime nowadays. However, I think looking at what prisoners do says more about the human condition and how adaptable we are to our environments than many social projects we do designed to make us all subservient and like little ant. The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the one is their mantra. Personally I think it is the opposite. If you cater for the needs of the one, everyone, then the needs of the many are automatically catered for.

Adaptability

I was looking at some projects that have been developed in prisons. Projects such as guns, knives, lighters, candles and various other items that can be made from scraps and items found around. Makes you wonder the talent that is wasted in prison when these people could put their ingenuity to productive use outside.

Survival

Even in hostile environments we fight to live. I’ve heard of situations where humans survived who have withstood years of abuse, years of torture and have been driven insane by their treatment or simply made do with what they have and yet you continually hear people, particularly pampered people, stating that they cannot live like that, I would kill myself. Ending it all really does seem to be a last resort and one if it was a viable option we leave until it is too late anyway. Hope springs eternal and all that. We adapt to fit in.

Although bugs, viruses and bacteria are on their own more versatile creatures than humans. They can handle extremes of our environment that kill unprotected humans and we cannot compete on those terms. However, we have superior brain power and we can adapt our environments to meet our needs. This is seen as a negative politically nowadays with the Climate Change Scam but this is losing momentum now that the facts are starting to filter through and the cost benefits analysis is finally hitting home. Although having this superior brain power and this adaptability have yet to be proven in the real world.

It is not the strongest of the species that survives; nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change. – Charles Darwin

Thinking outside the box
Most of us think the way we have been taught. Logically and straight forward we hit the edges of our boxes, the rules laid down by others, and do not venture outside them. Thus we fail to explore all the options. This leads to stagnation and a failure to innovate. Some of those rules just don’t get tested because they are spoken as fact when they are just opinions being pushed by a duplicitous third party. These statements are usually ‘You cannot do that. It never works’ or ‘People cannot be trusted’ and because we accept it we do not find new ways to do things. It is the rebels among us who are the true innovators because they question why and are prepared to step outside to find out why things will not work.

Perhaps this is why prisoners seem to adapt so well to their environments, building forbidden weapons, drug dealing, running businesses and escaping for escape proof prisons. There always seem to be a way with these people and I suspect it is more to do with the fact they follow so few rules that makes them so adaptable.

Is it just criminals?

Well the good news is that it doesn’t appear to be. You have to remember though that many of the rules put in place are put in place by governments for their own reasons. Why is it illegal for you to build on your own land, why is it illegal for you to grow certain plants? So being a criminal doesn’t mean what it used to. In fact you are probably a criminal now yourself, deliberately or accidentally. When you envision a criminal you see a mad axe murderer, a mugger or a burglar. Yet many criminals have convictions for fishing without a license, putting the wrong rubbish in the bin or defending themselves against scum.

Many successful businessmen are notorious for bending the rules and going outside the box and in many cases the law. The difference between them and us is they pay lawyers to find ways around the laws or they lobby to have exceptions. You just get a criminal record.

What can we do?

Now clearly after an event this legislation will no longer be enforced. However by then it will be too late. Try getting a gun after an event. The ones you will see then will be pointing at you. Try getting any of these items after an event they will be priceless. Try building your concrete underground bunker after an event. It will be impossible.

Of course the government will just drive out of theirs in their tanks, fully armed, decade’s worth of food and equipment supporting them. Ready to fend off the hordes that funded their survival.

So the answer is not a lot legally, you could do what all our criminals do which is ignore the laws but many of us don’t want to do that. We want to stay within the law. If you are a criminal already you have an advantage here. The rest of us should explore options that lead us outside the boxes but as long as we are careful then we can stay within the law. We can legally ignore the intent of the law as long as we conform to the law.

By deciding to stay within the law automatically excludes many tasks you look at performing and requires you to spend a significant amount of your funds on interacting with the government. Nothing you can do about that.

For example it is illegal to set traps for burglars in your own home. You cannot wire up traps or deadfalls. The best you can do is call Plod and hope they make a run for it. If you set a trap that captures a burglar, dead or alive, then you will be the one in the dock in court whilst they sue you. However, there is nothing wrong with planning them out. Building them but not installing them or wiring them up and waiting until after an event before finishing them.

If you want to store large amounts of fuel, set up a small garage, keep the tanks topped up. If you want to have a supply of weapons set up a gun shop. Large amounts of medicines, set up a pharmacy. Building equipment, set up a construction company. If you are rich enough you can do all of these and at the very least you can make a living from them although you will have to hire in experts with qualifications and experience. These experts will be handy in the community later if they are local.

Not quite what you wanted but a legal route to do what you need to do. Just make sure you have plenty of money. The government needs it for all the forms it prints and the hangers on it employs.

There are several other areas where we will have to think well outside the box to remain legal. Even your local council will set limits on certain things so we need to be very careful.

The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren’t enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws. – Ayn Rand

I find it perverse that criminals are really the only ones that can prepare fully. They will ignore the laws on storing fuel. They will ignore the laws on chemicals. They will ignore the laws on building regulations. They will ignore the laws on weapons and ammunition. It is easier for them. We have to adapt and we will be the ones that suffer in the long run if an event happens.

Myself, I’m looking at setting up a small survival store and setting it up with all my wants. That way I can kill several birds with one stone. Although I’m betting there is a rule somewhere that says I can’t do it.

Comments are closed.