how long after an event for things to die down

[JD1]

I voted 2 years, but as mentioned above it is hard to say as it depends on what the event is. If it was a pandemic that killed millions in a short space of time then there would be more to scavenge for anyone who survived. If there was an event that screwed the infrastucture but didn't kill many people then it could drag on for years with waterborne disease (amongst many other) killing as many if not more than starvation will. It would also depend on what you mean by trying to get things going again, I expect trading between neighbours might happen fairly soon (i'll swap my cabbages for your pushbike type thing) but to get to the stage of proper trading like markets etc may take many years or decades.

The recent programs on the BBC discussing how civilisation started showed that civilisation was only possible once there was a food surplus. Until there was a surplus people spent all their time hunting and gathering enough food to try and survive. Farming was the solution originally but not too many people around now would be able to manage to grow enough food without access to modern fertilisers etc, and anyone who grows veg in their garden knows how difficult it can be even with all the modern tools and chemicals

So although I voted for 2 years, it could take many decades to get any semblance of stability