So yesterday I was mulling over in my mind where we are headed as a society, and assessing how well our household has prepared for coming storms, according to the limited resources that are ours.
One thing that stands out for me is that, in the coming days, our deepest and most urgent need will be for one another, and the greatest contribution any one person will be able to bring is a trusting, peaceful and calm spirit — chilled out, cheerful and unafraid.
These considerations brought me back to the glorious Playing for Change Song Around the World videos, that exemplify this spirit of co-operation. Here are my favourites.
For me these songs make present to the imagination the power of ordinary people around the world to create a reality of harmony and hope, beauty unbowed and undaunted. Whatever happens to us, and however little we have, this can still be our North Star.
The two books I've written in the last year (but have been thinking about for ages), St Luke's Little Summer and The Light of One Lamp, are my own way of making present to the imagination this sense of strength through connection, the kindness by which we lift one another up, how we protect and nourish the dignity of the human spirit, and remain faithful in asserting that we are loved by God.
9 comments:
The preparations that you’ve made Pen, are those listed in several posts towards the end of last year - about life lessons? I’m just wondering if I’m missing a trick and have inadvertently buried my head in the sand - which most definitely is not the right thing to do!!
With love as always
San xx
Hiya — took me a minute — I had to go back and find those posts to see what I said! Yes, those hold good as general approaches, but in terms of household preparedness now, I think there are some awkward times coming towards us.
There are a few drivers — war in the Middle East and the supply routes blocked, oil refineries around the world being damaged and attacked, political instability and weak government in the UK, and the UK ideologies about govt spending and taxation. Also the inflexibility of our ecological agenda. There have been consistently unwise decisions that have put us in a disadvantageous position economically and challenged our economic security and our food security. Plus there are short-term supply issues to do with war in Iran. Putting all these together, it seems sensible to have some strategies in place to help us through bumpy times.
Chris Wickland has made some helpful videos on this. Ignoring the bit at the beginning about his weird dream, this one goes into practical detail and is quite helpful, I think.
https://youtu.be/OOr6hOVqD1U?si=WQNqx0NTD4mro-bG
About the oil refineries — Ukraine has been targeting Russian oil refineries through this last year, Drone attacks on the refineries at Syzran and Novokuybyshevsk caused suspension of operations, and the one at Kirishi may also be damaged,. The Tuapse oil refinery on the Black Sea was damaged in mid-April 2026, halting its operations. Also drone strikes hit the Saudi Aramco refinery in March (fires and minor damage but I think it's still OK). At the same time, in Australia there was a big fire at one of their refineries, and fuel shortages in Pakistan after a gas pipeline was attacked and blown up.
There just seems to be a lot going on around the whole thing of fuel supply, especially as a favourite channel of international aggression at the moment. While each setback may be overcome, there comes a level of disruption that has more widespread effect; we might want to give some thought to that, and calm down any associated disturbance as much as we reasonably can.
Thanks Pen. I will take a look at the YouTube channel - looks like I’ve a whole heap of pondering ahead of me xx
From what I've been paying attention to, I form the impression it's wise to be prepared but not necessary to be scared. People are comparing what's coming to various other economic challenges we've lived through. Personally I passed through those without it bothering me, but I think this may be a bit worse; eg petrol rationing, steeply rising prices, possible power cuts etc, maybe civic facilities like water treatment affected — anything requiring electricity.
At present all I'm anticipating is responding to limitations on what we normally do: so, living simply, having a good stock of pantry items and meds, and a few bits for in case we have power outages. That sort of thing.
The challenge is that there are several factors, it's not just a one-strand thing. So, for instance, the unfortunate new regs about rental properties (even lodgers) mean loads of landlords trying to sell up, which is driving down property prices and flooding the market. And the ill-advised changes re farms mean lots of British farmers are going out of business. And the government seems to be in a bit of a leadership meltdown. At the same time as Net Zero steaming ahead, and several wars on. It's all a bit much.
Basically I think it's about creating household resilience, so that there's some bottled water, a camping stove and stove-top kettle, some non-electrical ways of passing time (knitting, reading paperbacks, playing cards, drawing), and some pantry staples like rice, pasta, tinned fish, long life or dried milk, salt, bouillon, tea etc, maybe herbs growing in the garden. Anything you normally use, just a comfortable amount stashed away in the cupboard. Also maybe having a spare of each thing, so that there's always eg one shampoo on the go and one unopened in the cupboard — just to give you time if supplies are delayed.
If there's any way to have a spare set of meds tucked away, that could be good — maybe not possible with prescription meds though.
Yes I had some supplies just over 18 months ago when there was a potential black out due to gas issues. As a result of watching the Vicar a person in the comments recommended ‘Charlie Survival’ YouTube and he looks to be really good, no nonsense, practical and peaceful planning. He is also based in the UK and therefore his info is relevant and pertinent to this country. We won’t be able to stockpile prescription meds but we can make sure we’re not down to the wire before requesting medications. Charlie also mentioned to never let your vehicle go below 1/2 full. Thanks for the heads up Pen it is appreciated xx
👍 I've seen a couple of Charlie Survival's videos — it's a proper prepper channel, and a bit in-depth for me. I don't want to get drawn in to an obsessive or fearful mindset. We have a little power station (like the people who live in vans use to power their electrical) to cover our computers and freezer if the power goes out, and we have a little camping gas hob. We're stingy with house heating anyway, and we already collect water from the local spring and run it through a filter. I've been adding a few tins a week to a box to give me some back-up, and a few bags of pasta and rice, some milk powder and salt. Just enough extra basics for a short while (2 or 3 wks maybe). The prepper mindset can be very fearful and see other people as competitors or a threat, and that seems not good for the soul. My goal has been to give us enough margin to figure out what to do next. I can't really imagine a scenario of us being OK and letting other people not be. But if everyone has a just-in-case kit, we should all be OK. I mean, woe betide us if we ran out of cat food!!
Yes I’m beginning to realise that I need to be careful about what I watch!!! I don’t agree with the mentality of being covert and not sharing with others. I’m aware there are some gaps such as water and power so will plug those gaps as best I can. Thanks for your sane words - this space is my safe harbour!
There is however a lovely YouTube channel called ‘community roots permaculture’ run by a chap called Steve and he posted a video last night on useful crops to grow and planning ahead for Winter xx
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