h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

It's not long to go, so is anyone stockpiling, or planning to, for the post-Brexit time? If so, what, and why?

Hmm, interesting. I'll be lurking here to see what people say.

I'm not stockpiling anything, but then I'm currently sticking Brexit up there with the Millennium Bug...on the assumption the press will continue in their frenzy to build up how bad it's going to be, then it'll be a damp squib when it actually happens.

I hope.

Deb

Perhaps it's going to depend on where people live. I'm in the Garden of England where we're used to empty shelves and petrol shortages if Operation Stack goes on too long. We're already being prepared for gridlock in March.

It also occurs to me that there might be people in the EU stockpiling British goods like Marmite or Branston pickle.

I hate to be the one to break this to you, but Branston Pickle’s Japanese:

http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mizkan

Owned by them maybe, but still made in Bury St Edmunds.
http://bringoutthebranston.co.uk/about/history/

[Watches form afar]

While we’re on the subject of the Bury St Edmunds pickle factory...

A87796453 - Pan Yan Pickle

Marmite!

Just prescribed medication. Although that is somewhat awkward as one only gets so much per prescription. If some food were to be scarce come the leaving of the EU, for a short period, I'm sure alternatives can be eaten instead, but som e of the meds are on are kinda fatal if I don't take them... and the drug-manafacturers, regularly hold the UK to ransom, by temp stopping production, to force up the price; which is kinda lucky, as it means I've already something in excess of acouple months worth, in the fridge

Deb, let's not forget the hard year of work a lot of folks did to code patches for computers to ameliorate Y2K. I mean, heck, Bill Lumbergh pushed Peter, Michael & Samir so hard they resorted to computer fraud and Tom Smykowski was seriously considering suicide just before he was ironically nearly killed by a speeding driver.

Yeah, fair comment, BG

Deb

I'm pretty glum about the government shutdown here in the Trump Galaxy. I don't know whether Congress could override Trump's veto of the spending bill that lacks funding for his wall.

I'm not opposed to the Mexican border wall per se. Europe has an awful lot of walled cities. Some places built a second wall around the first one, just as a precaution.

China's great wall took about 20 yers in uits first iteration, with various periods for rebuilding, etc.
http://www.chinahighlights.com/greatwall/fact/building-time.htm

David frye has published a book about the various walls around the world
http://www.amazon.com/Walls-History-Civilization-Blood-Brick/dp/1501172700/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1546534598&sr=8-3&keywords=walls

So, walls are a serious subject that reasonable people can discuss. If the ocean rises enough in the next thirty years or so, many countries may very likely build walls to prevent refugees form drowned areas from breaching their borders.

With Trump, though, it could be argued that reason and consensus are not what he is capable of mustering. Mexicans who want to come the U.S. usually seem to want a better life than they can get in Mexico or points further south. The last thing they would want to do is hurt the U.S. At least, that's the generalization I'm using. Trump's generalization sounds deeply paranoid to me. And he isn't making it easy to find consensus by encouraging give and take.

The walls I would most like to see is sea walls. We'd better start building them now, because when the seas rise, it may be too expensive to build adequate ones.

I apologize for going off topic. I have a habit of doing that, and I wasn't able to overcome that tendency.



Please carry on with your concerns about stocking up on items that might be in short supply after Brexit. I hate to run out of things too.

No. I haven't got enough cupboard or freezer space.

Actually, thinking about this ... what constitutes stock-piling? - we've useually got a freezer full of fish, and frozen veg, and the cupboards are always well stocked, with bags of rices, other grains, pulses, beans, and we've at any time, got one or two 12 can packs of tinned tomatos, and the same of chickpeas likewise, I've useually got two 5 KG epsom salt bags (for the bath), and a dozen or more bottles of bath bubble stuff, plus a cupboard full of shampoos, shower gels, soaps, toilet rolls, etc we've probably got three months worth of basic food sorts, and bathroom supplys, at any point, and I've probably a minamum two or so months of my essential medication, at any single time

dang. I'm gona have to stock pile bacon arn't I? and eggs

I think the suggestion is to stockpile items that originate in the EU, or pass through the ports from elsewhere. It sounds like you're already fine, the tinned tomatoes and chickpeas is a good idea, and perhaps add some tomato puree, olive oil, coconut milk/cream, dried herbs and spices, black pepper and so on and you've got the beginnings of almost anything.

Bacon and eggs we can probably supply in the UK! Or get yourself a pig and some chickens?

Incog, I don't have much freezer space either but if I was going to do anything properly, tins could go in the garage, loft or garden shed. And if not needed, could be donated to a food bank.

Meanwhile, out here in the Garden, the plan on Monday morning, during 2019's first full rush hour, is to put 100+ extra lorries on the roads deliberately, in order to trial a system of herding them into a holding area where customs checks could take place after March.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-kent-46758849

This holding area is what has been needed for a long time, the summer of 2015 was particularly bad for Operation Stack, which can bring large areas of Kent to a complete standstill. Dominic Raab may not have realised how reliant the UK is on the cross channel route, but perhaps we're all going to find out the hard way.

As I said before, out here in the Garden we are used to occasional empty shelves and a lack of petrol when the ports get clogged and the lorries are stacked on the M20. Maybe the rest of the country will get the experience too. Or maybe not.

No there are food sources in Europe Ex Pat food stores, they will send to the UK. Prices reasonable.

The problem isn't in getting food into the UK, that bit will still happen. The next stage will be a challenge, in getting lorries any further than the ports and through paperwork checks before perishable goods deteriorate.

[The horror, the horror! If you start going down the tubes, I will reach across the ocean with a stout rope to try to pull you back up. the question is where to tie it at my end....]