The Basics

What do you need to survive?  I'm fairly sure most of us know that we need food, water, shelter and heat, but is there anything else?  Humans have developed as a social animal, so other human interaction could be put there, in fact we could introduce all of Maslows hierarchy of needs ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs )in there.  At its most basic we MUST have these to live after whatever happens. 

pt 1, Food
FOOD, Many prepper's have stockpiled many different types of food, freeze dried, tinned, frozen, and even having kitchen gardens for produce and Chickens or Rabbits.

The key, as with everything, is to start small, if you normally go to the supermarket every month, but an extra week of fortnight when you go. 

Alternately you can get freeze dried food in cans that last up to 30 years, not as cheep than getting Heinz soup, but they contain 10 servings, so maybe you want to looks at these.  The favourite brand seems to be mountain house food, http://www.mountainhouse.eu/, though I have to say I haven't tried them yet, I prefer https://www.fuizionfreezedriedfood.com/default.aspx but these have a shorter shelf life, not that this matters because I use them regularly for hill walking and expeditions with scout and youth groups, or even just on my own in the back country, though there are other brands such as travel lunch and Pack 'n' Go Lightweight Rations.

If you don't want to invest heavily in freeze dried food, then there are main stream dry foods, Bachelors do a soya based mine meat alternative that just needs heating in water over a low heat, call bean feast they come in mine meat, bolognaise and chilli varieties, and are normally around a pound in supermarkets if you can find them.

While your in the supermarket you may like to pick up other dried foods, beans/ peas, lentils, pasta, rice and even porridge oats and instant potato will all save for a considerable time.  For a handy guide to how long certain foods can be stored it is worth looking at the Church of Latter Day Saints website. ( http://www.lds.org/topics/food-storage/longer-term-food-supply?lang=eng#1 )

Frozen food can be a handy source of protein for when the end is at hand, though it may be a bit tricky storing it if you lose electricity, again, just buy a bit extra when you go to the super market.  Normally food frozen at home will only last a few months, so if you are planning to go this route it is worth getting frozen food that has been specially packaged.  Specially packaged frozen food can last up to 2 years in the freezer if it hasn't been thawed or the packaging hasn't been interfered with before it was put in the freezer at home.

Growing your own veg in a small kitchen garden or allotment is an ideal way of supplying yourself with fresh veg all year round, survival situation or not.  It will also reduce your "food miles"(the amount of distance that your food has travelled before it reaches the shelves of the supermarket), and it allows you to know exactly what has gone into the ground to grow your food.  If you can this is probably the best option for food open to anyone, prepper or not.

Fresh food, whether you have grown it yourself or whether you have bought it can be stored in a number of ways, it can be pickled/ preserved, it can be canned or it can be stored in wet sand to last over the winter.  I'm by no means an expert on these matters, so I'll let you do the research on that point for yourselves, there are plenty of websites and books that can be used as resources.

Pt 2 Heat
and
Pt 3 Water coming soon

You are not alone

If you are new to prepping and you feel a little out of your depth it might help to visit a forum and chat to similarly minded individuals.  Some are prepping for WW3 and some for when the shops shut, In fact there are probably more reasons to prep than there are days in the week.

Don't be intimidated because these guys know more than you do at the moment, many of them have been doing it a LONG time, and by and large, the old and bold on these forums are nice chaps that don't mind taking time out to talk to those that may need a little guidance.

http://uk-preparedness-network-forum.4267.n6.nabble.com/  http://www.p2s-prepared2survive.co.uk/  http://www.ludlowsurvivors.org.uk/

The Day After Tomorow

Over the past year or so, I've been working towards an Environmental degree with the open university, and I have to be blunt, it inst looking good.

The way the course has painted it so far, over the last 300 years or so, man has done a hell of a lot to make speed up the climate change.

OK, maybe this inst news anymore, but after 2012's snow and flooding, maybe things are getting worse.

Just think of the film "The Day After Tomorrow" where the northern hemisphere experiences sever weather.


This might be preaching to the choir, but we should get ready for another bad year ahead, get snow shovels, grit etc for our front steps, and maybe an inflatable in case it floods and we need to get to work(OK, that bit is a joke)

Maybe the event that finishes society as we know it will be at our own hands, but in the form of sever weather rather than a nuclear war.


ATB
Syd

I'm Not Coming Home

What happens if whatever emergency you face, you cant go home, where presumably all you stockpiled food, fuel etc is?

It might not be the end of civilization, but I'm pretty sure it will feel like that to you at the time.  Floods, fire, or even an outbreak of the Rage virus http://28dayslater.wikia.com/wiki/Rage_Virus may make it impossible to stay at home.

In this case you'll need to leave and "head for the hills!" as they say in the cowboy films, while in truth "the hills" may just be a relatives front room, or a local B&B.

You may be gone for a while, you might be back within a few days, there will probably be no telling during the initial emergency.

As you know from reading my other blog posts, I have what I call my Bug Out bag, this is basically a backpack filled with camping gear, a little food, and a few tools.  My "INCH" bag is pretty much the same.  In fact it IS the same, with the addition of a few extra days or food, medication and full size packets of hygiene supplies like baby wipes and liquid soap.

What I'd do, assuming I had enough warning, is to grab my bug out bag, and the satchels that make up the difference.

All this fits in a small satchel, An ex army Respirator pouch.  My food of choice is the fuzion freeze dried foods, and these are packaged in a waterproof paper bag, though to cook them I prefer to put them in a pan with the required amount of water and heat them up over the stove, just to make them less crunchy for about 10 mins.

So anyway, back to the bag, it has everything I'd need to get by outside, but with spare cloths and full wash kit if I manage to get somewhere inside.

I can give you all a full rundown of my kit if you would like, but I dont want to insult anyones intelligence, so I'll just put a list of links to places I have bought key items from.

Dry foods https://www.fuizionfreezedriedfood.com/default.aspx
Axe http://www.screwfix.com/p/forge-steel-hickory-handle-felling-axe-26/60988
Lakeland bushcraft (Bahco Folding saw) http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bahco-Laplander-Folding-Saw-396LAP/dp/B0001IX7OW/ref=?ie=UTF8&m=A1FCUPX3X1793A
Webtex (Bungees, Survival kit, fire starter KFS Set, Basha)  http://www.web-tex.co.uk
Solo Stove http://www.solostove.com/
Go Outdoors (cloths, socks etc) http://www.gooutdoors.co.uk
Outside (Osprey Rucksack) http://www.outside.co.uk/
Anchor surplus (respirator pouch) http://www.anchorsupplies.com/
Cotswold outdoors (Primus ETA Power Pot) www.cotswoldoutdoor.com
Tesco (led Head light and torch) http://www.tesco.com/direct/rolson-9-led-torch/212-5329.prd?pageLevel=&skuId=212-5329
Alp Kit (Sleeping bag and bivi bag) http://www.alpkit.com/

Could you make it?

Just imagine, the snow falls and reaches 6inches in a few days, so Tesco can't make the deliveries to their stores. Fuel tanker drivers go on strike so no one can get any fuel for deliveries, or to get to work. The socially deprived find an excuse to start mass riots because the police shoot a guy waving a gun at them, so you cant get out to the shops.

Or, just as likely, you cant work, you lose your job, and you have no way of putting food on your table.  The only way those of us that don't have a major league savings account, or a few spare houses to sell to raise the money to live.

You can start to get ready for such eventualities by "Preparing" for a rainy day.  The church of jesus Christ and the latter day saints try to get all their congregation to live as debt free as they can, to save a little, and to put a little food away for what may happen "Just in case"

This is very laudable, but this isn't anything new, several generations ago, before the 1950's families used to grow much of there own food in their gardens and allotments, preserving what they could for the winter, likewise those that didn't have the luxury of land to grow food used to buy the food from the Grocers or Butchers and keep it in their sellers.

It is only since the advent of super markets and the widespread access of refrigeration that families have not had a reserve of food or basic supplies to hand.  In fact, I can remember my family buying 3 months of coal at the start of winter.

Back to the present, once you have realized that our own circumstances are very fragile and that we may experiance an event that threatens this at any time.

It doesn't take a lot of commitment to start prepping, though as you delve deeper you may decide to get more in depth kit.  To start with, all you have to do is get a bit extra when you go shopping, and think about what you would do if you had a minor emergency at home.  Getting a fire blanket, smoke alarms or a few fire extinguishers for example may be a sensible precaution.

Many preppers are doing more and more to get "off grid", some have small kitchen gardens or allotments, some have fitted solar photo voltaic panels cells (solar panels) to their houses, some have installed wood burners.  All this helps provide you with cheaper bills TODAY, but in the futre, if something happens, then at least you will have the peace of mind of knowing that you have some level of normality.

If your still not convinced, I'd like to take a line from a guy that was on a TV show about preppers in the UK, "you have house insurance, you have car insurance, well, I have food insurance."

Stimulation and Attitude

As you know, I'm slowly trying to prepare myself & my family for if the brown, smelly stuff hits the spinney whirly thing.

As well as the extra goods, stockpiles, and any amount of extras, one of the things that is a must is some sort of mental stimulation.

Puzzles, Boardgames, books anything that can help pass the time and make you think is a must at any bug out, be it in your own home, or at your mountain cabin you have run away too.

 Personally, I think that books about spirituality and meditation are particularly important to maintain a positive outlook, especially if you are on your own.

By spiritually I don't mean that everyone should embrace "happy clappy" religions or beliefs, more meditation and being in touch with you own body, and the world around you.  If this sounds like another cliche from a film about alternative lifestyles, maybe it is, but you also need to learn to recognize when your mind and body are giving you signs.

As a species we have developed to be a pack animal, and very few of us will actually survive without some sort of dependence on others.  This is not a bad thing, as it has allowed us to develop all manner of things that we would not have been able to had we still needed to forage for our own food while working on the same things.

If we don't have the stimulation of other peoples company we may be able to place a surrogate on pets or religoin as these have also been inter twined with our development as a society.  But without all of these we may be in for a difficult time.

Meditation, learning to block out all thoughts to achieve a state of calm, or focusing on a single problem, be it a 3d puzzle, or a particularly hard Sudoku will help you retain some sort of grounding, because without it there is the very real risk that we will get cabin fever.

All the best
syd

On the road again...

On the road again, Its the end of the world as we know it? this blog is getting quite musical isn't it?

What happens if you have to travel a distance to get to your planned bug in location?  Are you close enough to make it back in a few hours?  Would you be able to travel without attracting attention?

I spend three days a week studying at a college 26 miles away from my front door, my plans post fail are to lock myself up in the house and hope to ride out the storm, after which tine either the flesh eating zombies have killed each other off, or the authorities have restored law and order.

But how to get back home if the brown stuff hits the spinning thing while I'm at college?

The answer is a variation on the bug out bag called a "Get Home Bag"  As the name suggests, inside it has everything you will need to get home.

The main thing you need to do when working out what go's into your "GHB" is look at the terrain you will have to cross, is the road network likely to be able to cope with the extra traffic, or will you have to travel on back roads and cross country?  Will you have to cross any linear obstacles that will
be hazardous?(Rivers, M Ways etc)  Is there any areas that you will have to avoid due to higher risk such as inner city estates or high risk industry like a nuclear power station?

I have looked at my own routes, always try and work in three, and decided that for the country I will be better off on foot, and for this reason, the "GHB" is very similar to my Bug Out Bag.  The large axe is replaced by a tomahawk head inside the bag, and the warm sleeping bag and hammock is replaced by a British army DPM Basha (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Basha_(tarpaulin)  bivi bag and a lightweight 2 season sleeping bag.

This wont be a very comfortable trek home, but I have deliberately sacrificed comfort for weight so I am not over encumbered and can make it home as quickly as I can.  Food wise their are some SIS energy gels http://www.scienceinsport.com/sis-products/sis-all-products/sis-go-plusnitrates-gel-60ml/ and Fuzion freeze dried food https://www.fuizionfreezedriedfood.com/default.aspx
 along with a small jetboil (http://www.jetboil.com/) stove and brew kit, along with a pair of hydration bladders and inline water filter.

The full rundown of kit again looks very similar to the bug out bag, but is even more streamlined, with weight and discreetness(of the bag itself, a 45Ltr green Tesco own brand rucksack, and the shelter kit being designed to not be seen inside woodland) being at the fore front of my mind when I organised it.

So of all the stuff in the bag, I will have food, water, shelter and Navigation 2 Laminated OS Maps, pens and a compass), no trapping supplies, no fishing kit, just what I think is the bare minimum to get back home.

Re Hafting an Axe

 

Re Hafting an axe

As I have already said, one of the main tools in bushcraft is an axe, and come the fall of civilisation I think it will again be important, without any of the power tools the easiest way to collect wood for the fire, building etc. is the axe.  That is IF you know how to use one safely.

While you sit at home thinking that I can just stockpile petrol for my chainsaw, batteries for my dewalt saw etc (as I do from time to time), just remember that machines breakdown, and petrol & batteries won’t last forever, and even manual saws aren't always the best tool for the job.

Generally, there are two ways of splitting, cleaving and generally working wood without any of the above, splitting with either an axe like tool where the sharpness and kinetic energy work for you to create a massive amount of force on a concentrated area, or using pressure,  which is what happens when you put a log into a log splitter, or use wedges and a hammer, force is used to push a blunt a wedge into the wood, and either the number of wedges or the constant pressure (depending on whether you do it by hand or use a mechanical log splitter) will split the wood.

So back onto the axe.  About a year ago I bought a B&Q branded fiberglass handled axe from, funnily enough B&Q.  Being a stickler for tradition I removed the fiberglass handle and went out and got hold of a few pieces of green ash.

Ash has traditionally been used for tools because it has a close grain which is strong, yet it will absorb shock, making it ideal as a tool handle until modern composites and imported hickory came onto the scene.  Ash also has the habit of growing anywhere, so is quite often removed from managed woodland on a regular basis, so is fairly abundant.

Step 1.                                                  The first stage is to remove the old handle, do this by using a saw to cut the handle just below the head of the axe, though take care not to nick the head as you do.  Once the old handle is out of the way put the head into a vice so that the top of the eye is uppermost.  Now take a drill and drill out as much of the old handle as you can.  Again take care not to nich the head, and now you also have the hazard of the metal wedge used to keep the wooden one in place. 

Once this is done you should be able to turn the head the other way uo in the vice and knock out what is left of the handle (it might be worth making a mark on the underside of the head at this point so you know what way up it should go, though if you are going to do step 1a use a bit of thought as to where the mark should go.

Step 1a.              (Optional) My axe was covered in a nasty epoxy resin type coating, and to get rid of this I used a couple of adrasive wheels in my drill, and finished it off with sandpaper and elbow grease.  I then taped over the 1^st ¼ of the head and painted it with matt plasticoat.  The paint will do the same job as the resin coating, but doesn’t look as tacky.

Stage 2.             Now for the tricky bit, you need to wait until the ash has seasoned before you start working it, that way the moister will have already have left and it will have shrunk as much as it is going to initially, HOWEVER, it will still keep shrinking, especially if kept outside all year without protection from moisture, because it will absorb and expel water on that regular a basis that it will become weak, warped or mis shapen.

Over the years I have bought a few different length axe handles, from hatchets right up to axes over a meter, and I have used these to make templates on a few pieces of plywood (in truth the templates are drawn within each other, and this is repeated on another piece of ply, so that if anything happens to one I have a spare I can use to make another.)

You will need a selection of tools to carve, and it depends on your selection which will be best, but generally I use a hatchet, surform and spoke shave, though some people prefer draw knifes and chisels, or whatever floats your boat.  You could always just use an electric saw, but I’m running on the assumption that if you need to do this, if you can do it by hand, then you can do it by machine.

Step 3.              As you will have seen when you took the axe head off the handle, there was a wooden wedge and a metal wedge holding the it to the handle.  You will need to cutt a groove lengthways along the top of the handle, just a little shallower than the axe head is.  Once you have done this, seat the head onto the handle and insert your wooden wedge, preferably this should be a hardwood, and I prefer oak, but the choice is up to you if there aren't the materials to do this.

Drive the wedge in until the axe head is tight and does not move, then cut off the wedge and handle so that it is flush with the head of the axe and (though some people prefer to leave it a little proud, again its up to you) and hammer in the metal wedge, this should be diagonal and should pass through both woods, with the ends both being in the ash.

That’s It, fairly simple, if you want to stain or varnish the handle be careful, furniture and internal finishes can leave it that slippery that you may lose it when you swing it.

Knowledge

After whatever event causes the end of civilisation each of us will have a series of choices to make, do we, one of the most important will be whether to stay on our own or to join a larger group.

If we join a larger group we will need less skills individually to be able to survive, but we will need to find more food.  If we stay on our own, the opposite is true.

We will need a large variety of skills when we come to re-building, some obvious to most people, other not so much.

I have decided that while I am un-employed it is time to increase my skills bank.  The first stage of this is to get as many books on the subject I have decided to study.  After you have absorbed the fundamentals from the books the most important thing is to learn the subject.  I've chosen what used to be called metalwork & vehicle maintenance to get me started, though in the future I may go for loads of other subjects.

The good thing about modern colleges is that most of them offer a night school or part time study option, so depending on classes you can potentially do more than one at a time.

Some subjects that are worth considering are
Wine making/ brewing
Preserve/ jam making
Construction - all elements
Mechanics & Vehicle maintenance - all elements
Metalwork
Home Appliance repair
Nursing
Nutrition
History/ Ancient civilisations
Handy Crafts

But that's just my take on what's needed
ATB
Syd

Budget Bushcraft kit

Budget bushcraft kit

Budget kit to turn your 72hr BOB into a kit that should be able to last you much longer.

Axe – fairly mainstay in bushcraft outfits, though most seem to recommend expensive brands such as wetterlings and granfors bruks, you can more than get by with a generic brand, or even a home brand of the bigger DIY chains.  Aim for around a 2lb head unless you have reasons to not have a handle visible from your pack, in which case I’d recomend a tomahawk. Forge steel branded fiberglass or hickory handled axes available from Screwfix direct for around £12, B&Q branded fiberglass handled axes cost from around £20, funnily enough available from B&Q.

Saw – I prefer a Silky Fox zubat (Pruning)saw as I carry a 380mm non folding on my belt for work, but this isn’t always practical, and could quite possibly be viewed as illegal by some of the more robust members of the constabulary.  In which case a folding saw is ideal, and just as Ray Mears suggests, the Bahco Laplander takes some beating, but at £20+ is a bit pricey, Blackspur make one for a tad under £5

Misc items

You will need some form of means of getting food if you want to live off the land, slingshots or catapults are handy as are compact cross bows, but be warned, it is illegal to hunt with them.  Air Rifles are your only option if you want to catch game humanly, but snare kits are available from the internet, along with instructions of how to set them up, be warned, depending on the snare it may be illegal to use them, and depending on the ownership o f the land it may be classed as pouching, so care should be taken to ensure you are not breaking the law, or that you only practice it for your survival.

You can fish with a line and rod, but this requires a lot of patients, its more efficient to put a gill net or night line out while you sleep and collect your catch when you wake up, and your nearest angling set will be able to sell you all the kit for this.

Basic survival kits are available all over the place for about £10 to £20 but you can get one yourself by getting a contents list, tailoring what you feel comfortable using and dropping the rest.

Well, that’s it, added to the contents of a bug out bag or walking kit you should be able to live off the land indefinitely, though I’d add some herbs and essentials like flour and baking powder and you’ll be set.

Stay tuned for tips on how to make penny stoves, and wood gasifer stoves.

Bug Out Bags

A bug out bag is designed to enable you to just "grab and go"(hence why they are also called grab bags) the idea being that you can live out of it for 3 days, (another name used for them is 72hour bag).  The aim of a bug out bag is that you can have it ready for you to grab it when you need to leave your home at short notice, and yet not have to spend much time packing, because many of the emergencies that would mean that you need to move wouldn't give you the time, a home fire or earthquake for example.

 

My Bug out Bag

My bug out bag is tailored more for backpacking/treking as this is a strong hobby, but what is a "B.O.B" if not a backpacking set up.

Sleep

I have a hennasy hammock http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hennessy-Hammock-Expedition-Asym/dp/B000ZKEIK8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1355502441&sr=8-1 and DPM Basha set up, with an Alp kit Pipe dream 600 sleeping bag, very minimum weight and bulk yet very warm and cozy.

Cooking

Solo Stove gasifer stove http://www.solostove.com/solo-stove/ burns pretty efficiently, sits inside a primus ETA Power 1Litre pot http://www.cotswoldoutdoor.com/primus-etapower-pot-1-ltr-94210001?id_colour=180 and will burn whatever you feed it.  There is a video of someone on youtube taking a Trangia type meths burner inside his solo stove, so I may have to do this myself in the not too distant.  This sits in a draw string bag in one of the outside pockets of my pack.  I’m not a fan of gimiky utensils, so for me it’s a solid Nato KFS set and a Frosts Mora clipper, maybe not as light as a titanium spork, but a lot cheaper, and not noticeably uncomfortable to carry.  My immediate (72 hours) food needs will be met by Fuzion Freeze dried Foods, though if it were the end I’d keep this in case and live off my witts.

Water

I carry a 1L water bottle, 58 Pattern bottles because I’m a fan of the crusader cooking system, and because I have them.  There is no point in buying expensive branded P.E.T bottles when I already have one I am happy with.  Though I have a selection of Ali & Plastic bottles that others are welcome to use if they do not have the kit on a joint exped.  I also carry two 2Ltr hydration pouchs, and a couple of 1Ltr water bladders, one is for carrying “dirty” water and adding the puritabs, and has an inline water filter fitted to the hose, and the others are for carrying “clean” water.  The water bladders are just for storage and would be empty when moving.

Clothing

This is all deliberately civilian walking stuff, a lot more than army surplus, but won’t attract attention when you are spotted in the hills.  I used to have all my walking gear except jacket as army surplus, but I’ve made the change because I think it’s a reasonable precaution, and bought over time doesn’t cost that much more.  Trousers are Cragghoppers Kiwi, HH Base layers top & bottom, Fleece, softshell and jumpers as needed for the weather and are a mix of brands.  Boots wise I’m still going for Magnums in summer, with Meindl boots and Gaiters in winter, with Bridgedale endurance trekker socks.

Tools

Tools are important if you want to be unseen in the outdoors for long periods.  Bungee cord has a million and one uses, as does para cord, I have both in my kit.   A folding pruning saw, Bahco Laplander because it was ray mears that gave me the idea. Secaters because they are sometimes easier than using larger tools, and have less inherent risk than chopping kindling with an axe.  I also have a small 1½ lb hachet in there but if It ever does come to an end I’d take my 2lb granfors Scandinavian forest axe, basic sharpening kit for all my sharps, and a NATO folding shovel.  I normally carry baby wipes and a lot of nappy sacks in case I get caught short, this kind of go’s with the shovel if you get my drift.   A slingshot is ideal, but I don’t have the skill to use it, so again, post fall I’d add something more useful that I’m more practiced with.

The bag itself is a 50Ltr Osprey Atmos, with the important things (inc a full survival kit & 2 meals) in a 24hr manbag inside the lid, so if it looks like I will be separated from my gear I can still survive.

 Anything else is just common sense, personal hygiene items, money and anything else that you cannot live without.

Well, that’s my bug out kit, any suggestions or questions feel free.

About Me and my preps.

Hi all.  My names syd, and I’ve been prepping for a while now. 

I’m very into the outdoors so I already have a lot of camping and bushcraft gear, and a good handle on thriving off the land post fail, I have enough gas stoves & Lanterns and fuel for them, to supply quite a few people as I am a scout leader, ditto all the other camping gear that may come into its own when folks have to continue without mains supplies.

I’m in the process of adding paraffin burners & lamps to my “camping” supplies (as some people in the family think prepping is a little eccentric I generally tell anyone that enquires what I just bought that it’s for camping)

I’m in the process of getting solar PV Cells and installing rainwater catchment into IBC’s underground to enable me to have limited sustained electricity and water, without spending too much money in the meantime.

I have plenty of manual tools and skills, being a builder for 10 years and now re training to conservation/ countryside management so I’d hope to be pretty self-sufficient skills wise, and maybe valuable enough that someone with more resources may feel that they could trade for my services, if we ever got to a stage where we could re-build.

Food wise we have tinned food for about 6 months, but getting more runs into resistance from family, and dried food(fusion freeze dried foods) for about 8 weeks after that.

I’m also looking into the possibility of keeping a static caravan or maybe a shipping container at a remote location as a safe haven/ bug out, and maybe even a holiday home until we need it.

Bug out wise I don’t think it’s a viable proposition without your own land in the uk, but I have a go bag none the less, more for backpacking, but I suppose it could double as a bug out bag.

Plenty of other things but I don’t think things like security measures should be published as these are down to the individual, and could compromise them.