Thoughts about self-reliance

I’ve been reading the book I bought of Joyce Grenfell’s letters to her mother, dipping into it here and there.

Its contents span the years between 1932 and 1944. I am always intrigued to notice how — without our really being aware of it or applying any particular intentionality — our attitudes change with the passing of time, and we end up with quite different perspectives on life from our original outlook and understanding. Nowhere has this been more starkly true than in our evaluations concerning sex and racial prejudice — both of which have undergone a revolution in recent times, and so much more ground still to cover.

I’ve been thinking a lot about self-reliance, and its place in our lives — to what extent we may be responsible for our wellbeing, and how much we depend on each other.

Internet algorithms mean the articles that appear under our noses reflect and relate to what we have already considered — which encourages us to swim along a deepening and narrowing strait, and can give us the false impression that “everybody thinks” or “the fact of the matter is”, when in reality the opinions and possibilities are more diverse.

Probably because of my leftist political inclinations, quite a lot drifts my way about The Authorities, usually in the vein of how woefully inadequate they are, falling down on the job and not doing enough for us.

In my Joyce Grenfell browsing, I came across a letter from August 1937 — so, 84 years ago (!) — about a car crash that happened near Joyce’s home. 

It’s quite a long section to type up, so I photographed it for you — can you read it okay? I think if you click on the photo it should come up bigger.

So many points of change (since 1937) struck me when I read it!

• Almost nowhere is dark now (a few places still are).
• Very few people own or wear dressing gowns.
• Most people, if they heard a car crash, would immediately phone the emergency services — probably not first run out in their dressing gowns to see what had happened.
• It is highly unlikely modern people would pick the car up, right it, check it over, and pronounce it okay to drive.
• Most people would insist on a doctor seeing the people who’d been in the crash.
• The prospect of a modern Harry offering a ride in his car to two girls he’d never met, and their accepting the offer, is startling.
• That the man got back in his car and drove it away is astonishing to us now.
• At no point did anybody think of calling the police.

There is so much that’s different, and all around issues of trust, what is likely/acceptable in public spaces, and what people think it reasonable to do for themselves without involving The Authorities.

In the years I grew up I could easily imagining this playing out, but not now. 

We have come to rely very heavily on The Authorities. Where I live, most people won’t even shovel the pavement outside their house clear of snow; they sit inside complaining bitterly because the men from the Borough Council haven’t been to do it. They complain about the weeds growing at the edge of the road and blocking the pathways, but rarely does it occur to them to weed the section outside their home. Sometimes. Not often.

This morning over coffee, our Alice was recounting an incident she had read about in America — I don’t know where, but one of the states where it gets very cold. She said a whole family had perished in a power outage. With no electricity to their home they grew desperately cold, and had the idea to sit in their car, in the garage, letting the engine run to warm them up.

I’m sure that immediately triggers your inner uh-oh mechanism — and yes, they all died of carbon monoxide poisoning, which was an absolute tragedy.

But the news item included information about a relative who lived some distance away — an uncle, I think — who had become alarmed when he failed to contact them after repeated attempts. He called the police, who said they’d go round and check. They did. They knocked on the door, got no answer and went away.

Apparently the uncle called repeatedly and the police responded more than once, but every time only knocked and left.

Apart from it being so sad, the thing that struck me especially was the take-away from this scenario offered by the news item.

What it focused on (according to our Alice, I haven’t come across it myself) was a conclusion that this was an example of racism in the police. That they hadn’t taken more decisive action because the family was black.

Certainly racism of one kind and another does seem to be a harsh and destructive feature of every society the world over, and indeed not least in America; so it is most likely reasonable and shrewd to suppose the police who called at the house might have been racist — because most of us do seem to be so. Regrettably. May God have mercy on us and transform us.

But it did cross my mind that there was another potential take-away from the scenario, never considered or discussed, which was this: families do well to be prepared for emergencies.

It doesn’t take much. For my part, I refuse to live anywhere that does not have a working fireplace, because I have lived through some passages of considerable poverty, and can well envisage needing to keep warm by burning scrounged packaging and foraged (discarded) wood. I also insist on installing a water butt and locating a spring, and investing in a very good water filter, just in case our water is ever cut off. Wherever I have lived, even if all I had was shared outside space or a hard standing meant for a car, I have always planted something to eat, and found out where wild things to eat grow. I am not a prepper as such, but I keep a small stash of basic things like oats and lentils in case there are food shortages or I run out of money — and my garden has as many fruit trees growing in it as the space permits.

Now, I recognise that many people don’t have a garden or the chance to live in a home with a fireplace, and may be rental tenants who have no permission to instal water butts. I come of a family whose immediate response to every suggestion is a bustling stampede of objections, so I can well imagine any you have in mind. 

But the point is not the specifics, rather, the principle.

If you live in Minnesota (or anywhere that gets similarly cold), in a house with no wood stove or open fire and depend entirely on electricity for heat and light, then before the winter draws in, get yourself:

• Matches
• Some bio-gel chafing fuel tablets you can burn safely indoors
• A stovetop kettle and a Trangia (or similar) stove to stand it on
• A hot water bottle (each)
• A wool hat (each)
• Blankets
• A thermos flask
• A water carrier of some kind
• High-energy long-shelf-life food
• LED camping lights (keep the batteries charged or have spares)
• A bucket toilet (and bokashi bran to neutralise pathogens) in case the house water freezes

Be sure that you have the water carrier kept full indoors in the worst of the weather, so that if the power goes out in deep cold you have water that won’t be frozen. Keep that for drinking, fetch in snow to melt for the hot water bottle. Fill the hot water bottles (use the chafing fuel tabs to boil the kettle), and the thermos. Sit in one room together, wrapped in blankets, with hot water bottles, for warmth. Eat the high-calorie food. 

Always keep phones charged so that if you get caught by a power outage, you have a charged battery to start.

DO NOT sit in a car in a closed garage with the engine running. Do not run or burn anything that will compete with you for oxygen, for any significant length of time, in a closed room. Warm yourself  — don’t heat the space, heat the person — and maintain an air flow. Wear a hat, because your body will sacrifice all warmth to keep your brain temperature stable, so you stress the body less if you insulate your head. Keep any places warm where arteries rise to the skin surface (wrists, neck, ankles).

(I appreciate that it costs money to buy a stash of emergency provisions like that, but it also costs money to buy and maintain a car and fuel it.) 

If you are ever in a similar position to that poor family in America, keep in mind that your uncle in a neighbouring state may call the police and they will come to help you; and if you have such a stash of supplies, they might find you alive.

Of course we must combat racism and speak up against instances of it we come across — especially if the racial group we belong to has the advantage of privilege. 

But whatever colour we are, and however poor we may be, it is always worth seizing whatever chances come our way, to make up a box under the bed for the day when the unforeseen emergency happens.

As Joyce Grenfell’s experience demonstrates, you don’t always need to rely on The Authorities. As that tragedy of the family in America demonstrates, The Authorities aren’t always much use even if you do rely on them.

We must do our best to work for a society in which everyone is cared for and no one left behind; but until we’ve got it (and even after we have), a few low-key preparations in case of emergency never go amiss.