For help, advice and discussion about stuff not related to aviation. Play nice: no religion, no politics and no axe grinding please.
By johnm
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1692404
Miscellaneous wrote:
johnm wrote:"Could you feed and clothe yourself and keep yourself warm, without recourse to shops?"

If things deteriorate to that extent John, I'd suggest learning to shoot should rise to the top of the priority list of necessary skills. :lol:



It would need to be archery though, as places to buy guns and ammunition might be a bit thin on the ground :lol:
#1692412
In my early years (pre 1950) every day was an act of survival. Clothes were handed down from one brother to the next as we grew out of them. Mother would unpick knitted stuff and reuse the wool to knit larger garments - most were in glorious technicolour with the mix of wools. We went barefoot in the summer months.
Lighting came from oil lamps then to the manic of the Tilley lamp (how many could actually light one today, never mind replacing it’s mantle and the use of the “pricker”) ?
Cooking and baking was done on an open hearth, then we moved on to the Rayburn all peat fired of course. Milk from the domestic cow. We lived mainly on porridge oats and rabbit, caught on the farm. All veggies grows there too. No luxury of electricity in any of this.
Who would know today what a box bed was. My father was grieve on the 1200 acre farm (huge then compared to today’s prairies) with 14 Clydesdale horses and 14 men and an absentee owner.
I escaped all of this at 16 and joined the RN and thought I was in heaven on £3/10 a fortnight. Then off on a years tour of the ”Windies”
Nevertheless, I could go back and survive on nought !!
johnm, cockney steve, OCB liked this
User avatar
By Flyin'Dutch'
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1692413
johnm wrote:I'd say that the basic skills would be answers to the question:

"Could you feed and clothe yourself and keep yourself warm, without recourse to shops?"


None of my off-spring can but neither could I.

The oldest is in the army and can no doubt survive better in the wild and kill people with his bare hands but not able to hit a nail in the wall.

The world has moved on. I was a master in repairing bike tyres as the TbT* was very short, and we had plenty of time and no money. Modern bike tyres are robust, long wearing and puncture resistant.

My DIY skills are fine, the daughters have non but I suspect that they will manage to get by just as their mom does - just give instructions and a time scale.

Come to think of it they seem to have those skills already.






*TbP - time between punctures
johnm liked this
#1692414
My kids have enjoyed plinking air-rifles in the garden (especially when we discovered explosive targets :twisted: ). They've both dipped rods in the sea and caught mackerel and even codling. They've camped out, lit fires and are happy to walk up the hill in the rain and snow. But they've not really learn't the real basic skills of these things (neither have I). I don't really think they need to.

Kids (and adults) just need to be exposed to things in a fun and interesting way and then they'll have the lifelong capacity to take them further or not. When they get off their blydi 'phones.
Flyin'Dutch' liked this
#1692415
Bill McCarthy wrote:In my early years (pre 1950) every day was an act of survival.

Nae wonder the Scots are a hardy bunch, especially in the far north. :wink:

Although some it would appear have moved on to greener grass in Belgium and apparently forgotten their roots. :lol:
Last edited by Miscellaneous on Thu May 09, 2019 9:49 am, edited 1 time in total.
User avatar
By mick w
FLYER Club Member  FLYER Club Member
#1692416
Bill McCarthy wrote:In my early years (pre 1950) every day was an act of survival. Clothes were handed down from one brother to the next as we grew out of them. Mother would unpick knitted stuff and reuse the wool to knit larger garments - most were in glorious technicolour with the mix of wools. We went barefoot in the summer months.
Lighting came from oil lamps then to the manic of the Tilley lamp (how many could actually light one today, never mind replacing it’s mantle and the use of the “pricker”) ?
Cooking and baking was done on an open hearth, then we moved on to the Rayburn all peat fired of course. Milk from the domestic cow. We lived mainly on porridge oats and rabbit, caught on the farm. All veggies grows there too. No luxury of electricity in any of this.
Who would know today what a box bed was. My father was grieve on the 1200 acre farm (huge then compared to today’s prairies) with 14 Clydesdale horses and 14 men and an absentee owner.
I escaped all of this at 16 and joined the RN and thought I was in heaven on £3/10 a fortnight. Then off on a years tour of the ”Windies”
Nevertheless, I could go back and survive on nought !!


Aye , & a Coal fired Copper in the corner , & all Mum had to cook on was a Primus Stove :thumright:
#1692425
This item on what a contemporary headteacher does may be apposite:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-48098952

As an Air Cadet instructor I found the following specific Cadet-learned skills helped older Cadets towards selecting and attaining career paths on leaving when their formal academic achievements left them short:

- formal First Aid qualifications
- DofE attainments as evidence of ability to plan and lead (from inclusion on CV leading to call for interview and questions at interview, according to Cadets' feedback to me)
- shooting (for a couple who chose to join RAF Regiment as Gunners after unspectacular school achievements, both of whom rose to S/Ldr)

However, at a more basic level, both when Cadets are new and for Cadets who are middle-rank but not near school leaving age: showing latter how to do something (almost anything) 'practical', and then get them to take a group of the former and impart the same skills to them. This can be most effective in a competitive team or group setting: whose fire can boil a litre of water over a newly built campfire fastest; whose knots will hold the raft or bridge together best in or over that stream; whose scratch-built bambboo and netting fruit cage will survive best over the (real or notional) garden or allotment patch against the strong winds forecast over the next few days ? Even mundane things like ironing uniform and polishing shoes as part of an inter-group competition can be learning and leading opportunities; obviously easier if physically away at 'camp', of course. For the youngest ones, it also shows that teachers are not necessarily adults, and child leaders are not necessarily school bullies.

Good luck and, er, 'be prepared' :)
#1692441
Passing on old skills is not always straightforward. My mother is an amazing knitter and has the patience to teach; she runs a couple of “Stitch and bitch” groups where she helps adults improve their knitting. When she offered her services to local Brownies and Guides she was turned down as being “too old” to satisfy their policies on volunteers. She has both time and skills and enjoys interacting with people but is not wanted. For a while she gave private lessons ( and got paid) but lacks the tech skills to get out there and find more customers.
A great resource, going begging.
#1692444
Flyingfemme wrote:When she offered her services to local Brownies and Guides she was turned down as being “too old” to satisfy their policies on volunteers.

So the lesson for the young girls is that old people are useless and anything they could teach you doesn't matter anymore? That's a horrible lesson for young minds.
#1692484
ISTR she was told that volunteers needed to be 60 or less......she was in her 70s at the time and is now over 80 but still drives and is capable of managing daily life. I am now 60 so, presumably, past my useful life as well? Try telling that to UK Govt who expect me to work for another 7 years!
#1692505
Miscellaneous wrote:
Bill McCarthy wrote:In my early years (pre 1950) every day was an act of survival.

Nae wonder the Scots are a hardy bunch, especially in the far north. :wink:

Although some it would appear have moved on to greener grass in Belgium and apparently forgotten their roots. :lol:


Aye, spent most of my childhood in a house where from the age of 7 I was the main one getting the fire going.

Paraffin lanterns, yep.

Fitting a mantle in a lamp, I’d actually forgotten about that! What a PITA that was....

Spotting hypothermia, dehydration, setting fractures to allow moving someone, the basics of getting some lump off a freezing mountain I definitely need refresher. Not really a “dying” skill, just skills that are less and less taught from what I can see.
kanga liked this
#1692508
OCB wrote:...

Spotting hypothermia, dehydration, setting fractures to allow moving someone, the basics of getting some lump off a freezing mountain I definitely need refresher. Not really a “dying” skill, just skills that are less and less taught from what I can see.


Those are "prevention from dying" skills :thumright:

One of my former Cadets who became a helicopter winchman got more than one award for doing that sort of thing

A group of my Cadets, on a DoE Gold exhibition on the Brecons, got a commendation for their actions when they came across a lone elderly walker who had suffered a heart attack.
#1692517
In my early years I was witness to the massive change from REAL horsepower to mechanised HP - over just about five years, millions of workhorses vanished, to be replaced by the tractor. I remember it well, at just eight years old given a Clydesdale yoked into a Scotch cart and sent out into a field of turnips to bring a load for the cattle.
My father said that the biggest advance in farming was the introduction of the combine harvester. No more returning to a 20 or so acre field to reset 8 sheave stooks after they had been blown down in a night of lashing rain. Now the crop can be secured in a matter of days.
One man and a pair of horse could plough 1 acre per day - now with huge tractor/ plough tackle, they can do an acre an hour just about. Even so, farming today may seem easy to the uninformed but we are still at the mercy of the weather. Many are still working on a “break even” scenario.