Photo courtesy Flickr
The Italian designer Ettore Sotsass said that, and that says it better than anyone. Show a healthy pessimism, and organize your inventory around an emergency evacuation kit.
In the Seventies, a wise elder told me that many Jewish families were lost to the Holocaust because they wouldn’t leave their Bechstein pianos. I forget what she said next, but it was humane, and her priorities were sensible.
In the last ten years, I’ve been through a 7.4 earthquake, 9/11, and civil disorder that caught world attention. Years ago I rode out a hurricane that was stronger than the one portrayed in A Perfect Storm. And I’m not even trying to go in harm’s way. It’s encouraging to know that I can bug out when the bugging’s good. The supplies that make up an E kit cushion the demands of unexpected house guests, cushion the budget, expand the borders of conventional hospitality, and keep one ready for a few days in the woods.
When the world feared New Orleans was drowning, and things were so bad that there were no pictures, a native met me at a venerable local dive bar to drink breakfast and wring our hands. The waiter found out why we were there and showed up at the table with tequila shooters on him. My pal-we had a hazy notion that the levees were failing-said that the people of New Orleans have no tradition of the outdoors and no place to practice, anyway. This is a person who jokes about local women each having her own chain saw. Her sister-in-law, a former Dallas Cowboys cheerleader, refers to the local style as “woods muffin,” but I digress.
Here’s a collection of the ten essentials for survival that the outdoor community recommends. The official lists are more specific, but I have tried to define terms that get to the heart of the issues. Noted are featherweight things I carry when I will be more than a few blocks from the house. They’re useful in all kinds of situations.
1. A tool (sharp penknife with tweezers and scissors) 2. Fire (half-empty butane lighter wrapped with a few inches of repair tape) 3. Water (and purification tablets) 4. Food (nutrition bar or even just a packet of crackers or sugar) 5. Extra clothing (two-bit disposable poncho or a big garbage bag with holes cut for arms and head-if you need it, you won’t care how you look-plus a couple of plastic produce bags to put between socks and shoes) 6. Shelter (a mylar survival blanket) 7. Medical (hand sanitizer and self-sticking bandage) 8. Navigation (not much of an issue on familiar ground, but it’s useful to know the rule: rendezvous at the last place you were all together) 9. Communication (black wax lumber crayon and a loud whistle) 10. Transportation (your shoes and bag are your life).
To this collection, I add pepper spray, keeping in mind the Navy Seals’ adage that you never need it until you really, really need it.
BBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBB
0 comments:
Post a Comment