Chapter 2: Back at College

Gramps had secrets too but over that autumn he made a point of ringing me up once a week to ask me my view of world affairs. The political situation deteriorated, particularly with China after the human rights massacres and rejections of their drug enforced population control policy.

I decided I could afford the small apartment on my own. Yes, Gramps had paid well and I wanted few interruptions while I drew up my final study.

China halted trade with the western economies. At first we noticed little, then electrical goods went up in price as components were unobtainable. I did not need to buy anything.

America put on a trade embargo, the European Community followed suit. I laid in a stock of canned foods to see my academic year out, a leaf taken from Gramps' book.

The Arab countries got annoyed they weren't being paid for oil and the subject for my dissertation was accepted. Unemployment went up and students were warned to keep out of town and I buckled down to my studies. The phone networks weren't too good, it did not worry me but one day in October I got through to Gramps.

He appeared to be more than knowledgeable than I ever imagined and more than once he suggested what the government's policy was going to be before it was released into the public domain.

There was no doubting his concern.

"When there's real trouble you make straight for here. I don't hold with guns but you remember that gift you had," I knew he was speaking in code on the phone and racked my mind until I thought back to when he had been growing cannabis and got in a bit deep with Rastafarians from Brum.*

"Last time round we were living in the Glade; it's safer there." He was referring to the '39-'45 war so he thought things were worse than the news let on.

"I've got those Poles doing up the old farmhouse. There'll be plenty of room for you too. I've a mind to move back but it's a bit much for me at my age. The Glade will support up to a dozen and I've been to see the plot over the road. I took in the land up to the canal last year and got some lads from up north to plant it with thorns and quick growing evergreens. I've put sheep on about thirty acres and cattle on most of the rest.

"There's a herd of sturdy cobs, yearlings going on a farm down Totham way, they're selling up." Lots of businessmen were selling up. "Probably go down to Suffolk for a couple of days too. I have my eye on a few horses there."

"Have you made a profit on those female things?" I was referring to just one trailer load full of female hygiene products. Someone said the girls were complaining at uni of a shortage.

One journalist found two shops in her area had under-ordered and her scaremongering in this nervous climate caused a run on the products. I'm sure that that's what caused the nationwide run on them. The silly scare had female students paying the earth.

There was a smug sound in his voice, "I drew the trailer into the front of the barn and sold it in ten minutes on the phone."

Trust old Gramps, "Sold it to that big supermarket chain only on the proviso they let me have two new containers of the same next week."

I could hear the amusement in his timbre, "Silly buggers don't know that they'll be just as short in a few months time. The arrangement was for the delivery of two containers of the same from Germany and a container full of diapers. We called them nappies in our day. I put some money into proper nappies too, the terry towelling sort. Women these days... !"

Every week he persisted in giving me more information about the business and the farm and it was evident he thought there was going to be wholesale rationing even before the government issued the fuel coupons to the transport companies.

I was calculating that, generally, prices had risen by fifteen percent but his goods must have appreciated by nearer thirty percent when I asked him if he was selling yet.

"The shortages will get worse and there's nothing will spoil that I have." Before this scare is over you'll be glad of those baked beans."

"Forty tonnes of them?"

He laughed, "That was in August!"

He got me worried in early December when he said. "I'm thinking we'll retrench to the Glade. I've built up a small herd with a couple of milkers and I've kept a couple of litters of pigs to build up the numbers.

"You remember that second glade I took you to, a few years back?"

"Yes?" That was over road and down by the hollow next to the canal.

"I've got sheep down there now and a fine herd of Charolais, a small herd of goats is keeping down the weeds. The Bottom, as it's called, can be used as easy as the Glade now the scrub has grown. This wet summer, it did us well. The enclave's out of the way from any official busybodies and rustlers."

"But they are owned by different farmers."

There was as little snort and I recollected that he'd always rented out a couple of fields, rent free in, exchange for favours like a couple of acres here and there.

Then he began harping back to his dad's experiences in World War Two.

That was when he had the official stock that the Ministry of Food distributed under ration but, secreted in the glade, he kept his money-making black market food; eggs and hams, bacon joints and half sides of beef.

Over the phone he never said anything but reminded by hints and innuendoes that he was doing the same again. In the war I know he reckoned he had sold half of his produce at three times the set price.

I rang him up over the term a few times. Yes, the political situation was worse but there was not the crisis that had been expected in September, October.

He did comment once, "A couple of our local farmers have sold up and Gramm's bought the last of them out."

It surprised me that the farmers were finding it hard but the supermarkets were squeezing them for price to keep the customers coming through the doors.

I was worried that Gramps had over-reached himself but he assured me the only thing he owed was a few trailers, " ... that an old man could be expected to have forgotten. Anyhow the economy's in such a bad way that Harveys' yard's almost full of unused trucks, can't hire a thing. I might charge them the storage."

I laughed until I recognised he was working out a way of doing just that! Probably something in exchange, if I knew him.

You all know how quickly things went pear-shaped. The Russians, not paid in gold for their gas as contracted, marched into the Ukraine demanding payment in grain. They succeeded.

Japan went into Nigeria for the contracted oil that they had paid up front for.

That led to Japanese and The United States severing trade links. Japan, short of raw materials, started to use its economic power to get more from Australia.

China became very belligerent with India who had devalued their currency, depriving China of a few billion dollars.

The floor had dropped out of the price of dollars as the States had their second financial collapse in three years. They refused to honour their debts, using the excuse that the trade disputes had not been settled.

China made threatening gestures with India for the same reason. So Pakistan took the opportunity to move into the disputed Kashmir region and the enormous counter-action by India caused the whole of the Middle East to rise up against the anti-Islam War.

India was the first to claim an unexploded bomb with Syrian markings contained bacteriological warfare components.

At home, the outbreak of sickness in the North was first seen as typical early winter influenza virus that occurred each year.

The first week in December the university sent down most of the students. Living just off campus, I stocked up as I'd had done over the Easter vacation. I cut myself off from life, after phoning Mum and Dad, so I could stay to finish off my thesis. I had all the research done and wanted to present it very carefully.

I was really hoping for the Carnegie Prize. That was worth five thousand! The opportunity to excel was too good to miss.

Stocked up with food and cans of Coke, I had no reason to stir outside. My phone was playing up so I didn't even bother getting a new cheapie. Even my daily fitness training went for a Burton apart from some gentle Tai Chi twice a day. I'd more than make up for it when I came out of my cocoon.

I wasn't the only one taking advantage of the fortuitously timed suspension of lectures. I knew I'd still have to make up the missed work but it was nothing new for me to study in the vacations.

The day I finished and emerged from my smelly chrysalis I went over to the university library to return books. OK. There weren't many people around but then I had heard lectures had been cancelled up to the end of the semester.

I was talking to one of the biotech research students when I caught him taking boxes of bottled water out of his car. He had results of the analysis in lots of reservoirs and the analysis of river water was showing scary pollution. "Don't touch anything out of the tap. Uni water appears all right but I'm not touching a drop.

I took a leaf from Gramps book. After texting him, I hired a white van.

Last year, Marcie had rented a garage to house her Mini when she flew home to Aberdeen. It was behind the town, about half a mile away. An old lady who lived in a Victorian house owned it. Although it was in the back of her grounds, Marcie had hated going there alone because the access was from the side into a narrow lane that led to an electricity substation beneath an enormous pylon.

It was rarely used apart from September when lads went collecting conkers down the narrow lane.

I knew about it. Because of its remote access, Marcie often had me accompany her to pick up or leave the car.

To sort everything out took the whole of that day, four trips with the van. By the last visit I was getting known at the trade mart and decided no more. The stocks of water were falling and I reckoned others were doing the same. By the last trip I only half filled it. Other people were taking it like there was no tomorrow. Four times loading the van and then unloading it was more than enough. Water is heavy, I'll tell you that.

As I left, I saw an altercation there between a driver who wanted to unload and the stores' staff. I smiled to myself as I drove out and the driver was drawing closed the heavy plastic curtains on another load of bottled water.

If they'd have known what he had on board they'd have welcomed him in and he had no idea his delivery was so valuable.

By the time I returned I was so tired I turned in.

Saturday; I had a lie-in as per usual then started getting my kit to go to the gym.

I was just making porridge when I turned on the news.

The banks had burst. The flood had spread at 4.a.m.

I discovered that previous advice had been issued to boil drinking water. Today they disclosed that hospitals were crammed full and, "there are a small number of deaths attributable to the water supply." The virus was not killed at a hundred degrees. International travel had been arrested due to terrorists' action and illness of air staff.

I tried to ring Mum and Dad, in fact anyone. Now I discovered the phones were completely out.

The last I heard from Gramps was that he was on his way with dad to the closing down of a prison farm in the south. He had learned that a stud of Suffolk Punch shire horses was to be auctioned off. I'm sure he liked auctions as a away of getting rid of large amounts of cash on which he had not paid tax.

I tried to get onto the internet but there was trouble with the telephone connection. The campus was almost bare of people and the few I saw were locals. "The others have all gone home a few days ago." I had been so immersed in finishing my studies!