Hello from Holland!

[FelicityMay]

Hi All,

I stumbled onto here after becoming obsessed with AA's books (have read one a day!) and wanted to know more about the author and also more about the characters as I work my way through them.

I did just register recently over on SB, so if you use both boards, hi again.

A little about me - Australian born but have called the Netherlands home for a year and honestly not too sure how long we'll be here for. Husband is Dutch and after having him live in Australia for 7+ years we decided to mix it up and come over this way. Back in Australia I was a very basic 'prepper' and have yet to start building supplies up here but I'm itchy to get started again. Ultimately I really want a rural location with an off-grid house, vege garden, fruit trees and chickens etc etc, and probably back in Australia.

As I'm hesitant to go crazy building up supplies while I feel temporary, I am eager to use this time to read and learn and study. I guess those who can do, and those who can't research.

Looking forward to reading all of your posts and gaining knowledge!

Cheers,
Felicity

[unseenone]

I wasn't sure if you were a spammer or a user, glad I approved you.. Welcome!!

[FelicityMay]

Ha! Thank you for the approval. I may have gotten a little too excited to see I had the option to post

[unseenone]

You are set with full access now. Lots of good stuff here, enjoy and feel free to jump in.

[roach2654]

Welcome from Florida ! You found a great group here!!!

[tk]

Welcome from PA.

[doublel]

Hello from Wyoming!

[Sacajawea]

Excellent that you're in Europe! Several of us will bug you for news. Nothing quite like someone "on the ground", to give the best view of what's happening. And welcome from NCarolina.

[Cwi555]

Welcome from TN

[kickstand]

Hi Felicity, and welcome from New Mexico. Do you at least have any preps in your vehicle?
Also, are you a Ham radio operator? The main reason for asking is that once you get to know us, you're going to want to make sure that you can talk to us, even if SHTF.

[Rockntoy]

Welcome from Okiehoma, enjoy the view and have fun.

[DMH]

Hi and welcome from Missouri!

[FelicityMay]

Hi Felicity, and welcome from New Mexico. Do you at least have any preps in your vehicle?
Also, are you a Ham radio operator? The main reason for asking is that once you get to know us, you're going to want to make sure that you can talk to us, even if SHTF.

Hey kickstand! We don't own a car so no preps to store, and husband has a bicycle to get to and from work (20mins ride). I want to put together at least a BOB we can use if we need to high tail it to his parents place which is just over an hours walk. We live in the city centre and they're out in a suburb (and have a car). The city I live in has about 120k people so it's not like we'll be battling through the streets of Amsterdam *phew* But still, I don't trust people on a whole and I'd like to thank AA for instilling that fear from reading the books!

Also not a ham operator, yet. Husband isn't completely on board with the whole prepping thing so it's a process of doing what I can. When I prepped a little in Australia I was on a fairly high salary and money wasn't a concern so the extras he didn't mind - didn't understand, but didn't mind. Now that we're here, I haven't secured work yet so it'll be a long process to get some preps going. Pretty much just buying a few extra things we already eat and building on that. I honestly doubt if I'll secure any full time work as most places around me want English AND Dutch and I'm speaking only at a beginner level in the latter. So long story short, I'll need to get my husband completely on board for any 'fun stuff' purchases. I can pretty much cover stockpiling food using the 'What if we're both sick and don't want to go to the store?' or 'What if it's snowing heavily...?' examples and he nods along.

Ironically, he's a ER Doctor yet doesn't seem to consider the 'what if..' in a pandemic situation. If that S is going to HTF, he's in a prime place to be infected or at least see a disturbing trend.

But I am rambling, sorry, there's just no one here I can or want to talk through this stuff with!

[jag06]

Welcome from North Carolina. Glad you found your way to our little corner of the nut house. Remember that an emergency can be anything lasting from 1 day to weeks or even months. Not every emergency will be a grid down like in Going Home. If you can convince your husband to at least set aside 1-2 weeks worth of food and water in case of any kind of disaster it will help. So here in the US, our news is pretty much controlled and we don't get a lot of honest news from Europe. Are things really as bad as being reported regarded the refuge crises? We are getting bits of information in the news but mainly through social media that assaults, rapes, and other crimes are in a dramatic rise all across Europe due to the massive influx of refugees. Can you enlighten us if that is truly the case?

[FelicityMay]

Hey Jag - I have to be completely honest, I don't follow much of the news etc. due to my language barriers. I have a Dutch friend who lives in Brussels who shares news stories on FB and I get the feeling that there's more pain down south than here. In my day-to-day life I'm not aware of it but I don't know if that's just due to luck of the town I live in, or (and probably mostly) me being oblivious. I'm not exactly proud of my ignorance but at least I'm honest about it. The one news site I access occasionally is dutchnews.nl but like any news source I'm sure it's got is bias.. e.g.: one story says unemployment is down while the following story is announcing a country wide company shut down with thousands of jobs cut. Go figure. Sadly, I didn't follow politics much either in Australia, it was pretty much six of one and half a dozen of the other.

There is a lady who works at my local cake shop (the coffee is awesome) and she said that she volunteers to teach refugees Dutch in her spare time. From what she's said she's dealing with mostly families.

Prepping side of things - that's pretty much how I've got my husband only slightly on board is by taking the 'unexpected day-to-day' emergencies that can happen like sickness, storms, loss of job etc. If I started going on about EMP, economic crisis, martial law etc then I would lose him pretty quick. If I keep scenarios contained to in the home, then he gets it. I actually told him recently that I'd like to try geocaching. He thinks I suggested it as something fun to do, but it was partly also suggested to get use to wearing a pack and being outdoors. I'm pretty sure he's on-board with the whole rural-ish property and self sufficiency as I've been talking about that as a retirement plan for 10+ years.

I remember my Mother saying to me that while the man is the head of the family, the woman controls the neck which turns the head.