It's Christmas Day!

[Mortblanc]

Some can get into the family dynamic, others into the long term disaster planning and such. I do not recognize any of the people in the above mentioned family as being among my crew.

Fact of the matter is that I have livestock to feed and water pipes that will freeze if I am not at home.

Add to that my aversion to driving after the sun goes down, since I AM THE GRANDPA in this situation.

I need to get "over the river and through the woods" and back to the house before dark.

[Straight Shooter]

well in my case I am grandpa, all three daughters,husbands,and grand kids ARE staying put, there is plenty of room, plenty of food, plenty of heat and hot water , this very senario is why I prepp, in any case I would wait to gain more intel before making a more solid plan....which IS in place anyway .

[bigpaul]

in my case SS, I am STEP granddad and NOBODY is coming to stay with us, they've all got much better things to do! so we'll stay put and ride out Christmas on our own, in peace and quiet!!

[BeardyMan]

Pack up and go home. Not worried about road blocks / herberts on the way home - it's Christmas day, they're all either passed out or too busy beating the missus.
Everyone else can either come with or not, no bother for me either way. If they do come along though, they better be ready to do as they're told.

[River Song]

I am the grandma so they generally come and stop with us in the country. Supplies are OK.

Assuming however that we are with No.1 daughter and hubby on the otherside of London my proposal would be like BP's.

If car still working then pack at night and leave at around 5am before the pond life have got up and gone 'boxing day shopping' !!
Would have to negotiate around the top orbit of London - north of the M25 --- can you imagine being stuck on the M25 in a post TU situation (horrors). However trying to keep onto 'B' roads would be impossible.

If car not working then protect and survive in situ.

Good OP because it's got me thinking in terms of how to make the car a 'complete bug out vehicle'.

[Tartar Horde]

Are there no workhouses!!! it's a poor excuse to pick a mans pocket every 25th of December
Bah humbug

[Jonas]

(21 November 2013, 18:35)Mortblanc Wrote: Question????

Why are the automobiles still running when everything else is down?

Ahh Grasshopper! You must read more carefully!

I wrote:

Quote:About 4PM,... the electricity goes out... There are a few headlights moving on the highway, and candles and flashlights are slowly appearing in the houses of a few neighbors, but in general, everything is dark.

Older diesel cars (like a Mercedes Benz 280D) have no electronics and once started, need no battery to run. They are also equipped with generators, not alternators, hence less vulnerable to EMP (although that's not necessarily the problem in this scenario).

Quote:You and the family members all check your cell phones - no signals!

Since the cell phones power up, Grandma and Grandpa's house, made of stone, may have acted like a Faraday Cage, and if this was an EMP event it probably was not a strong EMP event.

Quote:Your brother gets the idea to go out to the car and check the radio to hear if this electrical failure is being reported, but when he turns on the radio, all he and you can hear, up and down the dial, AM and FM, is static. No commercial station is broadcasting as far as you both can tell.

The only thing that you and your brother can be sure of at this point is that the AM and FM commercial band transmitting frequencies are subject to very strong interference. Nothing else can be read into the situation.

A steel auto body, if grounded (parked where the bumper touches a wet building or the frame touches the ground, or water or snow touches it), can act as a Faraday Cage. The radio powers up, but it wasn't powered when the electricity went off. Note BIL hasn't tried to start the car. Again, don't read into the scenario.

[Mortblanc]

Come on Jonas you are changing the interpretation after the fact, incorporating and eliminating details to meet your fleeting fancy.

Don't make like we have a variety of choices and then start restricting decision making as we work half way through the process.

If there is no decision to make do not ask for a decision!

If the cars will not run it makes no difference how much gas your freekin' BIL has in his tank or how much his kids eat or if you like or dislike everyone or anyone in the house, you are staying right where you are until daylight.

Then you have to convince your spouse and kids they are going to walk 100KM for what will possibly be a 2 day trek to home.

Good luck with that!

I hope your wife wore comfortable shoes.

[bigpaul]

TBH we don't go anywhere on Xmas day, if we DID visit anyone it was always on boxing day. might take a bimble over the moors on xmas day.

[Skean Dhude]

Guys, Simple scenario and one that could easily occur. However, if you don't have that family setup then you are unlikely to have planned for it.

As far as the other facts go nobody has ever experienced a real EMP on modern electronics and for all we know cars may be immune, maybe cars switched off will be OK or even those switched on will be OK. We are all basing our thoughts on guesses. Personally I like to think worse case and anything better is good but for scenarios we can make anything up and it may be right.