The weekend drill: practise without power, water or shops

Once a year, turn off mains power and water for a weekend and do nine tasks (water, toilet, cooking, light, first aid, reading the archive, radio, planting, meeting neighbours), score each 0 to 3, and write down what failed.

Part of Day Zero, the plan for an AI-related crisis that gets out of control. Why it exists. General information, not medical advice: how these guides are reviewed.

Nobody can honestly say these plans work until people have tried them. Run this drill once a year, with whoever lives with you. Treat what fails as the most useful result.

Before

• Choose a weekend and warn those affected. Do not do this with a sick person, in extreme weather, or if it would put anyone at risk.
• Pack the stockpile as in what to store. Print this page.
• Agree a stop word: anyone can end the drill at once for safety.

Friday evening

• Turn off the main electrical supply and the main water tap. (Do not turn off a gas supply, and do not turn off power needed for medical devices.)
• Phones stay off except for emergency.
• From now on: only your stored water, light and food.

Saturday

Do each of these and write the time it took and what went wrong:

1. Water: collect, treat and drink 4 litres per person. (Boil one batch, filter another.)
2. Toilet: use a bucket or a pit latrine, with a hand-wash.
3. Cook two meals on a camp stove or fire, without taking anything from the fridge.
4. Light and warmth all evening.
5. First aid: each adult treats a pretend wound, bleeding, burn and fracture splint.
6. Read a guide from your drive on the reader device, powered by solar or a power bank. Find the instructions for something real (for example, how to purify water).
7. Radio: make contact with one other household, or listen to local broadcasts.
8. Plant something from your stored seed and test germination on damp paper.
9. Meet with your neighbours and ask for their skills.

Sunday

• Repeat the weakest task.
• Score each task 0 to 3: 0 not done; 1 done with great difficulty; 2 done; 3 done easily and could teach others.
• Total below 18 out of 27 means more preparation before it matters.

Write the report

1. What we did, who was there, the weather.
2. What failed (be specific: the filter clogged, the stove ran out of fuel, no one could read the drive).
3. What took more time or stock than we thought.
4. What we will buy, learn or change in the next 30 days.
5. A date for the next drill.

Keep the report with your archive and share it with your neighbours. Toswo has not run this drill for you; the lessons are yours.

Review status: not yet checked by a named professional. Read how these guides are reviewed and check anything medical or dangerous with a qualified person where you can.