nuclear war
I had my childhood in the 80s. There were books like "Brother in the Land", "Children of the Dust" and "Z for Zachariah" on the library shelves. The Cold War was still hot news. Primary schools told us to duck and cover.

I was utterly convinced there'd be a nuclear holocaust. I had it all worked out, though. I mean, who the hell would waste a missile on Norn Iron? No, we'd get the fallout from somewhere else (er, Chernobyl, as it happened).

I had a survival kit stored cleverly in a matchbox. It contained matches (natch) and a safety pin or two, some sticking plasters and an iodine tablet.

My house had a tiny crawlspace at the back, under the kitchen. I'd seal it off with blankets when I heard the four minute warning and I'd live in there with a couple of buckets of water until the radiation had settled, then I'd build a home in the forest to tide me through the nuclear winter.

I'm not sure how many times I panicked about the impending radioactive doom. It never transpired though, as well you know. I say: face your fears - I can survive anything now because I was prepared for nuclear war.
( crackhouseceilidhband Fuck off back to Mumsnet, Thu 10 Apr 2008, 15:31, 18 replies)

Z for Zachariah
a truly horrifying book - we were forced to read it in year 9 English lit - hell of a story tho'
(twiceydrinker hmmm is it pint time?, Thu 10 Apr 2008, 15:33, closed)

^ This.
Fucking evil book that still gives me the shivers now, and I still don't get why they make kids read stuff like that.

Did you have Grinny too? That's an equally horrible tale that creeped 10-year-old me right out.
( Maladicta, Thu 10 Apr 2008, 15:36, closed)

eep!
I just got the shivers when you mentioned Grinny!
( crackhouseceilidhband Fuck off back to Mumsnet, Thu 10 Apr 2008, 15:42, closed)

Brother in the Land
Horrifying, should have been compulsory reading for Brezhnev/Chernenko/Andropov/Gorbachev, Reagan and Thatcher.

Sod "Keep your lights bright and clean!", this is what really mattered in the 1980s
(Bicycle Repairman "you're also a bit of a wanker", Thu 10 Apr 2008, 15:42, closed)

Threads
Remember that one?

I used to be quite fascinated with ICBMs, as odds-on there was a warhead aimed at Rosyth and it's always nice to be introduced before you're vapourised.

Oddly enough, even though I had worked out that even if I wasn't instantly crispied, the broken glass from the window between my bed and the possible impact side would slice me into catfood sized chunks, this didn't worry me in the least and I never had a nightmare.

The time I caught my pre-pubescent todger in my zip when I was eight-ish was much more psychologically disturbing.
(osok Rebel without a clue, Thu 10 Apr 2008, 15:49, closed)

It was the 2000s by the time we read Z for Zachariah
but it's played a huge part in my not believing war is ever the answer.

And Grinny just made me distrustful of old people.
( Maladicta, Thu 10 Apr 2008, 15:50, closed)

Oh, and
Barefoot Gen, while we're on the nuclear holocaust topic. Nasty manga, worse anime :(
( Maladicta, Thu 10 Apr 2008, 15:51, closed)

Threads
That was terrifying, a drama about a nuclear attack on Sheffield and ensuing battle to survive fifteen years hence. That gave me nightmares.

However, had Soviet ICBMs rained down on Hayes it's quite possible that they would have caused thousands of pounds worth of improvements to the place.
(Bicycle Repairman "you're also a bit of a wanker", Thu 10 Apr 2008, 15:55, closed)

Grinny!
That was ace. I really loved Nicholas Fisk. A really good writer...
( Enzyme is powered by sunlight, Thu 10 Apr 2008, 15:59, closed)

^
A Rag, a Bone and a Hank of Hair
( crackhouseceilidhband Fuck off back to Mumsnet, Thu 10 Apr 2008, 16:02, closed)

We were made to watch "Threads" at school
And the "Protect and Survive" ads. Gave me nightmares for weeks and weeks and weeks.
(jimbowensspeedboat is your secret Austrian cellar baby, Thu 10 Apr 2008, 16:03, closed)

I got scared the same
when my slightly older aunt and uncle told me about the horrors that a nuclear attack would cause. Then threads, when the wind blows, and lessons in school all made it slightly worse. There was a real paranoia around that time.
( Smithlick is often seen at the bottom of threads, Thu 10 Apr 2008, 16:16, closed)

oh god yes
I'd forgotten about When the Wind Blows - that slayed me; the characters reminded me so much of my grandparents.
( crackhouseceilidhband Fuck off back to Mumsnet, Thu 10 Apr 2008, 16:18, closed)

When The Wind Blows
I read that in a bookshop in Brighton and I really, really wish I hadn't... a lot of Raymond Briggs' stuff kills me :( Ethel and Ernest was as bad.
( Maladicta, Thu 10 Apr 2008, 16:22, closed)

Engages serious mode for a moment... (Whilst Frankie Goes to Hollywood plays on mp3 in background)
I think most of us who grew up during the early 1980s probably thought that conflict between east and west was inevitable, given that we had thousands of ICBMs aimed at one another.

The horrifying thing to remember is that the NATO countries (Britain in particular) had no plan to deal with the casualties had such a conflict escalated. Indeed, the inspiration of Threads was the results of an exercise called "Square Leg", a scenario surrounding a limited nuclear attack on the UK. The results made for very depressing reading, indeed the entire NHS in 1983 would have been wholly unable to cope with the casualties from an attack on Sheffield alone.

The aftermath of an attack would the left to local civil defence comittees to deal with, themselves denied funding, organisation or adequate shelter from attack.

In the East however, the governments made provision for nuclear shelters for the urban population. The West's rationale was that "we have more to lose in event of an attack than you". Thank fuckery that it never happened.

On the plus side, it has meant that there is a growing market in unstable middle eastern countries for ex-soviet nuclear technology. Every cloud, eh?
(Bicycle Repairman "you're also a bit of a wanker", Thu 10 Apr 2008, 16:22, closed)

@PJM
when elected, do you promise not to take us into nuclear war (unless it's a very small one and we win)?
( crackhouseceilidhband Fuck off back to Mumsnet, Thu 10 Apr 2008, 16:24, closed)

Hmm...
Well, I'd vote to forcibly relocate chav scumbags, Pap Idol contestants, Kerry Katona, Westlife, Jordan & Pete, Mitsubishi Shoguns, Piers Morgan and Labour/Tory/Liberal/BNP/Green/etc MPs to a remote island in the pacific before nuking the fuck out of the place.

Does that help?

Not to mention Ken Livingston, Robert Kilroy-Silk, the tit in charge of publishing OK! magazine, anyone with a subscription to Max Power, Sara Cox, middle lane hoggers and the belming fool who keeps pitching reality text vote TV shows to the BBC....
(Bicycle Repairman "you're also a bit of a wanker", Thu 10 Apr 2008, 16:27, closed)

^ This
Mr Maladicta and I often discuss the best way to deal with the chav scum infesting the country and this is it.
( Maladicta, Thu 10 Apr 2008, 16:28, closed)