“末日”預言逼近 英國人儲食備避孕套

The Mayan calendar predicts that the end of the world is less than a month away - but there are some Britons who are taking the doomsday prophecy more seriously than most.

They have built emergency store cupboards filled with food with a long shelf life, are stock piling petrol, weapons, and even condoms, have secret remote hideaways, getaway trailers ready to escape in 15 minutes, nuclear and chemical weapon suits and even an inflatable canoe.

One 'prepper', Edward O'Toole, has already abandoned ship and is living 'off grid' in Slovakia.

Retired soldier Michael Sanderson lives with his wife and two young daughters in Hertfordshire but has a trailer ready for them to escape to a secret Welsh hideaway at 15 minutes' notice.

Mr Sanderson, who served in the Falklands and Northern Ireland, said: 'I’m preparing for a natural disaster.

'Bad things do happen, people’s homes do get burned down, there are floods, there are catastrophic events that affect people completely.

'If you go too late, you’re dead. People say to me "why are you a prepper?" And I’m always baffled by it, because what I say to people is, I don’t understand why you’re not.

Mr Sanderson was prompted into action watching Hurricane Katrina unfolding on the news - one of the deadliest storms to hit the States which devastated New Orleans.

Mr Sanderson said: 'My mum’s 85 years old, you know, I’ve got young children, how do I get the family out? So they didn’t leave, the stayed. And – they expected, they expected somebody to come and save them. And nobody did.

American ex-pat, Annie Durbin, who lives in east London, is a new recruit and believes she is one of the only woman preppers.

She has put together a 'survival kit' including her favourite 'commando knife' which makes her 'feel tough' and can be made into a spear.

'I’ve got lots of condoms, and various lubes and things, because even in times of hardship, people have sex.距離瑪雅立法預言的“世界末日”的到來已不足一個月，一些英國人在各方面做着“避難”的準備，比大部分人對末日預言的態度都更嚴肅認真。

他們添置了緊急儲物櫃，裏面裝滿能長期保存的食物，並儲存汽油、武器、甚至避孕套。有的人已找到祕密而偏僻的隱匿處，準備好在15分鐘內可以逃走的拖車、核武器和化學武器防護衣、甚至還有可充氣使用的獨木舟。

“末日準備者”愛德華-奧圖爾已經放棄了用船逃生的想法，在斯洛伐克居住，不使用電力。

退伍兵米歇爾-桑德森和妻子以及兩個女兒居住在赫特福德郡，但準備了一輛拖車，用它可以在15分鐘內逃到威爾士一處祕密的隱匿處。

桑德森在福克蘭和北愛爾蘭服役，他說：“我已經準備好了應對自然災難。”

“會發生糟糕的事情，人們的房子會被燒燬，會有洪水來襲，會發生影響人類的災難性事件。

“如果你跑的太晚，就會死亡。人們對我說，爲什麼你要爲世界末日做準備呢？我也經常感到困惑，因爲我會對人們說，我不明白爲什麼你們不做準備。”

桑德森在電視上看到卡特里娜颶風帶來的災難之後，開始採取行動。卡特里娜颶風席捲了新奧爾良州，是美國遇到的最致命的颶風之一。

桑德森說：“我的媽媽已經85歲了。我還有年幼的孩子，我怎麼能把全家都帶走呢？因此他們沒有離開，留了下來。而且，他們希望有人來救他們，事實上沒人這樣做。”

來自美國的外籍人士安妮-德賓居住在倫敦東部，是一名新兵，她相信自己是唯一一個爲世界末日做準備的女性。

她已經收拾好了一個“生存包”，裏面有她最愛的“突擊隊匕首”，可以讓她“感到強壯”，而且可以拼成一把刺刀。

“我還準備了一些避孕套，以及各種潤滑油等等，因爲就算在困難時期，人們也需要性愛。”