There are many of us prepping, some are in a better situation than others and some have barely started. Regardless of your situation there are few that feel they are fully prepared. The mere fact of starting however means that your mindset has changed and you are instantly in a much better situation than many in this country.
It seems that there are many more every month thinking the same way and either stocking up with basics or starting to supplement their food with home grown produce in allotments or home grown meat. Regardless of what they think is going to happen they are now preppers like us and they have seen something happening they don’t like and are prepared to do something about it. If you think about it that is a massive acceptance of what was originally a tin foil hat scenario and shows how much people are coming around to accept our way of thinking. They are thinking something is wrong and this is what they need to do to fix it. Exactly the same as we do, only we think there are many more things to be concerned about and a great many things to consider while preparing. I would think that as they look at what they need to do they will widen their scope and prepare for other things as well including OPSEC and becoming the grey man. After all it is only a short step now they have made the leap to prepping anyway.
Even with all these people starting to prepare I wondered what it is that triggered some of them take up preparing when most do not. What is the difference? Is it that they know someone who is already doing it, is it they read something that made them think and this was the conclusion or they have been driven into it by desperation and they don’t really see the point?
I have no real idea myself but I think that most are being woken up by a sudden realisation that there is a something going on. Something they don’t like, they can’t control and they are powerless to influence in any way. There is a real and tangible issue here and they believe they will get dragged under with the force of the country going down the toilet. For some people, like us, this triggers an action response to protect us.
I have lost count of how many people I have spoken to and discussed the state of the country with over many years now. Usually starting from a political viewpoint that starts with government is bad, my normal starting point, and concludes where they decide that being a Libertarian is the same as being a terrorist and it takes me a long time to convince them otherwise, if I manage it as some people are convinced the state has no harm in it at all. Luckily changes that are being rolled out and impacting on most of the population supports my theory and people are now feeling pressure from all the legislation and are more willing to see the dark side of the government as they have to interact with the large and uncaring behemoth more and more. Especially as after paying into a faux insurance scheme for decades being made unemployed makes you scum and you are screwed out of your entitlements for the slightest reason and being forced into slave labour for having the temerity to not just accept any job to save the state money. The bulk of the people in this country though just think the unemployed as leeches and believe they are overpaid layabouts. Many are but they are few and far between and are usually not the ones who have worked up until the latest recession have made jobs difficult to find. From the way the DWP goes on when there are a few jobs it makes it look like you are the only one who failed. Not that each job has hundreds of applicants and that employers are spoilt for choice. That certainly brings home the situation and you realise that you are on your own. The insurance scheme just one big scam. It would be illegal if managed by anyone but the government.
So, sadly, I have come to the conclusion that most people will not recognise or accept that there are issues to prepare for until it is too late. Only those who are being impacted by the situation are being forced into recognising the issue and start preparing while those with a steady income and just finding things a bit tight are simply tightening their belts a bit and carrying on as usual. This includes those with jobs, those who are disabled, long term unemployed who have adapted and those who have retired.
Their eyes will be opened by a sudden realisation when it is too late. They will not have a chance to prepare or adapt and almost all of them will have the wrong mindset to adapt anyway.
Look around your street, your area, how many people does that cover? In my case over 99% of them. I’m seriously thinking about spreading some misinformation that the local RAF base, about 10 miles away, has underground bunkers full of food for any refugees. It seems the best way for the common sheeple. On the other hand those preparing and those who have started to open their eyes need a bit of advice to help them. Perhaps this is where we need to prioritise. The bewildered converted rather than convincing sheep that the farmer is not their friend and to open their eyes. I’m assuming of course that you have either convinced your own family or are at least preparing for them. You must ensure your own survival first.
Our smallish super Wall Mart is the source for about 6 small towns (includes ours). So the populus that shops there is around 120,000 (could be a slightly high count).
I have seen shelves bare of certain items that are under the long or long term storage.
So I believe that not only are there actually preppers here, there has been those that are at least buying up for some reason.
Wall Mart has revised their restocking and they seem to try to keep items on the shelves. But alas spots are empty all the time.
If by chance more are awakened to some form of prepping it could get hard for us to find what we need. But the plus to that is that at least they will have something and leave us alone for awhile.
I believe that the over shopping at our regular grocer on sale item’s is what has caused them to start limiting the amount you can buy. I have lived here well over 20 years and just recently have they done this.
If more are awakened pray that the stores can keep inventory in so that all can semi or full prep.
Thankyou for your thoughts – they mirror mine to a large degree. Having only just started down this road I do sometimes wonder how and why I got here in the first place. I can only put it down to a general feeling of uneasiness now that I have retired. I have more time to think about other things than getting to work on time and being involved with the job in hand.
In a way I suppose that the ‘state’ has brain washed us all into believing that all is well and that we will be looked after come what may. Now that I have looked ‘outside the box’ I can see that all is not what I perceived it to be and that there is another way of looking at all of this and it is not very pleasant at all.
My other half has yet to be persuaded that we need to do anything at all, which is a disappointment. But looking at things from her perspective I can see her point. Apart from anything else that I might be I am her carer and this will mean that she knows that I will take this very seriously and do what I need/have to do to ensure her quality of life and also mine.
As for shortages on the shelves at our ‘local’ shops – I have not noticed any as yet but then we may have been lucky and caught the just in time refill at the appropriate point.
Once again thankyou for your thoughts – I feel that, for once, I am in the right place and time.
Ellen,
I find the americans, except for those in the Blue States seem to be pretty much self reliant. A lot more than those over here which you can equate to a Blue State. Full of socialist whiners. If you have been prepping for a while then you should be better than most even if they do ration.
Iaaems,
As long as one of you is prepping for both then it is OK. My kids don’t believe it will happen but are happy to help their nutty father. So it works out fine.
The fragility of what we regard as our infrastructure is evidenced in the anxiety over the bankruptcy of the refinery firm whcih may mean supplies of “essentials” to the South East are disrupted. There is no reason to suppose things may be any less fragile in our food distribution, and other, systems. Laissez faire approaches by government to assumptions that a “market” is good enough will no longer do. Unfortunately government will no longer work to protect basic supplies for all people! Hence SurvivalUK etc.