The West Winford Incident (17 page)

“Don't want their own half-baked theory ditched. Well sod the lot of you!”

He became aware that some of the locals were looking across at him. He hadn't realised that he'd spoken out loud. They turned away and resumed their conversations and Dave ordered another pint and a small cigar. Sipping and smoking, his mood mellowed.

“Mr Harrison? I thought it was you.”

“Wha? Janet?”

“You're a stranger over here and on your own.”

“Just felt like a change. Wife trouble actually, and after the week I've had.”

Janet was sympathetic.

“Anyway, how are you settling in amongst our typing girls? Can I get you a drink?”

“A lager please.” She sat down.

Dave collected Janet's drink and another for himself. He was cheering up.

“I'm really enjoying the work and meeting all you engineers and scientists. So interesting and such a change from the folk around here.” She looked across to the smoke-filled, crowded bar area.

He drew his seat nearer. She was an attractive girl.

“Well, we're very pleased to have you with us. You've certainly brightened up that office.”

Janet smiled. He took another swig and clumsily put his hand on her thigh. Her eyes widened, though not with alarm, but amusement. They sparkled. Dave grinned.

There was a disturbance in the bar.

“Bastard!”

Dave turned to see a figure approaching. A young, heavily built fellow. He was red-faced, sweating. Dave stood, unsteadily, and turned towards him. A final rush and a swung punch. To Dave it seemed as if in slow motion. A massive fist approaching. He stepped away, alarmed. The drink was slowing his reaction. Just half a pace and he stumbled over the chair leg and fell backwards. He was lucky. By the time he had untangled himself, a couple of locals had pulled his attacker away whilst Janet berated him. They calmed the man and suggested to Dave that he should leave. He grumbled but complied. Janet followed him out apologising. He was a former boyfriend.

Dave was shaken and realised through the beer haze that he was making a fool of himself so, after mumbling an excuse, he drove home. The experience had had a sobering effect.

*

It was an uncomfortable household as Sue and the girls began their packing, having modified the arrangements with Velma. Sue did her best to ignore Dave – she had heard him noisily arrive home last night. The female Harrisons set off early, as the journey would take the best part of the day, including breaks. This had the advantage of allowing Sue's intense annoyance to abate. For the girls' sake she pushed these thoughts into the background and willed optimistic ones in their place. She felt that she ought to include her daughters in her thoughts about the present difficulties.

“I'm sorry that things are not very smooth at home just now, but I don't want you to worry. Your Dad and I are going to set things right again very soon. Dad has been so busy lately and has had a lot to deal with at work. You remember the accident, when a man was killed, I am sure. Well this has made Dad's job so important and he's desperately trying to find the answer, so that other accidents won't happen. Shall we try to cheer him up? A good start could be for us to take back some presents for him. A few sticks of rock and a ‘Kiss Me Quick' hat. What do you think?”

They arrived just before tea time and were enthusiastically greeted by Barry, Velma and their children.

The location, Sue noted, was ideal for all the girls, as it was amongst the dunes and virtually on the beach. Velma announced that the forecast was fine weather for the week, and so they had all the makings for a perfect holiday.

“Oh! Sorry, I was forgetting about Dave,” she quickly added.

“He's fine. Please don't worry about him. He's more than happy for us to be out of the way, just at the moment,” Sue replied.

Barry and Velma exchanged glances, realising that this was a subject upon which Sue felt very strongly. Nevertheless it did, as Velma had predicted, turn out to be most enjoyable, with everyone being pleasantly occupied in their personal pursuits. The younger girls settled happily together, as usual, spending most of the daylight hours on the beach. Jo, being the eldest, had other interests she wished to pursue. She was now reading a good deal of young adult literature and also working to develop her artistic talents. Her focus was firmly set upon going to Art College. She had brought her brushes and paints and spent several days amongst the sand dunes at her easel. However, she didn't divorce herself completely from the other girls, as she had always been happy amongst them. She joined in many of their energetic games and once absorbed into the noisy excitement, was in danger of allowing her maturity to slip.

Sue was particularly pleased as, whilst she was in Norfolk, she decided to visit Pulham, which was the site of her Boughton family roots. She found Pulham to conform to her idea of a quintessentially English village. It had all the ingredients: village green with a pub at either end, thatched cottages and church. She was taken aback when she found the door of St. Mary's locked. She checked the notice board and was relieved to find that, although the minister was absent, the keys were held by one of the church wardens, whose address was given. She found the appropriate cottage and the courteous occupier escorted her back to the church and led her into the vestry, where he unlocked the chest containing the parish documents. He asked how long she required and when Sue hesitated, he suggested that he would return in about three hours, if she had not returned the keys before then.

Sue was overjoyed at being allowed this access, also that she was not under the pressure of being supervised. Although she had seen the old parish registers at St. John's in Bremham, it was still a tremendous thrill to handle the very old parchment volumes of Pulham, with their spidery hand-written entries dating back to the sixteenth century. Having spent a few moments savouring this pleasure, she settled down to work. Her starting point was the baptism of James Boughton which, she estimated, would have been around 1805. She had decided not to look for his marriage, to Sarah Alexander, as this may have taken place in Sarah's home parish. Sue scanned the pages carefully.

“Yes!” That now familiar jolt of pleasure – James Boughton b. 8
^th
Feb 1813. Son of Thomas and Harriet (Thorold). Thomas was an agricultural labourer. Sue had noted that there were quite a few other Boughtons listed amongst the entries. She decided that, rather than searching out selected entries, she would copy down any mention of a Boughton as she progressed. Later, in the comfort of home, she could attempt to build up the various family relationships. She worked steadily, each turn of the page moving her ever deeper into the past, filling several pages of her note book until, with a shock, she found that she had been busy for almost four hours. Carefully replacing the volumes upon which she'd been working into the chest, she returned the key to Mr Fiske.

As the sun was still shining brightly, Sue decided to stroll around the churchyard, where she found several Boughton headstones amongst the well cropped grass. She made a note of the inscriptions and was just copying down the details of a George Boughton, when a lady, who was walking along the nearby lane, stopped and chatted. She confirmed that the Boughtons had been a well-known family around the area and added that a former resident had written a history of Pulham families. If Sue was interested and wanted to leave her address, she would make a copy of any references to Boughton and send them on. Sue was most grateful – people could be so thoughtful.

The rest of the holiday was fun for all, the two sisters-in-law laughed a lot, the cousins became reacquainted as they updated each other with all developments ‘girlie', as well as exploring the beach. Jo's painting efforts were applauded by the others – she seemed to have talent, they agreed. Barry, meanwhile, took every opportunity to relax with a novel or the newspapers.

“He reads to unwind,” Velma explained. Sue thought that it was a tip that Dave could well learn.

Dave's hangover was not as severe as he'd expected, or deserved. His lower back was sore as a result of his fall. Gritty and Ian were surprised to see him engrossed in his work when they arrived at the labs. He explained what had happened and how necessary it was for them to get some irrefutable evidence to support their hypothesis quickly. When they heard of the sub-committee's reaction to his results, they were less severe in their assessment of the Slough scientists. They could appreciate the serious implications that publishing their results would have for power station operators. If it transpired that their conclusions were faulty – well it just couldn't be thought of.

“That's as maybe,” grumbled a sceptical Dave, before outlining his plan to address the criticisms made, in relation to possible contamination in his rig trials. This would entail initiating additional laboratory tests. He wanted to expose stressed samples of disc steel, at four separate load levels, to hot, deoxygenated, high purity water.

Specimens, each enclosed in a glass vessel, would be fitted into their standard test machines and hot high purity, deoxygenated, water would be circulated through the vessels. Fortunately they had all the necessary equipment and ample test pieces in stock already. They had sufficient test machines to accommodate three specimens at each load, i.e. twelve in all. Dave wanted the load on each specimen continuously monitored throughout these experiments, using a chart recorder. If cracking occurred in any specimen, it should be accompanied by a fall in load.

He asked Ian to set up these tests immediately, whilst he and Gritty continued the vital task of investigating how cracks might initiate. This was the most difficult part of the process to explain and had been seized upon by the Slough people. Specimens of disc material would be prepared to obtain a highly polished surface. Some would then be immersed in hot sodium hydroxide, as it was known that this could cause stress corrosion and others in hot, high purity water. Samples would be removed after short immersion times to detect the first signs of corrosion. They were looking for signs of localised pitting, from which a crack might initiate and propagate under stress. Gritty and Ian sensed Dave's mood and his manner impressed upon them the vital importance that he attached to these, comparatively trivial, laboratory tests – surely such things had been done before? If they had any doubts they cast them aside and responded positively to his ideas.

Dave, anxious to see Tony, phoned Brenda, not for the first time, to remind her that it was urgent. Brenda assured him that she had not forgotten but, as Dr Honey had just returned from his holiday, Dr Richards would be with him for some time in order to brief him upon developments over the past three weeks. Tony had been covering for Sweety during his absence. She would let David know as soon as Dr Richards was available. Dave was irritated. He couldn't appreciate that the vital importance which he attached to the recent developments in the disc cracking investigation, wasn't shared by everyone else. His lack of perspective led him to believe that, whilst he sat around cooling his heels, Tony and Sweety were chatting pleasantly over coffee, as they browsed through holiday snaps. His mood did not improve an hour later when Brenda called to say that Tony would not be available that day.

It was the following morning before Dave reported on the adverse reaction that his draft report had received. Tony was taken aback, more by Dave's sensitivity and perhaps over reaction to criticism, than to the fact that the Slough people had made adverse comments. However, he attempted to soothe Dave's feelings. He thought that, whatever the outcome, it was a good piece of work and he was sure that Sweety agreed.

He continued by cleverly manoeuvring the discussion, so that Dave became calmer and accepted that, given the surprising nature of his results, it was only natural that confirmatory tests were necessary before publication. Tony suggested that it would be better for Dave to look at the situation objectively and resist the urge to assume that the Central Research Lab folks were his rivals. He had confidence in the results and was sure that their corroboration would be forthcoming, at which time Dave and his colleagues would reap the reward for which they hoped.

He asked if Dave had received any indication from
Corrosion Review
regarding publication times and learned that it would take about six months from the paper submission date before it would appear in print. Dave became more agitated and he reminded his Section Head that, if his results were confirmed, there would be an urgent safety issue to be addressed. Many turbines around the world were in danger of catastrophic failure, with possibly fatal consequences. The longer it took to get his results in print, the greater this risk.

Tony remained calm and pointed out that a balance had to be struck between acting on the information in a timely way, whilst avoiding unnecessary panic. It was on this note that Tony felt that the discussion should be left. Dave rose to leave but then recalled an additional point relating to external reporting. Although publication of a full scientific paper would take several months, he had been advised that it was possible to present significant information more speedily, as a technical note summarising the main points. Certain publications offered this facility and it seemed, that
International Power Digest
was such a journal. They prided themselves upon rapid dissemination of information and it was feasible to be in print within a month. He hoped that he could count upon Tony's support to do this, as soon as confirmation of his results was obtained.

Dave returned to his office and slumped into his seat. He felt nauseous. He had been on something of an emotional roller coaster since joining the SSA. It had started with anticipation and keenness, which was natural; from the first moment he felt that this was to be a springboard for his career. Excitement had followed with his involvement in this major project, which had attracted national newspaper coverage and then, to top it all off, his surprising and significant results. Surely this was the final piece. It was this gradual increasing level of expectancy that had made the criticism that he'd received from the Central Research Labs and the caution from his own management, so upsetting and had fuelled his paranoia. He had tested the patience of many colleagues, by taking every opportunity to complain about the situation that had arisen.

Mike Pearson was more patient than many. He thought the recent general election result was a possible factor affecting the situation. It certainly would be on the minds of the senior management within the SSA. This was a critical time for the Authority which, after all, had been the brain child of the Wilson government. Obviously they would be under close scrutiny by the new administration. Difficult times indeed. Everyone in the organisation was in no doubt that they had to prove their worth and in some respects, that implied playing it safe. No one in the Authority would wish to publicise the possibility that all their turbines were in imminent danger of catastrophic failure, in addition to the simmering problems regarding energy supplies already apparent. The Authority chiefs had a very strong incentive to keep all power stations running flat out and no questions asked.

“You can see their point,” Mike concluded.

“But if a failure occurs and people get killed?” retorted Dave.

“The odds on that are pretty long, you have to admit,” countered Mike. “As soon as next summer's outages begin then a major refurbishment and replacement programme will get underway. In two or three years, all turbines in the SSA will have been modified to prevent failure.”

“There are many other similar turbines, in this country and worldwide, so it isn't just a matter of two or three years, the risk is much greater,” Dave persisted.

“All we can do about that is to publish your results as widely as possible.”

“That's my whole point,” Dave announced triumphantly. He added that he had virtually completed the technical note and was just awaiting approval to submit it.

There was more disappointment for Dave when, seeking consolation, he phoned Pauline. He said how much he'd enjoyed their evening and couldn't wait to see her again. Could they arrange something without having to await the next meeting of the sub-committee? Her reply saddened him. She had also enjoyed the evening, but she kindly, though firmly, declined. She gave her reasons, which, in effect, amounted to not wishing to make commitments. It was nothing personal, she was just a spur of the moment person. This disappointment added to Dave's mental turmoil, which had not been helped by his loneliness in his empty house.

The next few days were tense for the whole group, who felt that Dave's crusade was their own. Some offered their help, by taking on additional tasks, allowing Dave, Gritty and Ian to concentrate on their tests. A concerted sense of purpose enveloped them all. Dave, though in a constant state of nervous expectation, appreciated the support of his colleagues.

It was to be a brilliant period for them all. Whilst falling short of the achievements associated with the discovery of DNA, nuclear fission, or the Big Bang theory, it was for them, in its own way, pretty remarkable.

Thursday, the 6
^th
of August. There seemed nothing particularly auspicious in the way the rising sun breathed warmth and life into the sleeping earth. Just another day. It was quiet, but not unusually so considering it was the holiday season. Sue had phoned to say that the girls were extending their stay, so she would be arriving home alone on Sunday.

Dave was at work early as he had promised to comment on a report for Mike Pearson. Barely had he made a start, when Ian burst into the room clearly excited. He urged Dave to drop everything and come to the lab. Ian led the way at a trot.

“Take a look at specimen number 11.”

This was one of the three highest stressed specimens. Immediately Dave could see why Ian was so animated; the chart recorder showed that the line being traced for that specimen was curving to the left. The load was dropping from its set value. Only very slightly, but it was definite. Ian's eyes gleamed, “It's beginning to crack.”

Dave agreed that it could be due to the formation of cracks acting to relieve the load, though he couldn't really believe it. Hadn't dared to hope. He perversely sought to argue against it.

“Let's just hang on for a while Ian. It could be that this specimen is slipping in the grips of the machine. That would have the same effect.”

Dave checked the traces for the other specimens, but could not detect any deviation from the vertical. Although he knew that he was being foolish, he sat staring at the trace for number 11 for several minutes, mesmerised, willing it to move more quickly in response to a rapidly falling load that would be the precursor to failure of the specimen. He felt that the load recorder mocked him as the chart just inched forward, unaware of and unmoved by, his personal wishes.

The following morning Dave headed straight for the lab. He hadn't slept well. As soon as he opened the door he realised that something special was happening. Ian and Gritty were gathered around the test machines. It was a scene that Dave would remember for some time. Their attitude typified the collective response from all his colleagues to what they regarded as the challenge from the Slough laboratories. They were not prepared to give in without a struggle. The whole subject had become a crusade for them, they had identified themselves with Dave's efforts – they felt part of it. So it was no surprise to find them taking a keen interest, gathered around the chart recorder. Dave found that, not only had specimen number 11 continued to reduce load but, the other most highly stressed specimens, numbers 10 and 12, were also clearly showing the same behaviour. There was no doubt. Great news.

Dave found it impossible to concentrate on his paperwork, ever conscious of what was unfolding just a few yards away in the lab. His impatience was not rewarded that day. When he visited the lab on Sunday morning he was elated when he found a specimen from the next load level, specimen number 7, showing a loss in load, indicating that it too had begun to crack. The others would surely follow. He sat in front of the bank of tests and lost all track of time. It was late afternoon before he returned home. All that time had passed unnoticed and so Dave hadn't been at home to welcome Sue back from her Norfolk trip.

*

Sue was travelling home alone to a place that she often felt alone. She became more pessimistic as she approached Wiltshire, fearing that her husband would still be caught up in his work and likely to be too absorbed to take advantage of their unexpected freedom. It seemed so long since their Lynton trip. She could see no alternative than having a serious talk with Dave. She would pick her moment.

Her plans were put on hold when she arrived home and found an invitation to attend a job interview amongst her post. She hadn't mentioned her job search to Dave, but no doubt the company logo on the envelope would have intrigued him. She would phone the company tomorrow. She was disappointed, though perhaps not surprised, to find that Dave was not home. Following a shower she unpacked.

It was a strange reunion, with Sue, so pleased with the holiday and her Pulham trip and now this job interview and Dave so energised by the combination of his unfolding results and the search for the final piece of the jigsaw. They were almost paralysed by their situation. Without discussion, they simultaneously observed a truce, without ever having declared open warfare. It was an effort for Sue, as although Dave appeared to be taking an interest in her reports of the holiday and the girls, she could sense that, in spite of himself, his mind was elsewhere. He was looking at her across the table, but not really seeing her. His intense, almost worrying, preoccupation with his work was further demonstrated when it became clear that he had not even noticed her unusual letter.

Inevitably, Dave left for work early the next day as this was when he estimated the first of his specimens would fail. He could hardly contain himself, the anticipation was almost unbearable. Although the outcome was now beyond doubt, the tension that had been growing for the past few days had still not reached its climax but continued to stretch his nerves to the limit until mid-morning. At last. Euphoria. All the tension released. It had been worth it; had made it the more pleasurable. Now he'd show them.