Firstly, many thanks to mikedemana and nozza_uk. Inspirational games on their posts and blogs got the Gentlemen of Much-Piddling so excited about playing Zombie RV that there was in fact much piddling! Our attempt was played online, by myself and Doug ex-em4, our third member Vagabond is on a secret undercover mission in Iberia. Also, thanks to David Bezio the author, for letting us have this lovely little set of rules for virtually nothing.
Our team of characters come from a British sitcom, very well-known in the UK, It is the longest-running TV comedy programme in Britain and the longest-running TV sitcom in the world. It ran over 37 years!
…and now, the game is afoot.
LAST OF THE SUMMER WINE
Episode 1: The Motorhome Jaunt
Compo was, let’s face it, utterly and thoroughly bored. They’d been banned from Sid’s Café after Ivy had caught him fondling her barm cakes. They’d been banned from the library after revealing to anyone who would listen that Mr. Wainwright and Mrs. Partridge were having an affair. Even the wrinkles in Nora Batty’s stockings seemed to have lost their allure for Compo, for the time being.
L to R: Compo, Norman, Foggy and Clement
So, there they were, Compo Simmonite, Foggy Dewhurst and Norman Clegg, sat disconsolately around a table in the White Horse, nursing their halves of Tomothy Taylor’s Landlord bitter. “Tha’ knows what we needs”, said Compo dreamily, “a jaunt, we need to get away”.
Norman, ever the realist replied “Yes, but that costs money and we don’t have any. It’s why we’re drinking halves!”
Foggy’s pale eyes lit up behind his spectacles. “I have it, chaps, I have it” he ejaculated excitedly. “Have what, yer barmpot” responded Compo, “’cos you’re giving me the willies!”
“No, you scruffy little man, a jaunt. That’s just it. I was in Auntie Wainwright’s emporium this morning, talking to Smiler Hemingway. His brother Clement owns a motorhome, it’s a bit rough but we could get Wesley Pegden to take a look. He’d let us borrow it for sure”.
That was it, signed and sealed, except the only drawback, Smiler wanted to come too and if Smiler was on the jaunt, then the loan of the motorhome was free. Wesley changed the oil for them and they clubbed together to fill the tank. Meat pies and bottles of beer found their way mysteriously under the back seat and they were off. When Norman was a child, he’d spent his holidays in a caravan, in a field in Devon, near a place called Much-Piddling. These Yorkshire men had no experience of Devon, so they decided to head there, for their jaunt.
Their first night passed uneventfully. Next morning, Foggy was trying to brew a pot of tea, whilst the others struggled to complete their ablutions. Well, at least Smiler and Norman did. Compo was none too fond of soap and water. He claimed that if he was too clean, his ferrets wouldn’t sit comfortably in his trouser legs. He kept the cuff of his frayed trousers tied with string so the little buggers couldn’t escape in a downward direction and emerge from his wellies in a bid for freedom. Mercifully, he’d been persuaded to leave the ferrets at home, in the care of Wally Batty.
As Foggy mashed the tea, he turned on the old transistor radio they’d brought with them to catch up on the cricket scores. “Warning! Warning! Her Majesties’ government and Civil authorities in your area have reported that the bodies of the dead are rising from their graves and attacking the living". At first Foggy fiddled with the dial trying to find Radio 4, before the impact of the announcer’s message took hold. “Chaps, there is trouble ahead”, he said ominously.
Unusually for them, they started to make a plan. What to do? Various plans were considered and rejected. Then Compo, out of the blue, remembered he had an uncle, Denzil Penberthy, a strange man with webbed toes, who preferred the solitary life. He was a bit of a survivalist and lived in an old shepherd’s hut on nearby Vartmoor.
Just maybe, he is still alive and lying low, down in the cabin. At the least, some of his survival gear might still be there….
AAR to follow (shortly, I hope)…
17 April 2016, 09:53:05 AM