Opinion : Are you ‘Brexit ready’? This is what you may need to stockpile….

Brexit day is nearly here. Are you ready?

Next week votes will be held in Parliament to see if we have a hard or soft exit from the European Union. Or maybe we may not leave at all. Whatever the decision my good self fears it will be a messy exit.

The whole Brexit process has, in my opinion, turned into a charade. It’s a demonstration of how the current powers that be have lost the plot, indeed if such numskulls had been in charge during World War 2 yours truly dreads to think what would have happened.

So are you ready for Brexit? Could you survive if supply chains failed and our ordered society broke down into chaos?

As someone who lived through the winter of discontent back in the 1970’s my good self has decided to share some tips on what preparations you may need to make in order to prepare for the worst.

Of course food is a necessity. Instant potato mix, bottled water, baked beans, tins of meat and other items with long “sell by dates” are what you should aim to be getting.

However survival is more than just having food.

So how many candles do you have at your house? As we learned back in the 1970’s there may be disruption to electricity supplies. Even though the lighter evenings will soon be upon us it’s not much fun if you don’t have a source of light. My good self has recently found out a couple of hurricane lamps that were stored in one of my sheds and will be using those if the lights go out.

Is you car filled with fuel? A lot of people run around town with their tanks close to empty these days but that’s no good if fuel supplies run low and queues build up at filling stations. Remember you can legally store 30 litres of petrol at home without informing your local Petroleum Enforcement Authority so surely it makes sense to have a reserve supply in case chaos breaks out at the pumps.

Petrochemicals such as motor oil and brake fluid may also become short. It may be worth obtaining enough motor oil ready for the next oil change on your vehicle. If your vehicle was made in continental Europe than maybe a spare oil filter might be a useful item to have too.

Have you got any dust bags at home? Remember those trusty old black sacks that we used to put out every week for the dustmen? Well, they could come in very handy if the fuel runs out for the dust carts and the authorities create a designated place in the centre of town where you can take your rubbish. A dust bag can be put in the boot of your car but how on earth would you get a wheelie bin into your vehicle?

Do you have a generator at home? You may well have filled your freezer with food but if the power supplies are disrupted can you generate electricity to keep the food frozen?

Have you cleaned your freezer recently? With limited power you need your freezer to work as efficiently and quickly as possible. Make sure it’s defrosted and the condenser coil (the grille like part at the back that collects dust and dirt) is kept clean.

So there we are, my quick guide to being ‘Brexit ready’.

No doubt any disruption to food supplies will be temporary. Indeed the cargo ships full of chlorinated chickens and other rubbish the Americans don’t want are probably already about to set sail from the other side of the Atlantic to come to our rescue.

What do you think?

My blogs are published regularly here on the WycombeToday.com website.

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