turns out I couldn't phone dad on skype. We had a blackout Saturday like this one in London. Was a little frustrating to be without the internet, just as I'd started getting interested in finding out just what was going on with this oil crisis.

Greg from next door came around to eat on our camping stove. He works in electronics and he gave us a couple of those wind-up torches. We played monopoly for a bit but David went off in a strop when he lost. Mum blushes when she talks to Greg. I think she likes him. I'm not sure whether that makes me angry or not.

The gig I was going to see next month for my 16th birthday has been cancelled. Jonah Matranga said he couldn't afford the air fare to get out to the UK. I was really looking forward to that.

We had some bad news on Monday. Uncle Andy works on a tanker transporting oil from the middle east to Portsmouth. His ship left Dubai a week ago and was heading back to the UK. Whilst they passed Yemen, a small boat came up to the side of the tanker and exploded. No one's claimed responsibility but a lot of people's thoughts are on Al Quaeda. The picture of the tanker with tons of oil and fire pouring out of it looks like something out of that terrible Kevin Costner movie. Waterworld? I hope it doesn't sink. Just think of all the animals around there.

We heard about it on the news, of course - we just didn't think it would be Andy's ship until mum got the call. He's ok - they got everyone off the ship pretty quick - but he's in some terrible hospital and doesn't know when he'll be back. Mum stayed out at Greg's that night.

I went on the computer to phone dad again but he wasn't online. I keep getting worried about staying in Bristol - the papers keep talking about all the burglaries and car thefts increasing. I want to go see dad in Wales - there's no one around for miles and there's plenty of food. A lot of this online stuff is pretty pessimistic - for all mum's stockpiling of rice and toilet paper, will we be able to hold up if everything goes crazy?




[writer's note: week 8, Wednesday

I originally intended to have the tanker captured but figured this would be impractical and unlikely. Instead I based my incident around this one in 2002.

Of course, though I don't want to ruin the perspective in my story by overly analysing something Mia wouldn't fully grasp, this incident could have major implications for oil and share prices and as the ship was carrying gasoline to the UK, prices here can expect to rise as a major proportion of incoming supply is removed.

(This is a fictional account from the fantastic alternative reality game World Without Oil join in! )]