[Adrian II]

Borrowed toilet paper? Don't think I'd want it back in used condition. 

A.

[mrunderhill1975a]

Touché.

[Richard230]

Here is the future. 

[Bilgemaster]

We had 4 inches of snow this morning. So, I went out and shoveled each of my neighbors walk and drive.  The wife asked my why I did that. I replied that we may need to borrow a few sheets of toilet paper in the near future and I wanted to be on good terms with the neighbors.  Pre-planning helps in emergencies.

Well, that was awfully neighborly of you. I used to do the elderly couple's sidewalk and walkway before they moved on, not that that's typically much of a chore here in fairly temperate Virginia. You say you got 4 inches in one night. This year in Virginia we didn't get 4 inches all winter. These are truly the golden days of global warming, or whatever they're calling it. I'm sure we'll be paying for all those pleasant mid-winter riding days one day...

As for the whole prepping for societal demise and economic collapse thing, I caught a little break for my own prepper-bugout kit a few weeks back. We've got a lot of military folks living nearby. One of them must have been reassigned and was clearing out. I scooped up four still-sealed boxes of about 30 full MREs each with all the trimmings from the curbside. They're 3 and 4 years old, but if shit goes really south, at least we won't be fighting with dogs in the street for food or feasting on the neighborhood squirrels for a couple-few months. Whoever it was was also tossing a bunch of military-grade modular waterproof stacking crates, so the mice won't be getting even a nibble of that "Cheese Spread with Bacon", one packet of which I imagine might trade in the post-apocalyptic economy for about half a pallet of Charmin.

Preview of The Bilgemaster's Fall Outfit

[GSS]

Friends,
The virus is real and the personal risk is real. Please stay safe.

Global political ignorance and expediency, along with worldwide corporate greed and incompetent/delayed government responses marked the early stages, and now it is the packed spring-break beaches in the US and the unethical UK population experiment that will make it even worse. Can’t comment about Australia, but find it hard to believe that India only has 150 diagnosed cases.

[gizzo]

Friends,
The virus is real and the personal risk is real. Please stay safe.

but find it hard to believe that India only has 150 diagnosed cases.

Those poor buggers probably can't afford the cost to get diagnosed is all

Things are starting to shut down here. School sport, excursions, day options, that kind of thing are being called off for the duration.

My daughter's wedding in 3 weeks. Reckon she's freaking out?

[gizzo]

Tried to buy a few supplies at the supermarket today. Just the usual shopping. But there's no toilet paper to be had and we're down to our last roll at home. At the chemist, some f...tards have bought the place out of ventolin, leaving us who need it as much as them in the lurch. Thanks a lot. What a nation of f...wits. At least petrol is 99c a litre so I guess I'm taking the kids skiing on the weekend. Might bag me a kangaroo or a goat while I'm out there, make some apocalypse jerky.

[Richard230]

Bilgemaster, take if from me. Those MREs will last a long longer than their expiration date.  I still have some from the Y2K scare and they still taste fine when I use them during a camping trip.   

Around here (SF Bay Area), when the TP runs out at the stores, people will just buy anything that remains the shelves. Even the meat, paper towels, frozen dinners, tuna, candy bars and dog and cat food is all gone. They don't care what it is - just gotta have it.  And while they are doing that, everything gets touched and the required 6' stay away from anyone else requirement is cut back to 6" in the press to grab the last item on the shelves and stand in the long line at the checkout register.   

When my dad was growing up in the Missouri Ozarks, they couldn't afford TP, so they used pages from the free Sears Roebuck catalog, which arrived every 6 months, and when those pages ran out it was back to corn cobs in the outhouse.  Those were tough days.   

[axman88]

The grocery stores are out of TP around here, but I saw that the little Middle Eastern specialty store I stopped into to buy some tea and olives from had plenty.  A guy I work with said that's because for religious reasons, the followers of Islam can't use TP at certain times of the month, because they aren't allowed to touch their butt, but I don't know about that.  Anyway, there was a lot, at 89cents a roll.  I heard that another place marked it up to $1.99 a roll.  Profiteering bastards!

[Stanley]

I don't recall anything about butt-touching in the Quran.
It's been proposed that TP hoarding might be.encouraged by the TV news footage where TP packs are the most recognizable item in shopping carts. Monkey see monkey do?  Once people fill the house with TP and beans I assume the shelves will be eventually restocked.

[Richard230]

My daughter was able to order 20 rolls of TP, shipped to her home, from Office Depot.  Smart move.   

[Bilgemaster]

My daughter was able to order 20 rolls of TP, shipped to her home, from Office Depot.  Smart move.   

I'm a grubby hygiene-challenged slobbo at the best of times, so I'm pretty sure a copy of the Washington Post would do me for weeks. Maybe all this TP hoarding or "Charmin Fever" is a girly thing? Then again, my Muskovite wife, veteran of several years of that remarkably absorbent Pravda back in the "Deficit '80s", as she puts it, doesn't get all the furor either. On the other hand, with our Yankee-born daughter home from school, we now appear to be blazing through rolls of the stuff daily. Is she snacking on it? Reenacting Boris Karloff's classic 1932 film "The Mummy" in there? I tell you, it's baffling.

As for me, the only hoarding behavior I've exhibited thus far is to buy a big bag of that cheap jailhouse-style rolling tobacco to toss in with those MREs, just in case EVERYTHING shuts down. Should probably lob in a bottle of vodka too...for medicinal purposes.

[axman88]

If I'm still around, I'm all set to take advantage of the situation in another month, as all those free advertising flyers and copies of the US Today clog up people's main drains.

I got my power snake clean, oiled up, and ready to rod, at the low/low price of $150 a pop, I'll be rolling in it!

[Richard230]

Here is the latest from around the World.  What I haven't heard is what is happening with the virus outbreak in India.  It seems to me that if it takes hold there it could be a real problem.

[Richard230]

Very "progressive" Marin County, north of San Francisco, just closed down all of their beaches, city parks, county parks, hiking trails and national parks. They said that too many people visited them yesterday and the residents didn't like it.  They believe that the visitors would bring the virus into their neighborhoods. So in response, the County closed down all recreational areas to keep everyone safe.  The County sheriff said that the virus was not a reason for people to take a vacation and they need to just stay home.  (And eat snacks while watching TV?    )