Some 3 months ago my wife and I split up. She has our old appartment and I moved into company accomodation.
One night in a drunken and most ill advised move I commited a reasonably serious crime (fraud) which I am currently facing charges for. My company heard about it and immedialy cancelled my contract with immediate effect. Tommorow at 3o’clock I must hand over the keys to my appartment.
The next time I will have any money is Tueday next and I will get into a cheap hotel and continue the job hunt that has been occupying my days of late. Until then I dont know what I am going to do. I foolishly never applied for social security (Pride? Stupidity?)
At this point I just want to say that I am not soliciting anyone here for help. Im looking for practical ideas to help me get through a rough week.
A plan of sorts has sprung up. I will go to the island fortress of Suomenlinna where there are many caves and a very small population. Hopefully my belongings will be safe there. I really dont mind this so much…the mess is very much of my own making but my major concern right now is food. I collected beer bottles and traded them in for the deposit. This means that I have two loaves of bread to get me through until next Tuesday.
So anyone out there got any ideas for short term survival? I dont know how to fish but Im going to give it a damn good try. Any other ideas? I should mention that I am in Finland and I dont speak Finnish. My wife lives with someone else now (a 19 year old fighter pilot of all things) so I cant expect much help there.
Ive got my health , my wits , a swiss army knife , devastating good looks and a sense of humour about the whole thing.
All ideas , criticism and advice will be gratefully accepted.
Offers to help will not.
PS What is the best food to buy when you need maximum nutritional value/energy?. I will be trying the beer bottle trick again.
Okay, I have some experience with Dramatic Residential Deficency.
First off, don’t panic. It’ll be a long week, but you’ll muddle through just fine. Second, you have a swiss army knife on you, your way ahead of the game (I’m bieng quite serious).
I’m assuming you haven’t any friends in the area, otherwise you’d be doing the couch trip thing. Go to any local church in the area and ask them to hold onto your extranious stuff (Catholic churches typically are really good about this).
Register for your Social Security insurance, pride be damned. You’ve been paying into it since you were sixteen.
As for housing, I don’t know where you live but your car, abandoned houses, rooftops and storage lockers are all servicable options. If your relatively young (under thirty), ask the street kids where they crash, you’d be surprised at how cohesive and willing to help the street community can be (I’m going from California experiences, Finland might be something entirely different).
As for food, learn where the free samples and cahrity giveaways are. The bottle idea is also a good option.
I think you have the right idea about fishing. I went through several survival outings when I was in Boy Scouts where you go into the woods alone with the clothes on your back, a canteen, a knife, and some rope. I’ve never had to last for more than 2 1/2 days, but I could if I had to. I know a ton of very simple tricks that require no fishing skill. Problem is, they’re different depending on what you want to catch. Do you have any information about the type of fish in that area. Let me know, and I’ll see what I can come up with.
Do you have a friend with a tent or a sleeping bag? Would this be something that your ex could loan you? You wouldn’t have to tell her why you need it other than for “camping”.
That Church idea is a great help.I should have thought of that before.
I have no idea what type of fish they have but I have seen quite a few fishermen in the area I am talking about so I can always try asking them.
It oh so so tempting to take the stuff from my appartment.Its really very luxuoriously furnished but I guess I have all the legal problems I need at the moment.
I will register for the social security tommorow. The only problem there is that I cant give them an address now.Itll probably take more than a week to sort out anyway.Another problem is that the police have kept my passport to make sure I dont leave the country.
One of the few good things about Finland is the law that they have called “right of access” which means that you are allowed to go anywhere in the country…there is no tresspassing law.
I really dont know anyone here and I know my wife doesnt have any camping gear. Im not too worried about the cold though …its still very warm here and I do have soem heavy clothes.
I dont have anywhere to live but I can still surf. The libraries here provide free access.
All I really need right now is a cigarette though.
I don’t really have any general tips, except maybe to ask some fisherman in the area. Some fish are attracted to specific types of bait. Some fich are very territorial and you can take advantage of the fact to catch them. I can’t really tell you much of any use without more specifics. Sorry.
First, when fishing for food, remember ALL laws go out the window. You do what it takes to get the fish.
Find a creek that isn’t too wide and has a shallow section. YOu might not see fish, but they pass there, trust me.
Now take sections of sticks and build a V shape with the point heading downstream. This will funnel the fish to that point. You stand there with a net (prefered, but you probably don’t have one) or a spear and go nuts.
Another good way is to find a small shallow pool to the side and funnel the fish into that, then when you see you have a few block the entrance with a pre-made section and spear the fish in the pool.
Oh, forgot to add this at the end of that last post:
You can set up lines overnight. The problem is that you do not have any line or hooks. But you CAN get them cheap, so when you do get them, use this trick. Just buy REALLY REALLY heavy line and STRONG hooks and a few REALLY heavy sinkers. Sportsmanship be damned at this point.
Dig for worms under logs and rocks. You will find plenty. Tie the sinker at the end of the line and tie like 5 or so hooks along the line about 12 inches apart or so. Bait them and throw it out to rest on the bottom and tie the other end to a tree on the shore. Best is a thick branch that will have so give in it so the line wont just snap if you get a big one. Do this at several points along a river or lake shore and you WILL have something by morning.
I don’t know how popular turtles are around there, but you can make a turtle trap by making a square with 4 logs about 4 inches in diameter and put a wire fence or something across the bottom like that (not a solid material). Now, take big nails and put them into the logs facing INWARDS about the midpoint of the logs. So the result will be when they float in the water the nails are just above the waterline, the mesh bottom below the water. Tie this with rope to a tree and float it out to the center of a creek/river and secure it on the other side so it wont float to shore. Now throw a dead fish or something else like that on there. A turtle will crawl up and not be able to get off because of the nails catching its shell.
Its illegal as hell under normal conditions, but for not-starving purposes if havent seen anything work better.
Find yourself a decent net, or make something that will at least scoop and hold fish of the size your looking for. Then just throw popcorn on the water. I have never seen a type of fish that doesn’t go absolutly crazy for popcorn. Usually there is such a frenzy of the fish to get it, it looks like a solid mass of fish rather than water. Torn ip pieces of bread will also work, but not nearly as well. Popcorn is also fairly cheap, you can by a bag for about 50 cents, and you check the alley behind a movie theater after it closes, there is often a 50 pound bag of the stuff sitting by the dumpster.
if I was in your shoes back home, I guess I’d try walking into the local police station - looking as well-groomed as I could - and politely explain my situation and ask for advice. These people have street smarts (or ought to have) and might be able to point out some possibilities you’ve overlooked. Success will, of course, depend entirely on the character and mood of the guy behind the counter, but what’s the worst that can happen ?
Hell, that’s a mess you’ve got there, all right. Come through and keep us informed, OK ?