In the event of a societal breakdown, what would I miss most?
Yes, I know, the usual things - electricity, hot and cold running water, regular food, all of that. I get that and understand it. But life is not made up just of those items. What would be the little things that I would miss that give a zest to my life?
Well, the Interweb, for one. Or least parts of the Interweb, the parts that let me talk to my friends and read interesting things that the talk about and the ability to look up an number of things. Yes, I have plenty of books to fall back on - but I would loose plenty of my friends in the process.
Coffee, eventually. Coffee was the one thing I missed in Japan. There is just nothing really like a cup of it in the morning and a good book on a quiet morning.
Light - although I suppose that falls into electricity. We take our ability to see anything before or after sunrise for granted any more. If the day largely started and stopped at the sun, imagine how much less many people would get done (on the bright side, how much more they would sleep!).
Good toilet paper - goes without saying, I suppose, but there you are.
An abundance of friendly pets. Given the worst case scenario, the friendly sorts will either be eaten by animals or people (read up on sieges of cities and see how animals fare). I take for granted the friendly dog or cat (or rabbit, in my case) that I might see when I am out about walking.
Finally, the ability to go to a book store. In a major event, the knowledge of centuries could be wiped away (see previous comment about the Interweb). What will be left but memory and hard, physical books - if you can find them (although given our current state of affairs, I expect they would be unlikely to be too damaged). And by default, almost no new books (except for the rather depressing annals of The New Dark Age).
What do you think you would miss?
I think I'd mostly miss fresh food, maybe warmth and clean water. Also a feeling of security. But you know, I'm thinking apocalyptic crisis here!
ReplyDeleteYup. Online friends. And good how-to books that I should buy now; but hubby would say "you can read online for less." Propane. Don't have near enough matches or fire starters.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure there are more - fuel for my vehicle? - but that's a good start.
Rain - Yes, those things are up on my list. I suppose part of the posting was a purely a selfish exercise on my own part to see what little luxuries I have to be thankful for - by thinking I would miss them, I reveal their importance.
ReplyDeleteLinda - Your Husband and The Ravishing Mrs TB seem to share the same point of view (my love of books is something of a painful joke now).
ReplyDeleteMeans for creation of a fire is a good one - we take heat and cooking for granted but give me a match and combustibles and I can do both. Fuel too - even when we had our local fuel scare here, I was already listing places I would not go for fear of burning the fuel. What would happen if there was none?
The people with horses, mules, and such would have the upper hand as far as travel goes.
ReplyDeleteThey would, Linda - and the word "Longshanks" might come to have an actual meaning again.
ReplyDeleteRunning water.
ReplyDeleteUntil you've had to carry buckets of water, you have no comprehension of the weight of water.
Diane
Wow Diane! Great point, and one I hardly thought of.
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by!!
Diane, 8.3 or 8.5 pounds per gallon, I forget exactly. Many years ago I had a room full of aquariums. Changed a lot of water.
ReplyDeleteHubby and I have actually talked about how we could use a generator (then we'd need fuel too) to run our well pump in the event of a long power outage.
Not sure why I ddn't think about water, since you can't survive without it.
Linda, we were just talking about the weight of water this Friday at work. It is a lot heavier than anyone thinks.
ReplyDelete