everyones gone!

[dannyday5821]

okay, so picture this. you wake up tommorow morning, only to find, everyone, everyone in the entire world, not including animals, have all gone. no sign of violence, or death, just vanished...for some unknown reason, you instinctivley know "they aint never comin' back"

what would you do?

i thought about it...and decided the following...

1-its be upset id never see another human again
2-it get over it, and start wondering around.
3-id explore. all the coolest places i could think of. to start with, think id break into 10 downing st, then an army barracks. not to destroy stuff. just to look around.
4-then id cause havok! destroying whatever i want, smashing cars, id love it!
5-then i thought about going abroad, but i dont know how id manage it, and i dont know if i really would, cuz i wouldnt be able to gaurentee id get there saftley.

the only other downside i could think of, is when something medical happens. say for example i get toothache, ill be screwed! and i so hate toothache!

i guess after so long, id just get bored, and wish everyone hadnt vanished. but i can only assume that would happen.

so...what would you do?

i think this senario is much better and more fun to think about, instead of the "stuck on a desert island" thing. its an entirley different feeling. atleast on an island, you know someone might find you!

[oxfordrocks]

Medical treatment would be a worry.
First thing I would do is ensure I had access to a large food store, clean water etc,etc. (you wouldn't be able to rely on raiding the supermarkets for very long). If you are the only person left then access to fuel shouldn't be a worry.

Have you ever read the childrens book "Z for Zachariah"??
The main character faced a similar problem.

[dannyday5821]

nah, never read it. the thought actually stems from a dream i had ages ago. the senario a little different...

i was in the middle of city, abandoned of all life. everything was dusty, grey, with tints of yellow. clothes, personal effects, rubbish etc strewn all over the floor. no evidence of it, (i.e not a sign of destruction - maybe chemical warefare instead) but i "knew" there had been nuclear war. with nothing to do but wait for the inevitable, i just sat in the middle of the huge empty road. city buildings towering either side, and glared into the distance. the city ended, but the road kept going and going and going. as i gazed into the horizan, i just sat and wait.

i probably would do that in the dream senario. what else could i do? with nuclear war, i cant even eat or drink anything without polluting myself!

[jake-the-peg]

Perhaps a more interesting question is how long could you survive.

Food shouldn't be an immediate problem - lots of stores with tins but water would be so you'd have to get out of the cities to somewhere with a reliable water supply.

Cities would rapidly become dangerous as rats and dogs took over, disease etc.

Guess the smart thing would be to get a big truck laden up with tinned food, fuel and medical supplies a couple of rifles and ammunition (for dogs and other undesirables as well as deer) and find some sort of farm where you could become relatively self sufficient.

A quick raid on a large B & Q should get you a wind turbine etc. too and you'll want a book or two.
Day of the Triffids would be a good one

[dannyday5821]

never thought of that actually, the dogs and rats thing. but good point! do you think the same problem would happen in the rural parts though? as for water supply...without the water plants/facilities how would you go about getting clean water? apart from the obvious "nick a truck full of bottled water" trick? would you be okay for electricity? would the power plants just keep running without people there to monitor them?

[pinkkitty]

You could raid an outdoor supply shop for some water purefying tablets, or, i guess if the water wasn't too polluted you could just boil it and let it cool.

[dannyday5821]

god, i thought i was pretty resouceful...i didnt even think about boiling the water! hahaha! maybe in the situation id think different....

[stewey]

I would get a dog and cat (or two) for companionship. I'm not really much of a 'people' person, but if there was absolutely nobody else around I would feel the need for some form of companionship: something to talk to and respond to and vice-versa...........Interesting situation you pose, danny!

[pinkkitty]

I think if there were no-one to man the powerplants and water cleaning places then you'd be without power too. You'd have to find all the batteries you could and find stuff that ran off battery power. I think as long as there was no contagion you'd be able to live semi self-sufficiently to the end of your days/ You might have to learn the hard ways about Milking Cows, breeding livestock and growing crops, but other than that your only worry would be being eaten by the beast of bodmin moor, or cutting yourself and dying from scepticemia.

I'm interested to know - what do you envisage has happened to everyone? Alien Abduction? Deadly plague? wiped out by the Ori/Goa'uld?! (that's a Stargate reference by the way)

[Coobeastie]

Put on a dress and become emperor of earth........

The Quiet Earth

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089869/

[B00]

What a great question, really gets you thinking!

Hmmmm, medical issues aside, I'm not sure how long you'd survive relatively sane? Surely without any other human contact you'd slowly go doolally?

[dannyday5821]

well i dont really know what could have happened to everyone. i just like to imagine myself in these crazy situations, and think what i would do. i think its actually more scary not knowning whats happened to everyone. id be thinking "why did i survive? - am i special? is there one more human somewhere else in the world?" etc etc. to give a reason to everyone vanishing kind of ruins the fun. true horror to me is things happening with no explaination!

personally, i dunno, i dont think i would go insane all alone. i talk to myself enough anyway. but then, thinking more about it, the days go past, the months, the years. i suppose it would be inevitable, unless i had a pet. i think id be more likley to go insane simply because ive no idea what the hell happened to everyone!

although...on the plus...maybe i would find something interesting in some government offices, or at 10 downing street!

wow...the more i think about this, the more interesting it gets! hope other people come up with other things we havent thought about! lol

[stewey]

Danny, when you get into #10 Downing St, take a quick boo at Churchill's notes for 1915, when he was Lord of the Admiralty. Let me know if he knew that the Germans were planning on sinking the Lusitania...........I sorta think he did. Anyway, that's an assignment for you in case you get bored on your lonesome: don't forget the dog and cat.

[B00]

I've been thinking about this, and I think one of the 1st things i'd want to do is go and have a nosy round Buckingham Palace. Then however I thought....hang on I can't drive and I live 'ooop Norfff, so how would I get there? Then I started further thinking, if no one was around for me to maim and kill on the roads, could I learn myself to drive??

[dannyday5821]

hehe im up north too, id love to see london deserted, it would be a nice change! I cant really drive but sure, i reckon you could teach yourself. plenty of long roads around. dont forget, everyones just vanished, that includes people on motorways etc. someones car will have bound to have survived carnage, still have a key in the ignition, ready to go.

[jno]

surely there are already enough bottles of Perrier and San Pellegrino in the nation's supermarkets to last anyone a lifetime? If not, Chardonnay would have to do. And you can go round Buckingham Palace every summer, though not for free.

Loved The Quiet Earth but like most such movies it depends on finding other survivors too.

[B00]

If that's the case, then it's possible to travel elsewhere in the world via boat? Surely you could learn to drive (?) a boat as well? I did think about flying, but quickly went off the idea, don't fancy plummeting back down again with the thought that providing i don't die on impact, no sod would be able to attend any injuries i incurred!

I'm still not convinced you wouldn't slowly go nuts without any other human interaction though.

as for the water theory, surely stream water, boiled 1st would be adequate? Or rain water? Would lack of water ever be a problem? Don't forget, we do live in the UK, it's always pi$$ing down-lol.

As you can tell, I've probably put wayyyyyy too much thought into this question!

[SteveD]

This is similar to a question I posted a long time ago:

http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Science/Questio n120338.html

[Llamatron]

What would happen to the unattended nuclear power stations?

[nutgoneflake]

If you were worried about crashing a plane, but really wanted to explore further, maybe you could drive a train?? With the Channel Tunnel to get you to Europe?? You'd be less likely to crash a train than a car, the only problem would be claustrophobia under the Channel, but you could whizz along at top speed once you'd practised a bit above ground! That way you could find another car on the other side and do some serious travelling....??

Mr nutgone has just weed on my bonfire by saying 'what about the points?' hmmm...spoilsport!

I like this thread very much, danny, thanks!

[B00]

oh i like that idea...Boo driving a train!

We'll just gloss over Mr Flake's point shall we? And yep I agree, love this question, I've probably put more thought into it than is healthy though.

I wonder how long it would take for the novelty of sampling everything exotic you can find to wear off?

And would you let yourself go? Your personal appearances? I mean what would be the point of bathing etc?