Chapter 47

It was a busy week back at our studies; the first year students had no timetabled lectures that week so that they could revise for their forthcoming exams, and our lecturers were keen to make sure that we second-years were totally caught up on the work we should have done over the past year.

Malcolm and I had reckoned that we were pretty much up to date, but then we were made to go over our notebooks with our tutor and actually prove to him that we had completed all our tasks - and more importantly, that we genuinely understood what we had been doing. That was much harder to do, and we had to answer some pretty tricky questions before he pronounced himself satisfied.

While I'm on the subject of satisfaction, Vee (being her usual nosey self) had asked Julie how our weekend in Bristol had gone, and my girlfriend had been foolish enough to admit to having felt sore after quite so much sex.

Our petite Welsh flatmate therefore felt that she had missed out on some good shagging, and on Tuesday night I found her waiting naked in our bed when I returned from doing my bedtime ablutions.

Gustav of course was delighted, and although he got far too excited the first time and squirted while we were still doing our soixante-neuf warm-up routine, Vee was able to return to her own bed before midnight with a couple of good orgasms under her belt, although her beautifully soft auburn pubic hair was rather matted with a combination of our juices and Julie's saliva from trying to clean her up afterwards.

Julie had entertained hopes that I might have managed a third session once Vee had left us; but although the spirit was willing, the flesh was weak, and she had to content herself with a 'quickie' when her alarm clock went off in the morning, taking advantage of my renewed morning wood. Gustav was in the right mood, and Julie did quite a bit of squealing as he performed his duty to her satisfaction. There appeared to be no problem with soreness now!

Malcolm and Sian smirked at us as we dragged ourselves into the kitchen for breakfast; our mugs of tea were only tepid, more evidence that we were rather later than normal.

I didn't think that we'd made QUITE that much noise; however all was explained when Sian told us that she'd actually come in with a cuppa for us, only for us to fail to notice her entry because we were otherwise occupied. Being the tactful soul she was, she'd then told Malcolm why he had two mugs of tea to drink...

Not that we cared; if they were envious of how often we made love, they could always improve their own performance.

At least Vee hadn't been spotted leaving our room by Malcolm, which would have been of concern; we still wanted to keep him in the dark about that activity for a couple of reasons.

Firstly, we weren't sure that he would be happy about me having sex with both of them, as he came across as a definitely one-woman man, and he might think less of us. More importantly, if Vee were to then set her cap at him, we could be in an almighty mess regarding sleeping arrangements over the holidays. Rotating four men through five women's bedrooms for ten to twelve weeks was a potential recipe for disaster, and I was selfish enough to want to prevent our four thriving relationships being risked, merely to keep Vee's sexual requirements satisfied.

I openly admit that I did enjoy helping Vee out once or twice a week, with Julie's active encouragement and assistance, but she could be very demanding. I was also very conscious that, although we were all good friends and I found Vee attractive and fancied her rotten, it was Julie who was my soulmate, not Vee.

I raised the subject of finding Vee a boyfriend with Julie yet again that night; she was still no closer to an answer. It was beginning to trouble us, because fairly soon we'd have to decide whether Vee was working with us over the holidays or not. And if we didn't invite her, then we'd probably need new accommodation for our final year, not to mention our guilt at letting our friend down when she needed a job away from her home.

At the weekend, Julie remembered to go down to the record shop to collect her new Rick Wakeman album; she was lucky that she had pre-ordered it, because the LP immediately shot to number one in the album charts, and the shop had sold out of all the spare copies. Hers was safely waiting for her in the back of the shop, and she proudly brought it back and we listened to it on Vee's record player, after replacing the needle with a new one to ensure that we got the very best sound.

'Journey to the Centre of the Earth' was excellent; we had all read the Jules Verne story as children, and we enjoyed the music. The Mini-Moog synthesiser came over very well, and the David Hemmings narrative brought the whole album together. We thought that it would become a classic; it was one of those moments when you all say 'WOW!'.

I even found myself humming 'Journey on through ages gone, to the centre of the earth, past rocks of quartz and granite, which gave Mother Nature birth' as I was making everyone a cup of tea. The music and lyrics were certainly memorable!

xxxxxxx

On Monday morning, the second-year Chemistry students were told that we had an unexpected outing - we were all going by coach to Port Talbot steelworks on the Wednesday. One of the PhD students was instructed to give us a short lecture on the Tuesday so we had an idea of what to expect, and it was suggested that we all try to attend this opportunity to see industrial-scale operations, despite the short notice.

In 1974, the British Steel works at Port Talbot were part of a huge nationalised industry that had plants all across the United Kingdom.

The Port Talbot steelworks were huge; over a mile in length, directly employing more than 15,000 men, and producing over four million tons of steel a year. With three blast furnaces making iron from coke, iron ore and limestone, the coking plant to convert the local coal, and the open-hearth furnace and hot strip continous-rolling mill, there was no doubt that this was a basic industrial process, but on a huge scale.

We could smell the sulphur in the air from the new M4 motorway, more than a mile away from the works. There were plumes of steam, smoke and fumes coming from many places, and the noise was pretty impressive too. Everything seemed to clang and echo in the cavernous buildings, and there was the constant roar of fans and trickle of water.

For our own safety, we were herded around in a tight group, and not permitted to approach some of the processes too closely. We could easily feel the heat from the open-hearth furnace even at the safe distance we were standing, and Malcolm muttered to me that he couldn't see how anyone could work right by the molten flow, even with the long-handled tools and protective clothing that they were all wearing.

Sadly, they weren't opening any of the blast furnaces that trip, so we didn't get to see the volcanic flows of iron and slag emerging from the outlets. We did see the scale of the process as they remotely tipped an entire rail wagon of iron ore into one of the hoppers, and we could see the volume of freshly-made coke coming over on the conveyor belt, still steaming and stinking of sulphur.

Lunch was a hot meal in a subsidised canteen; for the princely sum of twenty pence I had pie and chips, a steamed treacle pudding and custard, and three cups of tea from the biggest teapot I had ever seen. No wonder the turnover of the workforce was so low!

Our guide explained that much of the work was dangerous, working in close proximity to molten or red-hot steel, and that tea-breaks were enforced to avoid the dangers of de-hydration from working in such a hot and humid atmosphere. A proper mid-shift meal was seen as essential to keeping people alert, and therefore it was subsidised to encourage full take-up.

We came away incredibly impressed; what initially looked like a chaotic and really unsafe process was actually very much under control, with everyone knowing their job, and looking out for their mates.

I now had a very different impression from the television news showing footage of overpaid slackers who always seemed to be on strike at the behest of their union; everyone I met was proud to be a Port Talbot steelmaker, and full of tales about what was made from their steel.

We made sure that our lecturer knew that we had enjoyed the trip; he promised that we would also get a chance to go down a coal mine to experience that for ourselves.

Julie made me have a proper bath and wash my hair before she would let me into our bed that night; Sian insisted that Malcolm did the same. That sulphur smell did linger!

xxxxxxx

Julie and I had learned that we were due to finish college work at lunchtime on the Thursday for the Whit bank holiday weekend, and found to our delight that neither of us had to be back at our studies until the Wednesday morning.

Five whole days off!

Our first year exams had been at this time of year, and therefore we hadn't noticed in our panic stricken state that the second and third year students effectively got a half-term holiday while all the lecturers were marking the first year exams.

My girlfriend informed me that we were going to be staying with Jen and Hamish on Thursday night in Reading; she had obviously been in touch with my sister and made the arrangements. She knew that my parents weren't expecting us until Friday afternoon. I didn't have a problem with that, although it would have been nice to have known in advance, so that I didn't let anything slip to Mum when I made my weekly phone call home.

We got to Reading station just after five; it was quite busy with the beginnings of rush hour for commuters, but we easily spotted Hamish's shock of red hair despite the crowd. After a hug all round, they walked us back to their Hall of Residence. I hadn't been to that one before, because Jen had moved Hall to be with Hamish, and Julie hadn't been to Reading at all before, so we got the full sixpenny guided tour.

"We thought we'd eat in; people have started to go away, so there's no problem with bringing two guests, and supper isn't too bad here."

We went upstairs and dropped our things in Jen's room, and had a quick wash and brush up. Jen had managed to get herself allocated a room only two doors down from Hamish, so it was all very convenient for them.

They were both much more relaxed than they had been when we had said goodbye to them in Bristol; with their exams under their belt, they realised that they could let their hair down for a few weeks and enjoy being young, in love, and away from home.

Over supper, Hamish and Julie asked our advice about what to take our parents as a thank-you gift for having them to stay; we decided that a bottle of their favourite sherry and a small bunch of flowers would be appropriate, but we warned them that Mum would probably scold them for spending money on her, even as she accepted their gift with gratitude!

Hamish understood immediately; I suspected from Julie's silence that her Mum would have taken a gift as her due and made no more than a polite acknowledgement. I'd have to remember to be on best behaviour when we finally decided that I had to meet her parents, they weren't like my own, and I suspected that they would even be different from the twins' parents, and that meeting had been bad enough.

The evening meal in the dining hall was actually quite good; ordinary institutional food, but plenty of it, and three courses, which was definitely more than we normally had! Jen grabbed some fruit and Hamish loaded up with a couple of the small bottles of milk, and we headed back to her room.

"Sis, can I have a shower? We came straight from college, and I'm a bit sweaty."

"Yeah, no problem, Jon - they're down the corridor on the left. Do you want a towel and a dressing gown?"