Misfits, Dad's Army Types et al...
Discussion
I think there is a little bit of a Walt in all of us, especially men. Go to laser quest with your kids and watch the dads. Suddenly they are all SEAL Team 6 leading their kids on a mission. Scouts when I was young, the dads turn up on camp. Suddenly they are all former spec ops and know how to light the fire with a stick, one brings a chainsaw to cut logs. Everyone wants to be something they are not.
But for most people they are checked. Kids disapproving, shaking their heads, wives rolling their eyes, mates calling them t
ts etc etc.
People like the swan guy and the military pretenders are generally loners, have no one to check their madness and so they run free with it.
But for most people they are checked. Kids disapproving, shaking their heads, wives rolling their eyes, mates calling them t
ts etc etc.People like the swan guy and the military pretenders are generally loners, have no one to check their madness and so they run free with it.
Lord Marylebone said:
The whole ‘Bug Out’ / Prepper thing is proper mental fantasist stuff to me, not only that but it is very poorly thought out, especially in the UK.
At least the fantasists in the USA ‘bug out’ to a pre-prepared remote location 100 miles from the next living person. They usually own some hidden bunker, shack in the woods, or campsite which will almost never be found by another human, so if they did want to ‘escape a collapsed society’ or whatever, then they pretty much can go and live somewhere off the grid surrounded by knives, guns and tinned Spam.
Mental, but at least contains some vague logic.
But can you imagine it here in the UK?
Where would you go?
“Let’s escape the city and drive East!”
“Oh wait, we’ve arrived at the coast. With 120,000 other people also in their cars...”
“Head West!”
(38 miles later)
“We’ve reached the other coast! It’s still really busy with other people!”
“Erm... Head north!”
“Right, we’ve driven to the most remote part of the UK... there are still people everywhere! I can see some houses and people caravanning over there! Arrrgh!”
And of course the elephant in the room: Guns.
Whenever I’ve sat and watched UK Prepper videos, in horror and amazement, I note they they (predictably) like showing off their weapons, but never seem to own anything more dangerous than a catapult, a bush knife, and occasionally a .22 air rifle.
If it really, really, was a genuine armageddon, a fight for survival, and it came down to ‘my family vs their family’, there is only going to be one person who ends up owning a fully-walted Discovery TD5 and 1000 tins of Spam, and that’ll be me using my safe full of guns (real ones) and the 1000 rounds of ammunition that I generally have in my house at any one time.
None of this nonsense will ever happen of course, but it seems that all these people have fell at the first hurdle without even knowing it.
Theres a hell of a lot of the UK where you can be well out of sight of anyone else/any buildings.At least the fantasists in the USA ‘bug out’ to a pre-prepared remote location 100 miles from the next living person. They usually own some hidden bunker, shack in the woods, or campsite which will almost never be found by another human, so if they did want to ‘escape a collapsed society’ or whatever, then they pretty much can go and live somewhere off the grid surrounded by knives, guns and tinned Spam.
Mental, but at least contains some vague logic.
But can you imagine it here in the UK?
Where would you go?
“Let’s escape the city and drive East!”
“Oh wait, we’ve arrived at the coast. With 120,000 other people also in their cars...”
“Head West!”
(38 miles later)
“We’ve reached the other coast! It’s still really busy with other people!”
“Erm... Head north!”
“Right, we’ve driven to the most remote part of the UK... there are still people everywhere! I can see some houses and people caravanning over there! Arrrgh!”
And of course the elephant in the room: Guns.
Whenever I’ve sat and watched UK Prepper videos, in horror and amazement, I note they they (predictably) like showing off their weapons, but never seem to own anything more dangerous than a catapult, a bush knife, and occasionally a .22 air rifle.
If it really, really, was a genuine armageddon, a fight for survival, and it came down to ‘my family vs their family’, there is only going to be one person who ends up owning a fully-walted Discovery TD5 and 1000 tins of Spam, and that’ll be me using my safe full of guns (real ones) and the 1000 rounds of ammunition that I generally have in my house at any one time.
None of this nonsense will ever happen of course, but it seems that all these people have fell at the first hurdle without even knowing it.
And i'll just wait until you've used all your 1000 rounds, then turn up with my bow and arrow.
(i may need to acquire one first)
Scabutz said:
I think there is a little bit of a Walt in all of us, especially men. Go to laser quest with your kids and watch the dads. Suddenly they are all SEAL Team 6 leading their kids on a mission. Scouts when I was young, the dads turn up on camp. Suddenly they are all former spec ops and know how to light the fire with a stick, one brings a chainsaw to cut logs. Everyone wants to be something they are not.
But for most people they are checked. Kids disapproving, shaking their heads, wives rolling their eyes, mates calling them tts etc etc.
People like the swan guy and the military pretenders are generally loners, have no one to check their madness and so they run free with it.
I don’t think there is anything wrong with wanting to be skilled or competent in slightly difficult or challenging situations.But for most people they are checked. Kids disapproving, shaking their heads, wives rolling their eyes, mates calling them t
ts etc etc.People like the swan guy and the military pretenders are generally loners, have no one to check their madness and so they run free with it.
Everyone finds it fun trying to light a fire using twigs and flint.
That isn’t walty, it’s just a fun challenge. The same as rebuilding an engine or something.
But take someone like myself, who I would have thought was reasonably representative of a normal adult:
I would actively avoid:
Being in any kind of position of authority.
Publicly giving instructions to others.
Wearing hi viz.
Having flashing lights on my vehicle.
Having attention drawn to me.
Showing off skills in front of others.
I just want a fairly quiet and private life.
It’s when people start seeking out attention and importance in public that I get suspicious...
mcdjl said:
Theres a hell of a lot of the UK where you can be well out of sight of anyone else/any buildings.
And i'll just wait until you've used all your 1000 rounds, then turn up with my bow and arrow.
(i may need to acquire one first)
I cannot even begin to envisage a situation where I would have to shoot 1000 people, thereby using up 1000 rounds or whatever is in my cupboard.And i'll just wait until you've used all your 1000 rounds, then turn up with my bow and arrow.
(i may need to acquire one first)
99% of people in the UK would quite sensibly just wet themselves, hand over their stuff, and walk away in a hurry if you and your family pointed loaded guns at them.
You might never even need to fire a single shot in order to be the proud owner of a rusty Vauxhall Frontera with a winch, 800 tins of baked beans, and some camping equipment that smells funny.
Anyway, I can’t talk about this anymore. Just the thought of of bows and arrows and hiding in outbuildings makes me thinks I’ll wake up in the morning wearing a fake army camouflage uniform, those creepy tinted spectacles and some hi-viz.
Lord Marylebone said:
I cannot even begin to envisage a situation where I would have to shoot 1000 people, thereby using up 1000 rounds or whatever is in my cupboard.
99% of people in the UK would quite sensibly just wet themselves, hand over their stuff, and walk away in a hurry if you and your family pointed loaded guns at them.
You might never even need to fire a single shot in order to be the proud owner of a rusty Vauxhall Frontera with a winch, 800 tins of baked beans, and some camping equipment that smells funny.
Anyway, I can’t talk about this anymore. Just the thought of of bows and arrows and hiding in outbuildings makes me thinks I’ll wake up in the morning wearing a fake army camouflage uniform, those creepy tinted spectacles and some hi-viz.
Quite agree. Unless you have a serious amount of ammo (or never actually use it) you'll eventually come up against some one who doesn't need ammo, ie has a bladed weapon. Sod the bunker and tinned food, you'd be better off setting up a small holding somewhere out of sight/on an island and quietly getting on with life.99% of people in the UK would quite sensibly just wet themselves, hand over their stuff, and walk away in a hurry if you and your family pointed loaded guns at them.
You might never even need to fire a single shot in order to be the proud owner of a rusty Vauxhall Frontera with a winch, 800 tins of baked beans, and some camping equipment that smells funny.
Anyway, I can’t talk about this anymore. Just the thought of of bows and arrows and hiding in outbuildings makes me thinks I’ll wake up in the morning wearing a fake army camouflage uniform, those creepy tinted spectacles and some hi-viz.
mcdjl said:
Lord Marylebone said:
I cannot even begin to envisage a situation where I would have to shoot 1000 people, thereby using up 1000 rounds or whatever is in my cupboard.
99% of people in the UK would quite sensibly just wet themselves, hand over their stuff, and walk away in a hurry if you and your family pointed loaded guns at them.
You might never even need to fire a single shot in order to be the proud owner of a rusty Vauxhall Frontera with a winch, 800 tins of baked beans, and some camping equipment that smells funny.
Anyway, I can’t talk about this anymore. Just the thought of of bows and arrows and hiding in outbuildings makes me thinks I’ll wake up in the morning wearing a fake army camouflage uniform, those creepy tinted spectacles and some hi-viz.
Quite agree. Unless you have a serious amount of ammo (or never actually use it) you'll eventually come up against some one who doesn't need ammo, ie has a bladed weapon. Sod the bunker and tinned food, you'd be better off setting up a small holding somewhere out of sight/on an island and quietly getting on with life.99% of people in the UK would quite sensibly just wet themselves, hand over their stuff, and walk away in a hurry if you and your family pointed loaded guns at them.
You might never even need to fire a single shot in order to be the proud owner of a rusty Vauxhall Frontera with a winch, 800 tins of baked beans, and some camping equipment that smells funny.
Anyway, I can’t talk about this anymore. Just the thought of of bows and arrows and hiding in outbuildings makes me thinks I’ll wake up in the morning wearing a fake army camouflage uniform, those creepy tinted spectacles and some hi-viz.
At least you’d only need one bullet instead of 1000.
mcdjl said:
Quite agree. Unless you have a serious amount of ammo (or never actually use it) you'll eventually come up against some one who doesn't need ammo, ie has a bladed weapon. Sod the bunker and tinned food, you'd be better off setting up a small holding somewhere out of sight/on an island and quietly getting on with life.
I wouldn’t disagree with that.As DonkeyApple said earlier, a simple motorboat would be more than you would ever require to successfully escape the UK if everyone started turning into Ebola infected zombie UKIP voters or whatever utter horror might occur.
Lord Marylebone said:
mcdjl said:
Quite agree. Unless you have a serious amount of ammo (or never actually use it) you'll eventually come up against some one who doesn't need ammo, ie has a bladed weapon. Sod the bunker and tinned food, you'd be better off setting up a small holding somewhere out of sight/on an island and quietly getting on with life.
I wouldn’t disagree with that.As DonkeyApple said earlier, a simple motorboat would be more than you would ever require to successfully escape the UK if everyone started turning into Ebola infected zombie UKIP voters or whatever utter horror might occur.
J4CKO said:
Was going to mention guns, could part of the American fascination with them, aside from the limited practical purposes down to a desire to have the means to step in and be a hero like some kind of Bruce Willis, then go on the Tonight Show to explain how you thwarted a terrorist attack single handed but it was no big deal ?
Compelling if you are an otherwise unremarkable 30 stone lump with a load of health issues ?
Personally, I think the only thing that separates our society from that of America is that we have free mental healthcare and military firearms are not legal. Compelling if you are an otherwise unremarkable 30 stone lump with a load of health issues ?
Remove those two brakes and half the waddlers in the UK would be wearing stetsons and handguns in a flash.
I’ve shot all my life and most disciplines and what I know for sure is that a particular discipline becomes less about country persuits and more about military orientated completion the number of ‘live with mother’ weirdos goes through the roof. The absolute pinnacle of this was pistol shooting and disciplines such as falling plate. Nutters. The competitions were total waltfests. Conversely, things such as long range rifle generally attracted normal, boring chaps who liked to discuss the effects of different foliage on the long range trajectory of a bullet as opposed to playing soggy biscuit around a .45 reloading machine and ranting about the internal damage they could do to water melons.
RizzoTheRat said:
Lord Marylebone said:
I cannot even begin to envisage a situation where I would have to shoot 1000 people, thereby using up 1000 rounds or whatever is in my cupboard.
That's a borderline Waltish level of confidence in your own marksmanship though 
But you would have to be pretty useless to not hit something the size of a adult human, using a shotgun, at say 10 or 20 yards.
RizzoTheRat said:
Lord Marylebone said:
I cannot even begin to envisage a situation where I would have to shoot 1000 people, thereby using up 1000 rounds or whatever is in my cupboard.
That's a borderline Waltish level of confidence in your own marksmanship though In fact, that's exactly what he said!
Edited by TheJimi on Tuesday 3rd September 13:17
DonkeyApple said:
J4CKO said:
Was going to mention guns, could part of the American fascination with them, aside from the limited practical purposes down to a desire to have the means to step in and be a hero like some kind of Bruce Willis, then go on the Tonight Show to explain how you thwarted a terrorist attack single handed but it was no big deal ?
Compelling if you are an otherwise unremarkable 30 stone lump with a load of health issues ?
Personally, I think the only thing that separates our society from that of America is that we have free mental healthcare and military firearms are not legal. Compelling if you are an otherwise unremarkable 30 stone lump with a load of health issues ?
Remove those two brakes and half the waddlers in the UK would be wearing stetsons and handguns in a flash.
I’ve shot all my life and most disciplines and what I know for sure is that a particular discipline becomes less about country persuits and more about military orientated completion the number of ‘live with mother’ weirdos goes through the roof. The absolute pinnacle of this was pistol shooting and disciplines such as falling plate. Nutters. The competitions were total waltfests. Conversely, things such as long range rifle generally attracted normal, boring chaps who liked to discuss the effects of different foliage on the long range trajectory of a bullet as opposed to playing soggy biscuit around a .45 reloading machine and ranting about the internal damage they could do to water melons.
J4CKO said:
DonkeyApple said:
J4CKO said:
Was going to mention guns, could part of the American fascination with them, aside from the limited practical purposes down to a desire to have the means to step in and be a hero like some kind of Bruce Willis, then go on the Tonight Show to explain how you thwarted a terrorist attack single handed but it was no big deal ?
Compelling if you are an otherwise unremarkable 30 stone lump with a load of health issues ?
Personally, I think the only thing that separates our society from that of America is that we have free mental healthcare and military firearms are not legal. Compelling if you are an otherwise unremarkable 30 stone lump with a load of health issues ?
Remove those two brakes and half the waddlers in the UK would be wearing stetsons and handguns in a flash.
I’ve shot all my life and most disciplines and what I know for sure is that a particular discipline becomes less about country persuits and more about military orientated completion the number of ‘live with mother’ weirdos goes through the roof. The absolute pinnacle of this was pistol shooting and disciplines such as falling plate. Nutters. The competitions were total waltfests. Conversely, things such as long range rifle generally attracted normal, boring chaps who liked to discuss the effects of different foliage on the long range trajectory of a bullet as opposed to playing soggy biscuit around a .45 reloading machine and ranting about the internal damage they could do to water melons.
Lord Marylebone said:
I would actively avoid:
Being in any kind of position of authority.
Publicly giving instructions to others.
Wearing hi viz.
Having flashing lights on my vehicle.
Having attention drawn to me.
Showing off skills in front of others.
That's my day job! (and my spare time spent as a first responder!) Being in any kind of position of authority.
Publicly giving instructions to others.
Wearing hi viz.
Having flashing lights on my vehicle.
Having attention drawn to me.
Showing off skills in front of others.
BossHogg said:
Lord Marylebone said:
I would actively avoid:
Being in any kind of position of authority.
Publicly giving instructions to others.
Wearing hi viz.
Having flashing lights on my vehicle.
Having attention drawn to me.
Showing off skills in front of others.
That's my day job! (and my spare time spent as a first responder!) Being in any kind of position of authority.
Publicly giving instructions to others.
Wearing hi viz.
Having flashing lights on my vehicle.
Having attention drawn to me.
Showing off skills in front of others.
It's the people who aren't first responders, won't ever be first responders, but think they are first responders, are the ones who are dangerous...
J4CKO said:
Pre ban I went to a gun club with my brother in law, I decided then it wasnt for me as a lot were quite odd, I think with a lot of hobbies it is easy to be more enthusiastic about the gear than the actual pursuit.
Good heavens, we'll have people on PH who are interested in cars at this rate.Seriously though, there's nothing wrong with that. In amateur radio for example, mastering the gear so as to get the best out of it is the main point.
Lord Marylebone said:
I think we can all agree that being a first responder, Police, Fire, Paramedic etc is one of the most difficult and least Walty jobs out there.
It is.Press the red button and a Radio 4 continuity announcer declares in a stern voice “999 mode: activated”
A little piece of me dies inside.
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