Finally, I stole time when mum wasn't around and dad was online. phoned him on Skype and he seemed surprised to hear my voice.

"Hello Mia," he said, "does your mum know you're calling?"

"No," I said. She was next door with Greg again but I didn't tell him that. "I just wanted to see how you were doing, with the oil crisis and all."

"Oil crisis?" he sounded puzzled. "I wouldn't worry about that."

Now at this point I should explain about my dad. He's not the most... concentrated of people. He didn't fight custody of me and David because he didn't want conflict. Sometimes that makes me angry at him, sometimes I just wish I could see him more. He's a hippy that lets a lot of life pass him by but he's my dad and he makes me feel safe.

"I was thinking," I said to him, "If things get bad, we should come to the farm and stay with you, just until things get better."

"I'm not sure," he said, sounding a little freaked by the idea of his ex-wife and estranged kids visiting his new world. "I mean of course I'm here for you love but I wouldn't want to upset your mother."

After that I lost my enthusiasm for the conversation and it was just small talk about the plants and animals on his farm. He sounds like he's pretty comfortable - there's lots of meat from the lambing season, the veg are starting to be harvested and that solar panel he invested in last year is keeping the fridges cool through the brownouts - although he told me the electricity supply is pretty good because of all the wind turbines in the Welsh hills. I saw on the news that the Prime Minister's having another 100 installed asap.

"well love," he finished with, "If you want to come up with David for the harvest, we'll sure be happy to have the help! Now I've got to go, the cows need to be brought in."

"Alright dad," I said. The call hung up. What a let down. When I'm with dad he makes me feel like I can do anything. When I'm talking to him from afar, it's like he hardly remembers who I am. I can tell he's scared to see mum again, too. Looks like I'm stuck here in Bristol after all.

I also had my last GCSE exam today, which means my school is over for the year. I think I did ok but I have to admit that all the oxbow lakes and igneous rocks made me feel like perhaps my geography exam was a little outdated. After all that' s been going on, I had to resist the urge to rant about Peak Oil on the essay question!

A couple of the girls in school were talking about getting summer jobs. Lindsey said the shop she worked in last summer isn't taking any people on this year - with the increased bills from transport they can't afford to pay anyone else. Doesn't look like that gift shop's going to do too well... One of the subways seems to be closed too. The other ones are still open but pretty empty a lot of the time.

Uncle Andy was airlifted out of Yemen yesterday following the tanker incident last week. Mum was getting really worried - Andy told us there's been a load of riots near the hospital, that a lot of the people there are really poor and don't want their oil and gas to leave the country... A terrorist group claimed responsibility, as well. they said they wanted energy independence for the middle east, like Venezuela a few weeks ago. We're just glad he's ok. He says it'll be a few weeks before he's back in the UK.

I'll feel safer with him around. Greg keeps trying to suck up to me but he's pretty bad at this whole social thing. I hope mum isn't planning to marry him - I've already got one emotionally-deficient dad, I'd rather not have another. Still, he did bring me back one of these phone chargers from his work - his company looks like they're trying to take advantage of the crisis as much as possible but it's a great way to keep connected - I even checked my emails on my phone whilst the power was out last week!

I've made some good friends over the past few weeks just talking about this crisis. youporkchop has been having some problems with his job, and i'm also rooting for nitefoll, wwo_mitchtrix and mtalon_wwo. Hope things don't get too much worse for any of you. lead_tag is in Iraq - do you think these riots are going to hurt him? I hope not.

I wonder what the world will look like next week?




[author note - Thursday, week 9

There's a couple of things I wanted to bring up but couldn't think of ways to draw them into my plotline. Firstly, the hurricane season should be well underway now that it's July - will we see a Katrina-style event catalysing a breakdown somewhere? Secondly, it's not a zero-possibility that Avian Bird Flu could have an impact a few months ahead - it's not a certainty by any means but over the next few years the chances of it crossing to humans is not negligible.

I haven't seen a place for me to introduce such storylines in Mia's story - Hurricanes are far less prevalent in the UK than the US and if bird flu did cause a problem it would probably start in Asia. But I thought I'd throw those plot morsels out there for anyone that wants to give them a go.]