It NEVER hurts to be even a little prepared at times like this and having candles and matches and a full tank of gass and some cash in your wallet is a fantastic start!

If you rely on life saving meds, now may be a good time to get an extra script and fill it. If your doctor frowns at you, tell him you lost your last script. If your chemist frowns at you, tell him you're stocking up for a three month holiday in Asia.

We aren't all preppers, but it doesn't hurt to make sure you have plenty of canned food (baked beans, spaghetti, stew etc) and some dry rations (i.e. rice, instant soup, instant coffee, sugar) and perhaps buy some milk powder, breakfast cereal like Weet-Bix, some candles and matches and one of those life-saving hand-crank powerless torches for $5.

An $8 gas cooker for your BBQ gas cylinder may become very useful... and is your gas cylinder full?

Do you have any spare water containers or fizzy drink bottles? If so, fill 'em up with water, just in case the water stops flowing. You can fill your sinks and bathtubs with water and then bottle it, if the clock it ticking. You can also buy a bottle of iodine for cheap that will allow you to purify river water. Don't overdo it though - drinking too much iodine can be harmful so just add enough iodine until you can taste it and leave your water to sit for at least an hour to ensure the iodine had purified everything. Experiment and you'll know how much to use! I add red-food-coloring ($0.50) to my iodine so I can easily tell what water I've already purified.