I was visiting my god daughter when her uncle came in. He was a police officer in Monserrat and has emigrated to the US. We were talking and he mentioned that he was given an order to vacate his house in 30 minutes, before the ash covered it. It got me thinking, if I was in the same position, what would I take? If i had only 30 minutes to evacuate, would I just grab my important documents and put as much space between me and the danger, or take advantage of the time limit and take everything I could cram in my car? What would you do?

-- Anonymous, May 04, 2000

Answers

Hey, I've already thought about this one.

If I was limited to what I could grab in two arms, I'd take my CPU, my art portfolio, and then haul ass outta there!

-- Anonymous, May 04, 2000

My three cats, my photo albums and papers from college. As many books as I could take with me and my grandfathers pocketwatch. Not much else. Oh, a couple of beautiful etchings that an artist gave me. It is scary to write this and realize that I don't have much of value in my life, even my car is sorta crappy. Oh, maybe some of my clothes, I would hate to have done all that shopping, putting myself in the ppor house for nothing.

-- Anonymous, May 05, 2000

This is why I have apartment insurance.

I'd grab the zip disks (two) with my writing on them, first. Then it would depend on how strict the time limit was, and how far away I had to get before the danger was past. Like, tsunami coming in over the Atlantic, or a meteor strike, would have me fleeing like nobody's business, but if it was something less pressing I might grab some more stuff.

Of course, I live on a peninsula, so if there really was only a half-hour to evacuate, I'm already screwed. My best bet would be to steal somebody's boat...

Joanne

Parietal Pericardium

-- Anonymous, May 05, 2000

Having survived a fire (and having a disaster-addicted husband), I'm very prepared for this one (almost too prepared according to my pshrink).

I have a stowaway bag at my in-laws, it has an assortment of clothes for all 3 members of my family, and back-ups of my current medicine. I also have a favoured leather backpack which I keep by the side of the bed that contains a couple of books I wouldn't want to lose, important legal documents, the most current (paper) journal, spare contact lenses, and other stuff that's sentimental, but still important to me.

I'm a pretty materialistic girl (more of a packrat, actually), but when it comes down to it, I've lost so much through the years of moving and the fire at my grandmother's house -- I've learned how to let go if I have to.

I've also learned to be prepared.

tess http://tesserae.org/journal Lantern Waste ..............

-- Anonymous, May 05, 2000

Mmm, maybe toilet paper? (Get it? TGIF..)

Seriously, my husband and kids, my cats, three boxes of photographs. Marriage and birth certificates, house ownership papers. Everything else is replaceable.

-- Anonymous, May 05, 2000

This subject upsets me so much I can barely think about it.

I guess I'd take important papers (though I'm not sure where they are) and just grab whatever I could. I have so many things that are precious to me. I don't care about photos.

-- Anonymous, May 05, 2000

I don't care too much about material possessions. I guess I'd maybe grab a photo album (although I have most of the important photos scanned and uploaded to my website, so even that's negotiable) and haul my ass out of there.

-- Anonymous, May 05, 2000

The cats. I wouldn't have time really to grab anything else, unless we do like we plan to and get one of those fire retardant boxes and put the kind of important documents that we need to have in there, plus some memorabilia.

I wouldn't want our entire filing cabinet in the box, but I'd like to have Sabs' naturalization papers, my passport, copies of our credit reports, our current lease and our tax documents, my folder full of genealogy research and my diaries.

We also keep backups of our server and those would be good things to have in there too.

I'd love to have time to grab my photo albums and one box of old letters and drawings, but if it comes down to it I'd rather save myself, my cats and my hubby.

I've been thinking about making an emergency pack actually -- a small duffel, with two spare t-shirts and some underwear and socks, a couple of bottles of water, a first-aid kit, flashlight, matches and batteries and some energy bars.

That way in an emergency, all we'd have to do is grab the document box, the emergency bag and the cats.

-- Anonymous, May 05, 2000

I sort of had that situtaion happen last Monday. Sort of. It didn't happen, but I thought it was going to.

Me and the other tenants in my building are taking our landlord to court for, among other things, removing supporting beams.

I had had an verbally violent encounter with some workers earlier that morning, so I was all defensive about the building and scared too.

Around 9 pm that night I had this Laurable day. I don't mean to be a hit slut about it, but I was almost going to cut and paste the entry so I figured what the hell.

-- Anonymous, May 05, 2000

Doh! Sorry, it was the day before, Monday, May 1st.

Sorry Beth.

-- Anonymous, May 05, 2000

My cat. Food for him (he's picky), a change of clothes, and my toothbrush & toothpaste.

All my important papers are in safe deposit box, I can do without the pictures, and most of the important computer stuff is backed up somewhere.

I'd probably also want to bring a book (or 2 or 3 or 4) to read to occupy myself.

-- Anonymous, May 05, 2000

I assume my precious husband and dog are a given. Other than them, nothing really means anything to me. I suppose I'd try to grab the bird, but its cage is too big, so i'd have to just throw it in a box. I'd try to get important papers and our back up zip disks. But that's about it.

-- Anonymous, May 05, 2000

I'll assume I have a car for this scenario of 30 minutes...basically I'd keep running back and grabbing everything I could until the time was up. Computer, art projects/newspaper articles, stuffed animals (Yes, I know, I said I was a kid), books, probably clothes, jewelry. I'm debating all the pictures from my last relationship- he hates me now, but it was a good relationship. And all my school papers for the current quarter, or else I'd be screwed.

-- Anonymous, May 05, 2000

I suppose I better answer my own question. Because I have an acute case of wanderlust, I carry a basic kit in my car at all times. In the winter it has everything I need to survive if the car decides to leave the travelled path, with blankets, food, a novel I haven't read, a deck of cards, a set of outdoor clothing, a change of clothes etc. In the summer it is smaller, with snacks, a towel and bathing suit and a change of clothes. Sometimes I get in the car after work on a Friday, and end up hundred miles away, just soothe my restless feet. All my important documents are in a briefcase ( passport, extra credit card, birth certificate etc. zip drive ) so i suppose I would grab the brief case and bid adios to the now doomed homestead. The rest is just stuff, can be replaced. I guess thats why I pay those insurance premiums.

-- Anonymous, May 05, 2000

I would take my ferrets (all eight of them) and my one cat. I would take my medication with me, my wallet and credit cards, cell phone, computer, zip disks (with my writing on them), two stuffed animals from when I was younger, and a box of postcards and other letters from internet friends (snail mail items). Everything else can be replaced.

-- Anonymous, May 05, 2000

The suitcase of money we keep under the bed.

-- Anonymous, May 05, 2000

The suitcase that use to be under Dave Van's bed.

-- Anonymous, May 05, 2000

Wow, this one's not hypothetical to me. Has anyone else actually had to do it?

There was a huge fire in my town while I was in high school, and we were given an hour to evacuate. In the end it was three days before we were allowed back, and the fire missed our house by less than a block. Close to half of my friends lost their homes.

The answers, for me at least:

Pictures, photo Albums, yearbooks, any other records. Can you imagine not having a single baby picture survive? Old letters, baby blanket, anything with sentimental value that can't be easily replaced. A change of clothes, a toothbrush, and all those other regular things no one ever mentions. It sure made those three days seem much more normal when I at least had clean jeans in the morning.

It's funny...it's been almost 10 years now and I still feel the need to keep all those important objects in the same place, so I know where they are if I need them. Hopefully that means I never will again.

-- Anonymous, May 05, 2000

The dog, the cat, my hockey memorabilia. My emerald necklace and my copy of Peter Pan.

-- Anonymous, May 06, 2000

My wife would want me to take pictures, yearbooks, records, jewelry, etc., so I would.

If I was living alone when I had to flee this hypothetical emergency, I'd pick up my wallet, shaving kit and PalmPilot first, then I'd grab a Swiss Army knife, a rope, a tarp, and some basic tools, fill a five-gallon water bottle and throw a blanket and pillow in the car. A decent blanket and pillow are the things you really miss when you're put in an emergency shelter, and if you'e not lucky enough to be put in a school cafeteria or something, you might be very glad to have water, a tarp and some rope come nightfall.

-- Anonymous, May 06, 2000

I'm a big coward about physical danger, so I'd just grab my cat and get outta there!

-- Anonymous, May 06, 2000

"I would take my ferrets" That's the right answer.

I would take mine, too. I had a ferretcam up for a while, but my webserver is down right now or I'd point you at it. (It's gentry.dhs.org, should it ever come up again.)

After that, maybe the silver tiffany pocketknife that Kim Rollins gave me, but it's generally already in my pocket so it wouldn't require any extra effort to rescue. And my down featherbed (OK, "downbed," but is that even a word?). I sort of hate everything except the books anyway.

-- Anonymous, May 07, 2000

In "The Meaning of Things: Domestic Symbols and the Self", author Eugene Rochberg-Halton did 300 interviews on the significance of certain domestic objects. The most important were these (written in 1981, pre-zip disk):

Furniture 35% Visual Art 26% Photos 23% Books 22% Stereo 22% Musical Instruments 22% TV 21% Sculpture 19% Plants 15% Plates 15%

In terms of meaning structures with objects:

Memories 48% Associations 48% Experiences 91% Intrinsic Qualities 53% Personal Values 55% Self 97% Immediate family 71% Kin 12% Non Family 43%

-- Anonymous, May 07, 2000

That is so tough. I would take my camera equipment, my scrapbooks, my dog, cat, sugarglider, frogs, computer and diskets, my artwork, my music, some clothes. I kbnow I would try and get more stuff but it would depends if I had enough time I would get all my artist supplies and artist notebooks and sketchbooks.

http://www.geocities.com/ponderance_2000

Please come and visit me and let me know if what I am doing is worthwhile...mayby I wouldnt take the computer afterall ... Karyn

-- Anonymous, May 07, 2000