I’ve been watching two films. One is called Threads, a TV program filmed by the BBC in the 80’s and The Day After, an American film filmed in a similar vein.
Both films show the build up, destruction, survival and aftermath of a Nuclear War.
These films got me thinking. What if a Nuclear war loomed. Lets say you had three months to prepare and when war comes you and your home are lucky enough to have survived the attack. Outside is destruction, fallout, death. How would you prepare and how would you survive?
I did some research and it appears radiation is not so deadly as once thought. Initially radiation is deadly and fatal. So the first few days you have to stay indoors. After several weeks radiation has decayed sufficiently that heavy clothing will protect you but inhaling radioactive dust will still kill. After 6 months it would be relatively safe to move and work outdoors. After this period your main challenges are general survival.
So the premise is this;
1. What would you do to prepare for survival?
You have to take into account personal finances, time scales and practicalities of doing so.
2. How would you survive the first two weeks?
3. How would you survive the first 6 months?
4. What then?
When I started to think about this myself I started to realise the difficulty is in the small things, the detail not what appears the biggest problems radioactivity, death and destruction.
Threads http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Threads
The Day After http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_After
By: Lincoln 7 - 9th October 2013 at 21:13
Not a chance Paul, I would NEVER let her put her name and address on keys. I have changed the lock on the back door, cost £25.95, had more trouble finding anyone who stocked one to fit the door, (Double glazed, and 19yrs old), About a 10 min job.when I managed to find a new one further afield.
However, the key for the car is ultra dear, it was reccomended that I get 2 new keys @ £125.00 EACH,* VAT, but a new Engine management unit would have to be replaced (800.00) to “Read” the new code, engine would need to be re-mapped at time of installation.
Next option, take car to Beemer, and using their Comp, they can de-activate lost key so it wouldn’t start the engine, but “They” could still use the key in door lock and nick anything left inside. If the car was nicked however, it is covered by another Ins which would pay out the same as I paid for it.
So have opted on having the lost key, de-activated. It’s just not worth all the hassle.
Jim.
Lincoln .7
By: paul178 - 9th October 2013 at 19:16
Cheer up Jim you might get the keys back. She may have thoughtfully written her name and address on the key fob!
By: TonyT - 9th October 2013 at 19:06
Where is the fun in that? You can always take them into your shelter with you, though you could be choosy 🙂
Anyway, Cambridgeshire would probably be ground zero as there are a lot if bases around the area…
By: trumper - 9th October 2013 at 11:23
Would surviving be worth it,let nature take its course and if you show symptoms of illness kill yourself.I wouldn’t want to live on a planet like that without friends and family.
By: charliehunt - 9th October 2013 at 08:53
My key had to be replaced and reprogrammed after being immersed in the sea ( don’t ask!!) and the estimate was £100 – and it’s not a BMW!!
By: Lincoln 7 - 9th October 2013 at 08:35
DON’T mention MINIS today, I am choked off with my wife, who has lost her car key to her Mini, and the house key also. Probably will have to have the house lock changed.
As an aside, is it possible for a car that locks by blipping the key fob able to be re programmed and the car also, I can see an expensive week, if I have to buy 2 new car keys, and get Beemer to do it.Women, “”£$%&***, Oh, what I would realy like to say. There isn’t an imotican to describe how I feel about that.
Jim.
Lincoln .7
By: TonyT - 9th October 2013 at 01:24
He’d need an extra container for his mini.
By: paul178 - 9th October 2013 at 00:28
I just thought a Famas might be a little less unwieldy than an SLR, still a good list for Jim to start collecting!
By: paul178 - 9th October 2013 at 00:21
I think Jim has a list to start on now:D
By: TonyT - 9th October 2013 at 00:08
Personally Food food and more food, and water, tinned and stashed in several locations around or close to your shelter / shelters, as for a shelter, you would need it to be several feet underground and well hidden. Something like 3 or four shipping containers side by side with one side on linking them buried about 6 foot deep possibly with one below them as a cesspit and well covered with a concealed defendable entrance. NBC suits, respirators, canisters, weapons to protect you, SLP and something like an SLR would be nice, with tons of ammo, but pump action shotgun would do, also something like smoke / C/S if needed, and a quiet weapon like a crossbow… Bolt holes nearby. Fuel and batteries, radio, some form of heating like gel burners as they do not need a flue. First aid, antibiotics etc. some external form of warning, viewing would be good, such as solar remote camera mounted up trees overlooking the area.
And if you were to do this you would need to do it on the quiet, none of this we are survivalist crap on TV where they show you their shelter, because at the first signs of attack you would have Everyman and his dog attempting to take what you have. You could have power, if buried on say a farm, having solar panels on the farm building roof, you could have power cables tapped off them and buried running out to your shelter to charge batteries, run scrubber, and electric heating
That way you would have power that to all intent purposes had been put into the house pre ww3 supplying you without giving anything away.
By: AlanR - 8th October 2013 at 23:41
On our recent trip to the nuclear bunker at Kelvedon Hatch, I’m sure they said that those using it could survive there
for three months.
The thing is, once they’d come out there wouldn’t be anything worth living for.
It would be everyone for themselves. Law and order would break down rapidly, food would be in short supply and armed soldiers everywhere.
Probably best to get as close as you could to one of the main targets.
By: paul178 - 8th October 2013 at 23:15
Unless you have a lot of money to buy stuff to prepare for living in a contained shelter in a remote area for at least 6 months and weaponry to stop someone killing you for it I would not even bother Jim.
Anyway lets think of a few things
An underground bunker with a way of scrubbing the air
6 months supply of water( no mains it will be contaminated even if it works) and the same of food preferably more because how are you going to replace it with all the infrastructure gone.(don’t forget the tin opener)
Fuel don’t even think of hexamine it will kill you along with most fires. So you are going to have to have a generator that vents to the outside.
That will betray your position so you will need weapons, certainly a pistol if anyone gets close and a shotgun if you ever get outside to shoot for the pot(if anything is left) Crossbows are good as well
You will need all your medication for as long as possible and a comprehensive first aid kit.
Chemical toilet facilities for 6 months
Thats just off the top of my head!
BTW a Geiger counter might be handy to see if you have been wasting your time!
Come on Tony add to the list of the basics I have missed:D
By: Lincoln 7 - 8th October 2013 at 22:32
Chas, Don’t forget the “Lightnings” that “Saw them off”. Naughty boy, tut-tut.:D
Jim.
Lincoln .7
By: charliehunt - 8th October 2013 at 22:21
Just Rusky bombers.;)
By: Lincoln 7 - 8th October 2013 at 20:00
Yep, thats the one Chas, we were told at the nick to keep a watchful eye on the site, we were obviously misled about them being intended for Russia then.
Jim.
Lincoln .7
By: charliehunt - 8th October 2013 at 16:45
If it’s the one I think you mean, Linc. It was RAF Woolfox Lodge. It was a Bloodhound base for a few years but not Thor IRBMs, only surface-to-air missiles.
By: Lincoln 7 - 8th October 2013 at 16:06
When I joined “The Job”, we had all those films regarding survival, Follow the guidelines, buy a gun, (Rule number one our American friends would put at the top of their list) afterwards, it would be the survival of the fittest, eating only canned food, the list is endless. But first you have to survive. It was stated that nuclear strikes would be aimed at Ireland and Wales, then the prevailing Westerly winds would cause the fallout to cover the British Isles.
Anyone remember all those missiles at the side of the A1 many years ago, pointing at Russia?.
Jim.
Lincoln .7
By: TonyT - 8th October 2013 at 14:45
cheaper version showing contents
By: TonyT - 8th October 2013 at 14:42
You want
Tells you what and how we did it, drills for everything from changing a respirator cannister to taking a dump in a chemical warfare environment.
By: charliehunt - 8th October 2013 at 13:04
You have to survive because you are still alive. What about your family? The wider destruction is not important. This is survival now! You can wonder about the wider issues after 6 months.
The question of wider destruction is entirely relevant and would determine my course of action. If there was massive devastation I’d top myself. I would have no desire to survive. And if there was widespread devastation personal finances would be irrelevant, as would most things in our daily lives we take for granted.
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October 8, 2013 at 12:38 pm