Frontier House

      Early days in this blog, I suggested watching some of the Public Broadcasting Systems' social experiments like, Frontier House.  I first saw this done by the BBC in an experiment called Manor House.  

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     I enjoyed the series as people from everyday London and such volunteered to live as people lived in Manor England.  Knowing that they volunteered and knowing they were to live as they had in Edwardian England, it surprised me a little that they complained when life was not fun and easy.  The cook tried to organize labor!  She complained bitterly about the separation of servant and manor residents.  After she left and things settled down, even the 'manor born' learned lessons that surprised them about their recent ancestors.  I was hooked on these series.

     I highly recommend watching them or owning them to watch again and again when the kids complain about how hard life is or the grandparents lie about how much easier life was in decades past.  Life is hard, Easy memories are usually the memories of a child.  Life is harder in the so called kinder simpler days gone by.  

     It's all fun and games when we are watching Downton Abbey because no is complaining about human rights and labor equality and the heat in the kitchen and the hours in the day.   They all stand on their marks, wait for the cue and read their lines.  There's more to living than the show!

     Lessons you can learn from watching these programs goes beyond how to cook over an open fire and gives a glimpse of human behavior.  All the bullying and backstabbing, political struggle and class strife is present.  Every person who signed up for these shows knew life was going to be different.  Few of them are prepared for how different.  The prepper could benefit from watching how others cope and imagining if it were you.

     Other experiments in this series were,1900 House (England, shampoo not yet invented) 1940s House (England the War years with the man of the house away and ration books).   Colonial House ( Northeast settlement of the United States),Texas Ranch House (cattle ranch, large family, ranch hands operating a business in cattle),  and Pioneer House (the settlers of the Mid-West.). 

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     I was flipping channels and noticed even though you can own these titles from Amazon, now, The Do It Yourself Network bought Pioneer House and aired it today in it's entirety.  If they have done this before, it shows I don't watch often.  You can blame that on the fact that the DIY channel is not producing anything that teaches me how to do it myself.  I don't need a half dozen shows promoting people that buy and flip houses or people who stage a house for sale or people who want to buy a vacation home.  I want to see people trying to fix a dishwasher or a sewing machine or learning to build something they have never tried before.  Maybe I even want to see people making handcrafts as the network once showed.  But, today I saw they bought a series I could own for under $30, if I wanted to buy it new.  I already own 1900 House for a dollar at a yard sale and Manor House for three dollars from a thrift store.   If you want to go totally inexpensive, the tapes are usually available at your public library! 

     
     Post TSHTF people who survive will still be people.  There will be the lazy, the crazy and the opportunist, the politicians, the bosses and the bullies.  These people may have signed a waiver for legalities, but they are not put in serious danger.  There are cameras nearby, production staff on hand and an exit clause.   I would say one of the most important lessons I took from these series was "no matter where you go, there you are!" Some of the volunteers said they were changed by their participation.  Nice!  I saw some of them trying to change their experience to suit their personalities.  I saw them go to a lot of trouble to go back in time only to find they had taken their bad moods, bad habits and work ethics with them.  

     I don't want to spoil any of it for you with details, but as a social experiment goes.....they are a good watch!