What do you have to hand now?

[River Song]

I'm working on a way to turn my empty bottles of Harvey's Bristol Cream into a missile launcher.

[Scythe13]

At the moment I'm sat on the sofa with the wife and 2 dogs.

In my pocket, Maxpedition knife and mobile phone, plus bank car. First aid kit on the mantle of the fireplace, UV3r up there too, along with 1 bottle of Zippo lighter fluid (for the wife's hand warmer), a small 'room bag' that has a bit of kit in it just at the end of the sofa, a 24kg kettle bell on the floor in front of me, 25 litre + 5 litre containers of water just behind one of the sofa chairs next to the kettle bell, plus over 1000x 25litre water purifiers strapped to the handle of the 25litre bottle. That's only stuff that's just about within arm's reach. Have to reach a little further (1.5 arm lengths) for the bag, water, FAK, and kettle bell.

We also have 2 fleece blankets and a sleeping bag on the sofa, within arm's reach, but they are generally for the whippets to cuddle up in and stay warm.

Oh and a few survival books on the fireplace mantle too.

---

Just stood up and saw 2 torches also on the fireplace mantle. One old fashioned micro MagLite, the other a Cree torch.

[Mortblanc]

[Jonas]

I don't know if this would be available in the UK, but over here we have aerosol cans of "wasp and hornet" spray which shoot a stream (not a spray) of very toxic liquid about 10 to 15 feet. Whomever you hit in the eyes with this stuff will be permanently blinded unless he/she gets immediate professional medical treatment. Naturally, if you all had this stuff handy and some thug broke into your house to do you harm, after spraying the goon's eyes it you'd immediately call an ambulance...

[Mortblanc]

[Tartar Horde]

Medieval implements of death, and an intimidating Codpiece

[BeardyMan]

[Jonas]

Actually Mort, "The Texas Way" is to save the bug spray for the wasps and hornets and shoot the intruder with a pistol, rifle, or shotgun in the caliber of the homeowner's choosing. Be that as it may, for the UK folk who's access to firearms is, shall I say charitably, limited, "Wasp and Hornet Spray" would be extremely effective in stopping an intruder or three bent on theft and mayhem. Since it's a fairly common product used around the home, purchasing and owning a few cans of the stuff would not put the UK homeowner on a government list that they'd rather not be on anyway.

In a true SHTF situation, it is doubtful that intruders so blinded could get the medical treatment needed to save their eyesight within the limited time frame necessary and then pay a return visit to the homeowner later for retribution, but rather would be absorbed into the general panicked population where governmental public assistance programs for former housebreakers with extreme vision deficiencies would be very limited at best.

[Mortblanc]

Thank God for the Castle Doctrine and the proper tools for dealing with things that go bump in the night.