UK drama - Survivors

[Codger_64]

Sorry guys, but there aren't many decent replies yet. Lets ignore the TV drama itself - this is a W&S skills subforum, not a TV review forum...

Sorry that you do not like the responses so far, but your movie's host site does not allow us colonists to view it.

Currently BBC iPlayer TV programmes are available to play in the UK only, but all BBC iPlayer Radio programmes are available to you.

 

[Gadgetaholic]

a) Stock up on 'how to' books from libraries, book shops etc
b) Go to a garden center and clear them out of books, seeds, kit and hopefully plants.

This seems sensible. The good thing about seeds is that they keep for a long time (as far as I am aware) so they could be planted sometime later.
In the TV show the group finds a house and moves in. They do grab some chickens and collect eggs, but that seems about it for creating their own food (at least for season 1).

I think that growing your own crops would have a bit of a learning curve and you would undoubtedly make mistakes and have crop failures. For this reason I would want to get into the countryside and find some farm land straight away. I would get books & seeds straight away and get planting anything that should be planted at that time of year. If the first seasons of crops don't work out well then I would survive on the canned food from the forays into town. By the time the canned food ran out it should be a few years down the track and by that time the crop growing should be going much better. It would be good to learn how to feed yourself off the land BEFORE the pre-virus food stocks ran out!

 

[Tuxdad]

Looks pretty similar to the show we had here in the states from the pics... Wasn't able to watch any clips or past show..

 

[ROCK6]

I think living in countries where everyone is armed to the teeth and expects to use their guns on each other on a daily basis, warps a person into believing Hollywood come SHTF.

In countries where gun deaths are high, where mass shootings occur several times a year, you would unfortunately come to expect gun violence as a daily way of life.

If every time a natural disaster happened in your country and you read about lone gunmen shooting at police officers, armed looters attacking people, then you would be fearful of such events and want to be armed.

These things are understandable but they are born from a country's own laws, history and experience. I don't think they are necessarily universal to all countries on the planet.

I disagree...it's not the guns or any other weapon; I would submit that some people are just plain evil, greedy and wouldn't hesitate to kill you for the shoes you're wearing. In the US, we have a large number of legal gun-owners, but I would bet every country, despite their gun laws, have a similar percentage of illegal gun-owners. Some of our very own cities that have extremely strict gun laws have some of the highest violent crime rates. Criminals have firearms regardless of country or city, and they really don’t need them in unarmed cities and countries.

I've been to several countries that had very strict firearm laws for their citizens, but there was no shortage of violent crimes, gangs, drug wars and sometimes corrupt and abusive governments.

I really think, even with the show's sudden mortality rate and limited survivors, scavenging in any urban environment would be more dangerous than walking across Afghanistan wrapped in an American flag singing God Bless America.

The real fantasies are thinking you can just run around, break into houses and scavenge for stuff...even if there was a 99.9% mortality rate. If you ever done a combat operation in an urban environment, you can't imagine the amount of stress of what might be waiting on the other side of the door, around the next corner or who may be targeting you.

I'm of the mindset that if you don't have what you need now, you won't have it after any major crisis; and, if you plan to "acquire it", you'll most likely end up getting yourself killed.

ROCK6

 

[Gadgetaholic]

In the US, we have a large number of legal gun-owners, but I would bet every country, despite their gun laws, have a similar percentage of illegal gun-owners.

How much would you bet? Because I'd love to get in on that action!

I wouldn't say that there wouldn't be any country without firearms or any country without illegal firearms - but there are plenty of countries that DON'T have a similar percentage of gun-owners (illegal or not) to the US. Here in New Zealand the death by gun rate is much much lower than the US - plenty of violent criminal don't have firearm here. For that matter even our police don't walk around with firearms. Here a criminal with a gun is a big deal and the police will call in a special unit if they come across an armed suspect.

 

[ROCK6]

How much would you bet? Because I'd love to get in on that action!

I wouldn't say that there wouldn't be any country without firearms or any country without illegal firearms - but there are plenty of countries that DON'T have a similar percentage of gun-owners (illegal or not) to the US. Here in New Zealand the death by gun rate is much much lower than the US - plenty of violent criminal don't have firearm here. For that matter even our police don't walk around with firearms. Here a criminal with a gun is a big deal and the police will call in a special unit if they come across an armed suspect.

NZ is pretty isolated and as mentioned history does play a role; but you're fortunate for the low crime rates. We have plenty of isolated parts of our country where the population is pretty sparse and crime almost non-existent. I guess I would avoid listing a country in general and just mention large cities. Crime is prevalent in all. The biggest fear will be how quickly a city falls apart after a crisis without law enforcement. Culture has a big part of it as I've seen some pretty brutal stuff in South America and Africa. Even with the absence of firearms, a community that doesn't take security and defensive measures seriously will be targeted and over run by a determined criminal threat.

As a side note, you mention a good aspect of skills. On the flip side, what do people do if they don't have the resources or skills? They scavenge and most likely resort to more violent methods of acquiring resources...it doesn't necessarily have to be a hardened criminal to be a threat. It could be a father willing to kill for food to feed his family...nothing is going to be black and white and you really can't trust just anyone. That sounds a little bleak, but unless they're a part of your community, they need to be viewed as a threat until proven otherwise.

ROCK6

 

[Gadgetaholic]

As a side note, you mention a good aspect of skills. On the flip side, what do people do if they don't have the resources or skills? They scavenge and most likely resort to more violent methods of acquiring resources...it doesn't necessarily have to be a hardened criminal to be a threat. It could be a father willing to kill for food to feed his family...nothing is going to be black and white and you really can't trust just anyone. That sounds a little bleak, but unless they're a part of your community, they need to be viewed as a threat until proven otherwise.

Excellent point and that is why I suggest getting the hell out of the city well before supplies start running short. Move away from the scavengers and find somewhere to farm and grow what you need.

 

[Yorkshire Boy]

Excellent point and that is why I suggest getting the hell out of the city well before supplies start running short. Move away from the scavengers and find somewhere to farm and grow what you need.

The only problem I see with that is by going to the countryside you'll be moving into tight knit communities, you'll be an outsider and you'll be trying to farm on someones land.

ROCK6, of course every country has what can only be described as "evil" people and general low life criminals. With no law and order I agree that protection for oneself would be paramount and deadly force might have to be used.

In the absence of guns people in an African civil war will machete one another. I would expect countries with a history of severe poverty and political instability to have the strong taking from the weak.

Make people desperate and they will do anything to survive.

I agree with you on these points wholeheartedly.

But what concerns me are the people who see a disaster and then go into a mentalist "war" mentality.

For the last few years I've been reading US survivalist websites. The amount of threads pertaining to the shooting of policemen and military personnel, how blacks descend into savagery in times of stress, "shoot the men and take the women" etc.....I find highly disturbing.

Perhaps these people are Walter Mitty types and will get themselves killed in the first week?

 

[K_Domain7]

Please discuss the topic and not each other. We have a Report Post button for trolls; don't feed them.

K_Domain7, the jerk-it smiley is inappropriate for this forum. Restrict it to Whine & Cheese. It is also inappropriate to make simplistic analyses of complex situations, especially when you don't seem particularly familiar with them.

Sorry all, I did not expect my comment to be particularly hateful. I just take the issue of knife law very seriously and what I "hear" happening in the UK in particular scares me. I am sorry if anyone thought I was dissing the Country or the people, but i wasn't, it is the politics. I have not posted often and I was not aware that the "jerk-it" smiley functioned was reserved for that purpose.
My comments on the UK were out of line. I appologize.
I am a easy going guy and will admit when i have said something wrong.

 

[K_Domain7]

What a moronic thing to say....Can't even have a pocket knife LOL! Look at the UK guys who post on websites like this and you'll see huge collections of bladed tools.

Sick of anything UK? You're a troll...

And to you, I appoligize for offending you. If you happen to be one of the few knife-lovers in the world you are a freind of mine no matter what country you are from. My commentary on the UK was out of line, but at the same time i hold by my predictions of darker days for the UK in terms of Knife rights unless things change.
Once again I am sorry for offending you.

 

[SouthernCross]

I have noticed that a lot of people have commented on what would be involved in growing their own food.

Out of curosity, how many currently have a vegetable garden or fruit trees that they use to supply their own table with?

If not, why not?



Kind regards
Mick

 

[Gadgetaholic]

how many currently have a vegetable garden or fruit trees that they use to supply their own table with?

If not, why not?

Currently you can walk into a supermarket and buy whatever - many people can't be bothered growing their own veges and they don't need to.

I am renting and am not about to dig up the lawn and plant a garden, though there is a lemon tree that provides me with free lemons for ~8 months of the year. A garden and some fruit trees and some vines (grape, passionfruit or whatever) makes a lot of sense in an EOTWAWKI situation where you want to add vitamins & minerals to your diet to stay healthy.

Of course apartment dwellers are pretty limited in their options too.

On Survivors they came across a group in the city that was trying to make the city more habitable because it was their home - I think that is a bad idea (though I could believe it happening) because there is just no easy way of providing food and water for a group in a city in the long term. Fresh water and fertile land are 2 essentials you should move to.

 

[Corso]

There is always a risk that the media will try and evoke change in our current (quite sensible) knife laws -I say media because the government dont do a thing unless its been a tabloid headline for atleast 3 weeks. We are however now in europe propper and that means there will be a limit to what the government can inflict on us our human rights are protected by brussels a lot more stringently than whitehall besides this close to an election nonone want to ruffle feathers.

If anyone is interested our laws can be sumerised as: carry because you want to carry your limited to a none locking sub 3" folder but carry because you need to carry - you can pretty much have what you want.

British law is a complex thing at the best of times (lawers need to make money some how and litigation isn't as big over here ) so need may in some cases have to be explained in court but camping,bushcraft,work are all legitamate reasons that are unlikley to get past a desk sergeant unless you've been behaving naughty.


Back to survivors - we are in the second series in the UK - not bad for a drama but as a survival drama its prett poor - they don't seem to EDC anything of any use at all, have no 'plan' nor anything to protect them selves with - even with our hand gun restrictions we still have acess to shotguns,rifles,bows and of course knives

IOut of curosity, how many currently have a vegetable garden or fruit trees that they use to supply their own table with?

alotments are very popular especially around london - there are huge waiting lists for land - alot of the old generation remember the war and even those in middle age remember what rationing was like I dont think growing would be the problem it would more likley be protecting

 

[MG_Saldivar]

I hope this isn't perceived as a thread hijacking - that's not my intention...

I've watched and enjoyed both the original and the new versions of Survivors (thank goodness for my region free DVD player!) and while I agree with many of the comments that have been made, I think it's important to point out that Survivors, like many post-SHTF stories, focus, for good or ill, on survival in rural settings. As some of you have pointed out, there are many logical reasons why rural areas would be preferable to cities post-SHTF, but there is evidence from history that many people have survived in heavily urbanized areas during SHTF situations for extended periods. Examples include the siege of Leningrad (St. Petersburg) during WWII and the long civil war in Beirut during the 1980's.

So - urban survival post-SHTF seems to be possible, not hypothetically but based on real evidence. I would personally head for the hills (literally) but I can imagine scenarios where I might be stuck in an urban area for at least some while after SHTF. Because of this, I encourage everyone I know who is interested in disaster preparedness to think about urban survival issues.

One good starting point is Ragnar Benson's Urban Survival, which has some 'how to' information but, for me, is better seen as a short history of urban survival scenarios.

To get back to the theme of this thread - Survivors - I think an interesting and thought-provoking fictional take on urban survival is Some Will Not Die by Algis Budrys - it's one of the few examples of post-apocalyptic literature I've encountered that is set mostly in urban areas.

 

[ROCK6]

But what concerns me are the people who see a disaster and then go into a mentalist "war" mentality.

For the last few years I've been reading US survivalist websites. The amount of threads pertaining to the shooting of policemen and military personnel, how blacks descend into savagery in times of stress, "shoot the men and take the women" etc.....I find highly disturbing.

Perhaps these people are Walter Mitty types and will get themselves killed in the first week?

Yeah...I would hope this is really just a minority of extremists with most just talking tuff on the Internet, but it is disconcerting. I'm with you and I hope these types don't last too long. My only concern is that your safety-radar needs to be fully operational. There are bad people out there, but an organized community/neighborhood is the best defense. Those that think they'll just load up the arsenal and barricade themselves is a pretty immature mentality. On the other hand, you do need to be a little more cautious. Our American society has its imperfections just as most other countries and just about all major cities have the same problems which are just the result of human nature in a highly populated area with limited resources. Good point about the machetes...it goes to show that it's not the tool that's dangerous or destructive, but the man that wields it.

ROCK6

 

[ROCK6]

I have noticed that a lot of people have commented on what would be involved in growing their own food.

Out of curosity, how many currently have a vegetable garden or fruit trees that they use to supply their own table with?

If not, why not?



Kind regards
Mick

This is really a great point Mick. Even when we lived in an apartment, it's not too hard to have a few large pots of tomatoes, beans, even potatoes and different spices.

We now have a decent area for a garden and plan to plant some fruit and nut trees. If you haven't attempted to grow even a small "potter" type garden, you really need to give it a shot. It's not difficult, but I would much rather learn what works and what doesn't before your life really depends on it.

ROCK6

 

[SouthernCross]

G'day Rock

....Even when we lived in an apartment, it's not too hard to have a few large pots of tomatoes, beans, even potatoes and different spices.

We now have a decent area for a garden and plan to plant some fruit and nut trees. If you haven't attempted to grow even a small "potter" type garden, you really need to give it a shot. It's not difficult, but I would much rather learn what works and what doesn't before your life really depends on it.

ROCK6

IMO you are correct. If the apartmet doesn't have a balcony, most will still have a window sill that will allow a small container that can still grow produce (certainly not in commercial quantities, but large enough to learn the important essentials of growing your own :thumbup: ).

I don't know about anyone else, but growing your own food isn't as much about commercial reality, but about keeping "ones hand in" in being able to grow their own food and equally as important, in being able to supply their own table with the best tasting vegetables & fruit.

For example, I challenge anyone to tell me they have tasted a store bought Tomatoe or Strawberry that tastes the same as one picked straight from the plant

The added bonus is that you will have the knowledge & skills needed to be able to grow your own if the commercial supply chain sh#ts itself




Kind regards
Mick

 

[tholiver]

Sorry that you do not like the responses so far, but your movie's host site does not allow us colonists to view it.

Yeah that sucks, a lot of youtube channels are like that as well.
In a similar situation you guys in the U.S used to get the new Survivorman episodes 6 months before us Canucks (despite the fact that it was a Canadian show).That used to really bug me.
Solution? psssst.... torrents (but you didn't hear that from me,lol).