Moving around after TSHTF

[NorthernRaider]

Moving around after TSHTF
© NR 2013

Once TSHTF if it goes big style the noise levels and amount of people moving around will eventually drop right off. Once the sheeple are out of petrol, delivery trucks, buses, taxis stop running its going to get quieter, no more lawn mowers, no more strimmers or pressure washers , probably far few barking dogs, less kids roaming, no aircraft overhead and the last of the refugees has moved on through it’s going to get much quieter and this is going to have two effects on you.

First it’s going to have a psychological effect as the silence itself can be very disturbing and intimidating, some people start to hear phantom noises and think people are hiding or watching them from concealed places (cammed up preppers?) This overwhelming all-encompassing silence can drive some people mad. You need to learn to live with natures natural noise levels and let your hearing adapt to the new background levels, it could save your life if an odd but faint noise raises the hairs on your neck. You will begin to trust in your animal instincts again.

Second you are going to have to learn how to move and operate much more quietly than you currently do. That good ole reliable Goretex waterproof you go everywhere in. It rustles nonstop with every move you make and it makes an audible unnatural noise. Those iron segs in your brogues are a dead giveaway, those business shoes clippy clop down the street, suddenly there is no traffic noise to drown out the noises you make just waking.

Also as traffic and moving vehicles become rare events your peripheral vision is going to become far more alert to anything moving around, as is everyone elses enhanced vision and hearing. If the streets are still not safe for normal daily activity you are going to have to adapt not only your walking style but how you move around overall.

You will walk slower with more purpose, you will pause frequently to listen, and you will try and remain either in the shadows or easy reach of shelter or an escape route. You are going to need to become the deer in a forest full of wolves using your senses to keep you safe.

You will adapt or you will die, you will find you always ensure your hands are free to fight or draw a weapon, your eyes will constantly scan the environment, your ears will act in conjunction with your nose to act as early warning radar, and your gut feeling will no longer just be a hunch.

OK so how can you take some steps to preparing yourself to this new world?
Well one method I have practiced for many years is on occasion and during every time of weather, warm sunny dry, windy, windy and raining, snowing, blizzard etc is getting up as soon as the sun comes up and going for a walk around the village in the early hours when there is little or no traffic around. It is amazing how much more quiet it is and you will be surprised just how noisy your walking pace and clothes may be. I’ve even done it on Boxing day morning at 3 AM on a cold winters night to see how much noise my feet made on the snow, ice etc and how long it took for the drifting snow to cover my trail.

I often take a walk down quiet paths and country lanes to see how changing my walking style can reduce the noise and just how close to the cattle and horses and odd deer in the field I can approach down the lane before they react to me.
Try if you can to find time to practice moving around in an environment that is without the normal noises humanity and its devices make.

[bigpaul]

I have said before, post shtf people will be surprised just how far noise and smell will carry, that generator you bought will be heard for miles, as will conversation and dogs barking. once I have left my house and walked up the back lane into the surrounding countryside I can hear the dogs being fed in the kennels 1 mile away, I can hear the traders setting up in the market 1 mile away, I can hear cars coming over the hill through the cut 2 miles away, and that's now with all the clatter of modern life, post shtf I will be able to hear even further away, i'm actually surprised how far I can hear!!

[Highlander]

If you want to experience this try my place almost any day,.. take the tourist out of it let those who are going to work leave and spend the rest of the day never seeing a car

Sunday mornings,..any Sunday its like the end of the world,.... and every night is pitch black except for the stars

Wake up to the roar of the stags during the rut,.. or that blasted cuckoo,.. Oh how I hate that Cuckoo

[bigpaul]

once all the kids have gone to school and the workers have left its VERY quiet here. we have a woodpecker over the back and he starts about 5AM!!

[Highlander]

(10 June 2013, 17:36)bigpaul Wrote: once all the kids have gone to school and the workers have left its VERY quiet here. we have a woodpecker over the back and he starts about 5AM!!

aye,... but our cuckoo has a competition with that bl**dy dove,... we cant sleep with the window closed, so were wear ear protectors,..

[Straight Shooter]

Good post NR and BP is bang on with that generator noise although you can silence them in different ways WHEN would you use one for the first time , as NR says it will be real quiet , NOW is the time to try out that silenced genny to be ready, at least testing will give you a good idea of what to expect

[Highlander]

...you can add the likes of motor bike exhausts, in my case its in a shed at the far side of the house, vented with a small pipe,... but there is no such thing as a silent genny

I think the best time to use it would be during the very first shortages, when people would expect to hear generators going, your fuel is not going to last forever, and your fuel may well be of more use running other things,.. so use it when people expect you to use it

The second time its used will be very much later when there is no-one around to hear it,..or the chances are far less

[Grumpy Grandpa]

I remember BP covering the issue of sound before and it brought back to me, as NR's post does, just how really quiet it can be when you're away from the hustle and bustle - out in the hills - on a mountain top... (wistful sigh!).

How soon and how readily we adapt to the silence may depend entirely on experiences recalled so yes, we should make every effort to do as NR suggests. (Highlander - can you put up with someone in a bivvy at the bottom of your garden? )

When the time comes, the sound of approaching engines, heard long before their arrival (remember wind direction and strength will play a part), will herald the forces of 'law and order' or the bad guys (might be the same beastie!) as they will probably be the only ones with access to any remaining stocks of fuel, by coercion in either case! It'll certainly be a sound that shouldn't be responded to by rubbernecking...

[Straight Shooter]

Have to agree with you Highlander that's about the way I would go about it to.

[NorthernRaider]

(10 June 2013, 22:26)Highlander Wrote: ...you can add the likes of motor bike exhausts, in my case its in a shed at the far side of the house, vented with a small pipe,... but there is no such thing as a silent genny

I think the best time to use it would be during the very first shortages, when people would expect to hear generators going, your fuel is not going to last forever, and your fuel may well be of more use running other things,.. so use it when people expect you to use it

The second time its used will be very much later when there is no-one around to hear it,..or the chances are far less

I'm hoping water wheels, micro wind turbines, PV systems and methane systems will reduce the need for running gennies, but didnt someone say they were experimenting with running the genny exhaust pipe into a pond or stream so the exhaust noise was lost under water !!!