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Have multiple strands for your resilience
After Hurricane Ivan in 2004, my LandCruiser was heavily used in the aftermath, driving on broken and sometimes flooded roads that were often covered in debris and roofing nails. After about six weeks, I was able to hand it to the Toyota garage to check over while I flew off island for a few days. Everything was still working, but I asked them to check it over, as conditions had been, well, rough (see photo above).
When I returned, they reported: “we took 26 nails out of the (off-road) tires, we had to fix the suspension, brake and electrical systems, two hydraulic systems”.. and more. I looked at the mechanic, aghast, then said “if all of that was wrong, how was it still running just fine when I left it with you?”. They smiled, then said “there is a reason by the UN uses Landcruisers all over the toughest areas of the world. They are built for it. They have multiple redundancies designed in”. Put another way, one set of brake or other systems failing doesn’t mean the car stops working .
I hadn’t consciously planned to buy a Landcruiser thinking “hmm, if we have a devastating Hurricane it will keep running”, but it sure was good to have one when things got tough, as the ability to have multiple strands of resiliency kept it running.
