Returning home to Largs after a very long time. Due to nuclear activity. Looking in our garden. It was full of animal life that had fled here in order to survive as we had. The timber chest from my bedroom was sitting in the garden full of goldfish swimming around. The grass was littered with all sorts of stuff. We were all sitting in the living room when the army turned up. A huge helicopter flew overhead and dropped a soldier in Cunningham Drive. Aware another soldier had been dropped previously but I didn't know how. I was thinking of John Wayne at the time. The helicopter pulled away and hovered over our house. I was afraid it would crash on us. Massive rails came down past the living room window and a tank came driving down them moments later. A vehicle that looked like a local council truck (carrying two fat, red gas canisters) that had been driving around suddenly turned sharply and made to drive up the rails to the helicopter. Kind of half on when it drove off and rolled on to its side. It smacked the side of the house. Could see a clear liquid leaking from the canisters while the rear of the truck burst into flame. We thought it would explode so my family all did a runner into what I expected to be the neighbour's garden. There was a bird box filled with magpies. The house next to our neighbour's had a fantastic roof crowded with chimney pots and in turn swamped by ravens and blackbirds. Like Emm's roof. So cool I wished I'd seen it(?)-
The garden beyond even that had huge slugs that looked like they'd slithered from the imagination of H.R. Giger. There was no truck explosion. My father said the driver only broke his toe. The slugs looked dead but I kicked one until it moved. Saw a small, normal slug for comparison. There were now disgustingly smooth, cool big slugs over at our garage(?) and small ones over at our outside clothes drier(?) despite the fact we were in someone else's garden. Some fish in a puddle near the larger slugs that I can recall from another dream - strange, billowy, stringy white bits on their face. Lots of other stuff lying around too. Saw the next house and moved out onto Irvine Road. Destination Fairlie. Just after Haylie Stores(?) was a path (which was very narrow, dark and overgrown) that would take us to Fairlie. My father and little brother walked ahead and said it was fine to proceed. I ran down it very fast. An overhanging rose branch rubbed up the middle of my bottom lip, cutting it badly-
Arrived in Fairlie. Waterfront pubs with areas for sitting out. Walking through it I was trying to hide my face. Saw school pals Jay See at one pub, and Cee Bee and Gee Ess at another. Tee Gee was at one, and Bee Haitch - actually said “Alright, Bob?” to him - at yet another. At the end I met my mother's cousin, Emm Arr. We were chatting and I had to listen, bored to my mother's conversation about Emm Arr. Desperately wanted to leave. Too dark, too dangerous for my father to let us go home on our own. I really wanted us to stay until midnight when the pubs shut so that I wouldn't have to talk to anyone I knew. Something about myself and my little brother swimming along from bay to bay on the shore to get home. Thought we had both drowned and that we were dead. Everything had gone black. Instead woke up in hospital later and my father was there-
