I like having it as one of the tools though, so I use the Swiss army knife which doesn’t require justifying to a police office who is having a bad day.

UK version.

999 - Ambulance please.

Is the patient breathing?

Yes. But its quite heavy.

I like mine but its not legal for general purpose carrying in the UK because of the safety lock on the blade. Yes I know UK knife law is dumb, but that is what I have to live with. They do make ones without it but mine is from before those laws came in.

Its not illegal to own or carry, but you require a good reason to carry it and that is somewhat vague. Swiss army knife has a soft “lock” where you just need a bit more force to start closing it which is fine as its not a locking blade.

IIRC the TLDR of the law is that a knife is illegal to carry. Unless you have a good reason OR it doesn’t lock and is under 7.62cm. So Swiss army knife doesn’t require convincing a police officer that your reason is acceptable.

You do have different sorts of prepping though. Some act like they are preparing a fallout shelter and equipment to continue for years afterwards. If you are buying a freeze dehydrator, you are going too far.

But far more reasonable is stuff like being prepared for a power/gas/water outage or local shops can’t get restocked for a few days.

Also being prepared doesn’t have to mean having equipment to replace those functions. It could also just be something to keep you going for a few days without it. Tinned food that can be eaten cold for example.

We have enough dry ingredients to last a few weeks if necessary and rainwater collection with water butts. Not ideal but if there was an emergency we could boil and drink it. Camping stove and I keep a tub of sticks as fuel for it and to leave them to dry out.

I got to make use of my Swiss army knife at work. With the fucking awl! I and I alone knew what it was capable of.

At that point I think I would just go back to a brick phone again. I used one as my only phone for the past several years before getting a second hand fairphone with calyx, I really don’t have a problem with going back.

90% of the reason for the fairphone is I work in office now and I get bored for an hour lunchbreak. But being able to send my partner more higher quality cat pics is a bonus too.