This Post Could Save Your Life

As a cameraman, thirty years ago I was assigned to cover a news story about a plane crash in the wilds of Alberta that took the life of the Leader of the Opposition but through strange luck, the Minister of Housing's life was saved by the survival skills of a convicted felon.

All through a bitterly cold Alberta winter night, the convict kept all the other survivors warm and awake until help arrived.  After covering that story, I put together a survival kit just in case I ever needed it.  This was all pre - 911 so air transportation security was pretty slack and taking a knife or matches on board the plane did not present any problems.

My son, Ragnar the Trader, has gotten me interested in preparing a survival kit once again and since I'm a cyclist, I thought that carrying one on my bike would be a prudent thing to do.

Simple soap container

For $1.25 I bought a simple backpacking soap container and placed a number of pieces inside (with room to spare for more)!  Most of the survival items are miniatures of their car-camping brothers and sisters but will do the job.  They are:

Water purification tablets
A magnesium fire starter
Bandaids and butterfly sutures
A whistle
One tea light
A flashlight with red beam
Storm-proof matches
A compass with fluorescent markings
Safety pins
A wire saw
Needles and thick thread
Wooden tongue depressor (the wood can help start a fire)
One zip tie
Brass wire (to make a snare)
Fishing hooks and line
Multi-tool

Voila!

The kit is just 200 grams which is what a cheap derailleur weighs and fits perfectly into my front handlebar bag.

While I may never be in the desperate situation that the plane crash victims mentioned above were in, I'll know that I have at least prepared for a small emergency that could arise at any time.