Then and now - USA dudes.

[Ajax]

(21 March 2022, 20:35)LAC Wrote:

(21 March 2022, 19:36)Ajax Wrote:

(18 March 2022, 19:15)Ajax Wrote: We got a couple of cousins here from across the pond, right?

Can you guys in the USA remember in the 90's (Iraq conflict) when gas prices went up to 2 bucks a gallon? Did you guys have a pay before you pump policy in some states - Cali, for instance?

I just found an old 90's pirate radio show that mentions it and wondered if any of you remember these times a bit better than me?

Anyway, all the best, guys.

look I am sorry if I started something here. I am not trying to get a UK vs USA thing going here - don't all of us have enough to be thinking about just now?
USA cousins, I'm sorry for asking here. I thought this was a place that folks who like to live could share experience. Perhaps I should just shut my pie hole and say good luck?

Okay, this is NOT real life - ffs I know this, okay. If I could only talk about half the stuff I have done and know! Gah!
SO ... I saw the A team filling up a helo with gas from a gas pump (that helo was piston driven and in theory COULD be filled up from a gas pump in a dire emergency ... it was staged for a TV show, I know that) but they filled up FIRST and then paid.

That was what I was asking.

Do you guys pay FIRST and then deliver gas or do you fill FIRST and then pay?

The only reason I asked is because of this pirate radio show, who seemed to make a big deal about 'pay before you pump' - like the gas prices were very high back in the Iraq war part one - $2.

I am very sorry that I asked a simple question. I am very sorry if anyone got ruffled here.
I see things. I hear things. My mind gets working on stuff. Sometimes I ask stupid questions. I do not live in the USA - how do I know if they pump or pay first? How can I find out? I see folks who say they are from USA and I ask an honest, simple, and quite probably stupid questions. If I do not ask the question, then HOW do I know for certain?

Should we try to verify information that we are not sure of? Yes or no?

Does that mean some dumbass Limey asks a dumbass question? You betcha!
If any USA bro has a question that they think may get shot down here - PM me. I DO NOT KNOW everything. I can take a good stab at stuff, however.

F*ck my old boots, I thought we were all here for the same reason!

No disrespect to USA dudes, you amazing dudes have very kindly put me straight. I thank you very much for your kind and very informative information. My question is now answered. I thank you for this input.
I wish you and your families the very best, no matter what we all may be facing soon. Thank you.

Ajax

I think you just activated a very old and ongoing narrative not personal to you. They all love each other really, I think??

Cheers, LAC.
These USA dudes seem chilled a f. I like 'em. It's some of our guys who I seem to ruffle.

I ask myself 'is this really a survival site?' I've seen folks with blue hair that get less offended.
I am stepping on rakes all over this place!
If we can't talk blunt here, then where do do we talk?
Survival ain't pretty. It is gonna get red in tooth and claw, at this rate.
I guess I am just surprised by how sensitive some people still are. Time is a great seasoner.

[CharlesHarris]

I have a service contract with the gas company which keeps the LPG tanks for household appliances and the backup generator topped off. Gas use is monitored and billed monthly.
They also do the PM on the 22Kw generator which powers the house and workshop.

[Ajax]

(23 March 2022, 18:52)CharlesHarris Wrote: I have a service contract with the gas company which keeps the LPG tanks for household appliances and the backup generator topped off. Gas use is monitored and billed monthly.
They also do the PM on the 22Kw generator which powers the house and workshop.

That is good news.
Disclaimer: I am a Limey. I live in the UK. Virginia is a big place. I am not trying to find your location - it is none of my bloody business.
Do you guys have fuel extraction (drilling, mining) or refineries? Don't answer this here for security reasons.
If You do, will the guys working in these fields still work if they don't get paid?
Perhaps you all have a scheme to feed those guys and their families if the money goes to heck - in which case, I reckon you could all do okay.

If not, Virginia is a big place. I know you have a lot of forests round about. Deadfall is better than cutting the living stufff, right?

Yup, you'll are probably going be just fine.
Yeah there are a few cities round and about and once they empty, this is a thing to think about.
You already got this covered though.
I've been watching the price - USA - of 'brass' since 2020 ... dang!
I reckon you guys seen this stuff too and did what you needed to.

Please know there is one Limey who hopes that a few like-minded people in the USA can get through whatever happens to come next.

Be well, pal.

[CharlesHarris]

I live in the Potomac Highlands of West Virginia. The state is a major producer of metallurgical coal as well as natural gas. It also produces hydroelectric power.

[CharlesHarris]

My county is mostly rural with small farms raising dairy and beef cattle, poultry, fruit orchards, small timber operations and home based businesses in skilled trades. Many have government, transportation or industrial jobs in next county over.

[Mortblanc]

If you were sit down in CH front garden you would think you were in the Black Mountains of Wales.

I am 200 miles west of him and if you were sit down in my front garden you would think you were somewhere between Carlisle and Glasgow. My region is geographically known as the Bluegrass Region.

My state of Kentucky borders his state of West Virginia and the two combined are slightly smaller than England and Scotland combined.

Ajax you underestimate the capitalistic nature of the American population. Virtually everyone has a side hustle to bring in extra funds with almost everyone trying to turn that side job into a way to quit "working for the man".

It is instinctive and goes back to our history of being a nation of indentured servants held in bondage until our time was up.

Before the U.S existed, before the forests had been cleared and the risk of being killed by Indians in your own home was still a serious worry, and before the U.S. treasury Department existed or a single U.S. coin had been minted, both my area and that of CH had thriving trade networks that extended to Spain, France and England. We grew things, we distilled things, we killed things and sent their hides and meat down the rivers to be put on boats powered by wind and sent them to trade for other items of value from far away lands.

Before that??? Well before that the Indigenous People of our land traded flint from Arkansas, for copper from Michigan and ceramics from all areas were traded up and down the rivers and trade trails. The Iroquois Indians had a vast trade network in the northeast and developed a fleet of freight canoes to ply the rivers carrying tons of corn to areas stricken by crop failures. We even have Macaw feathers from Central America in burials along the Mississippi River and effigy pottery of monkeys found in Ohio and Kentucky. There trade system worked for somewhere around 30,000 years with not a coin in sight.

I hear they did the same thing in your land with the bones of cattle raised in Scotland being dug up in the ruins around Stonehenge and flint from north Wales being traded all over the island.

If you check around you will find that there has been a thriving international oil industry and transport network since 4,000 BC.

The goal of every prepper should be to have a side hustle that will maintain his economic status no matter what the circumstance.

[Tartar Horde]

The Grimes cave complex in Norfolk traded and mined flint all over Neolithic Britain. Bloody hard graft when you know they dug it all out with Deer antler picks, good quality flint too.