Itchycoo Park: P&S Oxford

Had a lovely time in sunny Oxford this afternoon, and felt inspired to write a P&S one-off. It's a spur of the moment, off the cuff effort, but hopefully it fits with the established canon.

Enjoy. Apologies for the kids TV references and homage to a certain book/film.

PS. There won't be any futher chapters for this.
 
Itchycoo Park
Over Bridge of Sighs / to rest my eyes in shades of green / under dreaming spires / to Itchycoo Park that's where I've been

I. Pugh, Pugh, Barney McGrew, Cuthbert, Dibble and Grubb
The fire station was all of a kerfuffle as the firemen - and woman - arrived in the forecourt. They got their orders. Full tank, and off to fucking Wheatley. Same countywide apparently. Banbury, Bicester, Witney, Carterton. Poor bloody Carterton. Next to frigging Brize Norton. At least it'd be quick.

The four engines from Cowley Road set off in convoy towards the ring road. It was 4am. the streets were quiet. Plod had had a busy few hours with students kicking off outside the Union, but they had other matters on their plate now.

It didn't look good in Germany

Wheatley was much easier on the mind. Rural, green and pleasant. The engines all gathered on the Polytechnic campus on the edge of the village. Twenty four of them in total.

*****

II. Everyone can see it shining, over the sky
It wasn't an easy few hours when it came. Wheatley took a bit of blast. Not much, but sufficient for the station officer to have concerns about the tower block. Halton, Brize, Bicester, High Wycombe. What a fucking mess.

Not Oxford though.

A bit of damage apparently on the Botley side of town, but not much else, the report said.

The air was a mess. They were under orders. Camped out in a bloody student canteen while they wait for the all clear. Five fucking days. Longest five days ever. Their hearts wanted to go to Bicester, to the other fires, but their heads said no.

We're not here to fight fires. We're here to help the living

On the sixth day they went into Oxford, distributing water to the blokes in the barracks off Cowley Road. That routine continued. Soon the public got wind of it and climbed out of their pits, sweaty and unclean. Sick and tormented. The John Radcliffe couldn't cope. Some plod in a suit turned up. Grey bloke in a red jag.

Who the fuck does he think he is? Doesn't he know there's a war on?

A week later the MG plant was working. No one knew what they were making. Spare parts apparently, someone said.

Day fourteen. A rider from Portsmouth. Portsmouth? Oh right. They made it.

*****

III. Here comes Bod
Two weeks after the War, Oxford was one of many places that people were referring to as miracle cities. It didn't look like it on The High as refugees streamed in from the rural areas, the worst hit parts in this neck of the woods.

It wasn't just that though. The government took an interest. Willie himself they reckoned.

It was all about the books.

Millions of them. Underground. In storage. You name it. The Bodleian had survived. By March it was reckoned to be the most complete archive of publications left in the world. It was assumed that Harvard had gone.

Two weeks after the area around the Oxford colleges was one of the most secure in the world, or at least the small part of the world anyone knew anything about, and the Library was the jewel in the crown.

Two weeks after the bomb the fireman had a new role. The books hadn't been burned. He was there to protect them.

It's all too beautiful
 
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Morse after Armageddon, love it! One little point about the 'MG factory', is that the old MG factory at Abingdon? A bit of Google-fu reveals that one closed in 1980. I'm guessing with a bit of work it could be re-opened, but I've no idea what state it was in after four years of closure.
 
Two weeks after the bomb the fireman had a new role. The books hadn't been burned. He was there to protect them.

It's all too beautiful

And this is the problem with scenarios in which the new Dark Age comes after a nuclear war. Knowledge in a nuclear war scenario is simply too much disseminated. One doesn't even need a Bodleian to continue education and to make most of the surviving resources, even a small town public library is a perfect start.
 
Morse after Armageddon, love it! One little point about the 'MG factory', is that the old MG factory at Abingdon? A bit of Google-fu reveals that one closed in 1980. I'm guessing with a bit of work it could be re-opened, but I've no idea what state it was in after four years of closure.
Cheers!

The MG factory I'm referring to is what was in 1984 the Rover and Austin plant in Cowley. Many locals would still refer to it as MG or Morris Motors at the time. Not a bad complex in 1984, complete with the adjacent Pressed Steel plant. Indeed, the nature of British Leyland in 1984 might even be an advantage. During the recovery years I can see the police/state using the new Maestros and Montegos as vehicles as they'd be in good supply with ample access to parts. Whilst there won't be the raw materials coming in at this stage, there'd be sufficient on site to maintain the needs of the state in Oxon, Berks and Hants, and along for the important A34 corridor between Oxford and Portsmouth.
 
Like it.

But what did YOU do there?

My father claims, that when stoned, to have stepped on a small piece of dog faeces in the park around that time.
 
Thanks for clearing that up, Will. The Rover SD1 was also built at Cowley post 1981 when it was face-lifted. The V8 version (that engine was almost bomb-proof) would be a good choice for tasks that require more horsepower, or as a prestige car; the MPG also wasn't too bad for a 3500 engine.
Shame the BL Factory at Solihul is probably rubble as it means no new Land Rovers for a while. :(
 
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