"France is in the middle of a revolution and the aristocracy are busy making the acquaintance of Madame Guillotine. To the rescue comes the dashing Black Fingernail; snatching the aristos from the jaws of death. Citizen Camembert is sent to England to track down the Black Fingernail and bring him to justice..."
The French aristocracy tried to escape the mob by disguising themselves as peasants.
They were easily exposed by not having the rough hands and black fingernails
In the future low tech world we will need to grow all our food.
I have had an allotment for 20 years and it is only now that I have settled into the rythmn of the year.
It is essential to know when to plant .
The difference between sucess and failure is only a couple of weeks.
How many of the "back to the landers" have the ingrained habits of seedtime and harvest.
How many know how to preserve this harvest?
In a world where there is nothing - nothing at all - how many know how to dry or smoke their produce?
Unless we relearn the iron age preservation techniques of underground storage of grain for example, there will be famine and pestilence every year from autumn till early summer
