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[Lizzie Zoom]

Now no one has mentioned it yet,  but do you know today there was a big national campaign started to encourage us British people to have an emergency "grab bag" handy near the front door with torches, first aid kit, water, etc!!!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-49631455

We didn't even have all that rubbish during the Cold War, so what the hell do the authorities expect to happen?!

FFS, are we panicking or not?

I even checked to see if today was really the 1st April

[Nick W]

I have a good quality AAA LED torch clipped to whatever key ring is relevant.
I always have a knife and a watch.


I don't carry a first aid kit, but there's one in my car along with a fire extinguisher, emergency triangle, small tool kit, AA card and a bigger torch.


Having a basic plan to deal with likely problems is not a new thing, nor is it panicking.

[Doctor Gollum]

I have a good quality AAA LED torch clipped to whatever key ring is relevant.
I always have a knife and a watch.


I don't carry a first aid kit, but there's one in my car along with a fire extinguisher, emergency triangle, small tool kit, AA card and a bigger torch.


Having a basic plan to deal with likely problems is not a new thing, nor is it panicking.

Indeed, the six Ps

[STEMO]

I have a good quality AAA LED torch clipped to whatever key ring is relevant.
I always have a knife and a watch.


I don't carry a first aid kit, but there's one in my car along with a fire extinguisher, emergency triangle, small tool kit, AA card and a bigger torch.


Having a basic plan to deal with likely problems is not a new thing, nor is it panicking.

Indeed, the six Ps

Ah yes, six packs. Heineken is my poison 

[Nick W]

One more thing:
that sort of bag is not to be kept at home in case you have to go out. It's kept at work or other places you might frequently be to help get you home in an emergency. If you think that sort of thing is necessary.

[Doctor Gollum]

I have a good quality AAA LED torch clipped to whatever key ring is relevant.
I always have a knife and a watch.


I don't carry a first aid kit, but there's one in my car along with a fire extinguisher, emergency triangle, small tool kit, AA card and a bigger torch.


Having a basic plan to deal with likely problems is not a new thing, nor is it panicking.

Indeed, the six Ps

Ah yes, six packs. Heineken is my poison 

Proper
Preparation
Prevents
Piss
Poor
Performance

 

[Sir Tigger KC]

The Scouts motto is Be Prepared

[scimmy_man]

I think its more a spare pair of socks and shreddies, copy of your bank details passport insurances etc,
if the worst happens and the house burns down, at least you can sort things.

[dave the builder]

I doubt many people have a bug out bag ready
or enough emergency supplies for when the BREXIT bomb goes off 

[Nick W]

I doubt many people have a bug out bag ready
or enough emergency supplies for when the BREXIT bomb goes off 

Of course they do: the car is parked facing out, the pilot is camping in the back of the fuelled Citation, they won't need to file a flight plan because they won't be returning from their own private island in the Caribbean.


What do you mean you don't have an island? Or a plane? You don't own your own plane??You must be some sort communist scum who doesn't deserve to live!

[Shackeng]

I have a good quality AAA LED torch clipped to whatever key ring is relevant.
I always have a knife and a watch.


I don't carry a first aid kit, but there's one in my car along with a fire extinguisher, emergency triangle, small tool kit, AA card and a bigger torch.


Having a basic plan to deal with likely problems is not a new thing, nor is it panicking.

..and some of us carry crank sensors for the same reason.

[Nick W]

I have a good quality AAA LED torch clipped to whatever key ring is relevant.
I always have a knife and a watch.


I don't carry a first aid kit, but there's one in my car along with a fire extinguisher, emergency triangle, small tool kit, AA card and a bigger torch.


Having a basic plan to deal with likely problems is not a new thing, nor is it panicking.

..and some of us carry crank sensors for the same reason.

I did. It was the old one that I replaced before doing proper diagnosis that actually fixed the problem. It worked so I kept it. Keeping it anywhere other than the car would have been moronic. But not as moronic as buying a new one and keeping it as a spare.

[Shackeng]

It depends on the sort of journeys you are doing. A spares kit for foreign travel makes perfect sense to me, particularly containing hard to source, known to fail, and easily fitted, smaller items.
By your argument, we would not have carried a spares pack on Tristars, the majority of which was never used, however ONCE I was able to save the company significant sums by fitting a starter motor from the pack, thus preventing an unnecessary night stop for 300 odd pax with all the associated costs, including a wrongly positioned A/C for the following day. A different case I agree, but spares carried on the same principle.
Where one draws the line is a subjective decision.
I take exception to being described as a moron, however your tone is in keeping with many of your patronising posts to those like myself who do not have your presumed high level of skill, which is a pity, as your experience demonstrates that you clearly have the ability to help people with their mechanical problems.

[Doctor Gollum]

I believe that the point which Nick was making was that if you have bought a new part, which turned out not to be the part required, ie a crank sensor instead of the fuel pump relay, then fitting the new crank sensor and keeping the old, working, one as the spare makes a bit more sense than keeping the new one as the spare... Although the net result is the same 

I know that if I were tasked with swapping one at the roadside, then a shiny new one would be an easier sell than the debate over the condition of a used one...
I suspect that the tone comes from years of dealing with the general populous rather than a direct attack.

[TheBoy]

But not as moronic as buying a new one and keeping it as a spare.

Well, I may be a moron, but since learning my lesson in France, the subsequent times its happened, I've not looked such a tit, have I

[Nick W]

But not as moronic as buying a new one and keeping it as a spare.

Well, I may be a moron, but since learning my lesson in France, the subsequent times its happened, I've not looked such a tit, have I

I have no idea how you manage to break/wear out  as much stuff as you do.....


The only small, fixable at the roadside breakdowns I've had in over 30 years were when a condenser failed, and when the fan belt made the cam belt jump a few teeth. Both were my fault: the condenser broke my no Intermotor parts rule; the fan belt was on my list, and wouldn't have been a problem if I hadn't left off the belt cover because it looked cooler. Both problems were sorted when the AA man turned up with tools and I fixed the cars. I also refitted the cambelt cover because I now had conclusive proof that leaving it off was a moronic thing to do.


I've had big failures too, but carrying a spare axle, gearbox, radiator, brake caliper or engine and the tools to replace them isn't really feasible.


So I don't carry spares, and only have a socket set and a few other small tools because I have several sets of them.


I have refused to fit spare wheels on several occasions, and couldn't on another because they'd taken the 'good' spare out of their previous car(3 years earlier) and it was my fault I couldn't fit a Metro spare to a Corolla


I've been handed:

a spare fan belt, that was actually a cam belt for a different engine.
H4 bulb for a blown HID
an entire exhaust system that had rusted through at the front joint
the drive belt and cam belt pulleys still attached to the crank snout, which is still my favourite
an air filter that looks OK to me when it was so black and hairy it would have made a decent rasta wig
complete gearlever, mounting plate an  part of the internal actuating rod
brake pads to put back into the caliper they had fallen out of


etc.


I have also:
whittled an oil filler car from a fence post
reattached a Metro gearlever with half a bag of cable ties to get them home to Exeter
removed countless flapping undertrays and rusty back boxes
cut some of my loading timber down to prop up the back of a TVR with a snapped coilover just so we could the car
reassembled and strapped in place bottom balljoints - 50/50 lowered cars or the wrong pinch bolt
fitted a replacement inner TCA bolt to a 2.8i Capri - I had one in my toolbox for some reason


Some stupid things the driver said:
why has it broken down when it's only just been MOTd? - the slight oil leak advisory 8 months earlier turned out to be a weeping main seal that had got worse and contaminated the cam belt.
there can't be anything wrong with that, it's new - I hear this a lot from my mother who considers anything she's paid for over the last 79years to still be new
I don't know how to open the bonnet
why has the tyre worn through like that, they're supposed to be runflats - 600 miles on a flat tyre with the warning light on!!
and probably the best candidate for use of a Lawgiver: It can't be a flat battery this is a BMW - which a 10 year old 316 most certainly is

[Shackeng]

...and your point is?

[Nick W]

...and your point is?

Reasons.


I've got them, so do you and the rest of us. Yet we'll draw different conclusions from the same incident.


I can justify most of mine, and the rest I'll blame on genes: the whole family has them, we're all stubborn opinionated arseholes and will revert to type at the drop of a hat. Mine's a hemp Tilley because it works in most weather we get here.