For a while now I only take my phone and sometimes wallet while out and about on a daily basis. I’d like to be more prepared for things so I’ve picked up some kit, some of which I already had:

  • A UK legal knife
  • A multitool (screwdriver bits, bottle opener, pliers, etc)
  • Emergency foil blanket
  • Tinder starter/whistle
  • Two gas lighters
  • Keychain flashlight with integrated USB A port
  • Field notebooks and fountain pen
  • Lockpicking set with a pouch and a concealed credit card set
  • Slimline 65W 20000mAh USB A+C battery bank

I’ve got a messenger bag I can fit this stuff in, which will also fit my laptop so I can carry that around more often too when that would be useful. Obviously some things like the foil blanket and tinder starter probably aren’t valuable in an urban area but they are so small and light I may as well include them. I plan to hang the messenger bag on the back of the front door with all this kit in so I always pick it up whenever I go out.

I wear different trousers every day and I’m useless for remembering to put stuff in my pockets so in terms of the pocket stuff it’ll just be phone, keys (with shopping trolley key, bottle opener, USB A+C drive, Yubikey), and a metal wallet with some cards, the card lockpicks, and some cash.

Does this make sense? Is there anything I’ve missed?

  • @solrizeEnglish
    2•4 months ago

    I’d add a few FFP3 (=N95) respirators to your kit and wear one preferably whenever you’re in a public indoor space like a store, but at minimum anywhere crowded or with poor ventilation. COVID is NOT over. Over here we are about to reelect Trump because Biden thought Covid was over, so he skipped precautions, got infected, and gave that muddle headed debate performance due to being ill. Oops.

    (Edit: ok, above is a bit overstated since the election could have gone either way earlier, but it’s much more in Trump’s favor now.)

    • @[email protected]English
      1•4 months ago

      I’d add a few FFP3 (=N95) respirators to your kit

      I have a permanent one with filter packs in the car, from COVID-19, but I don’t use it any more, not for COVID-19.

      COVID is NOT over.

      You’re right that COVID-19 isn’t over, but end of the day, once the disease was spreading uncontrollably in the wild, the aim was no longer stopping it, but flattening the curve – we didn’t want to have everyone get it at the same time while vulnerable, lest it overwhelm healthcare facilities and cause a far higher death rate than would otherwise be the case. That initial period of concern is already over. Once it was spreading uncontrollably in the wild, sooner or later, people are likely going to get it. COVID-19 won’t ever really be over; we don’t now have the ability to eradicate it in the wild. Our shot at that, if we had a chance at it, was very early on in the pandemic, where we might have been able to isolate carriers and let the disease die out.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endemic_COVID-19

      COVID-19 is predicted to become an endemic disease by many experts. The observed behavior of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, suggests it is unlikely it will die out, and the lack of a COVID-19 vaccine that provides long-lasting immunity against infection means it cannot immediately be eradicated;[1] thus, a future transition to an endemic phase appears probable. In an endemic phase, people would continue to become infected and ill, but in relatively stable numbers.[1] Such a transition may take years or decades.[2]