Saturday Morning Post

I was planning on attending the car show at Cymbria today, but alas its raining. Not much fun walking around a field with wet feet. Nor is it as much fun attending car shows when you don’t have an antique car to show, but that is life as we age. So I guess its off to town with Linda to pick up a few groceries. On the way home it absolutely poured down, glad I passed on the car show.

On another subject, is it just me or does it bother others too. I’m talking about those people on face book that constantly post full photos of themselves. I’m not sure why they think this is interesting?? because it really isn’t, its just boring apart from the fact its also egotistic. Once in a while is okay but almost every day is just too much. .

That’s my gripe for this wet and miserable Saturday

God Bless and keep reading

The Beauty of the Island and the Garbage!!!.

This is the time of year when you surely cannot fail to appreciate the Island. This morning I sat out in the gazebo doing the two newspaper crosswords. I was in a peaceful world of clean fresh air, listening to the tweet of birds and the rustle of the wind in the trees.  Sitting with the lush and pleasant greenery all around me, it takes my breath away. What a wonderful time of year, what a great time to be alive. How many people realize just how blessed we are to live in this lovely and tiny Province

Yesterday driving back from Summerside I saw workers collecting the garbage on the sides of the highway. Garbage deliberately  thrown out of cars windows, it makes me wonder about the segment of our society that do this. What motivates such people to show so little respect or care for the environment. Why would anyone litter our byways with Tim Horton cups, MacDonald wrappers and other rubbish.  Surely we should all see the damage it does and the danger it poses to wildlife. Some of these items never decompose, plastics and such can last for a thousand years. Its not just on our highways, on the beaches, in the forests and on the trails. What sort of a world are we leaving to future generations???

God Bless and keep reading

When We Were Young!!!

 

This old black and white photo was taken in 1959 outside my home on Glencairn Street in Belfast. My father is partly out of the picture on the left.(no selfies back then) John aged about seven and Noel aged eleven behind him I have no idea who the other little kid is. In the front in uniform is my good friend Teddy Treleaven from HMS Eastbourne and my old Cockade shipmate Danny Gorman. I’m still in touch with Danny but have no idea what ever became of Teddy. The last time we talked he was planning to marry a Welsh girl. Apparently her father was very much against the marriage, not sure why. I have often wondered if the wedding took place. I would love to make contact with my old Eastbourne shipmate, Where are you Teddy???? I seem to remember briefly meeting him in 1962 he was serving aboard a “A” class submarine, can’t remember which one, maybe Alliance? Sad how we drift apart over the years and now in the autumn of life I’m saddened I hear of many shipmates who have already crossed the bar. I sometimes wonder how many of the old Cockade crews are still alive. In the eighties when they had a reunion it was big with lots of old shipmates in attendance. Just over a year ago (what is probably the last reunion) only seven showed up and I think one or two were the wives of shipmates.    Rest in Peace dear friends.
God Bless and keep reading.

Drive on the Left or the Right

I thought I’d post this again for some of the drivers using highway 2 between Summerside and Wellington!!! Every time we are on this stretch of road we witness dangerous and stupid drivers! They pass in the face of oncoming traffic, they tail gate, speed and once we were passed on the inside. This nut job race up the shoulder of the road flinging gravel in all directions and whizzed past us before slewing back onto the pavement.

Have you ever wondered why in some countries they drive on the left hand side of the road and in other countries they drive on the right.. Would you believe me if I told you Napoleon was to blame ???
Seven hundred years ago everyone drove on the left. It allowed ancient Romans and the Samurai to keep their right arms free to draw their swords if an approaching peasant appeared to be asking to have his head lopped off.
Napoleon Bonaparte changed the rules for the countries he conquered. He was left-handed.
Don’t want to confuse anyone here in Canada, but clearly there are a still a few drivers, particularly from West Prince area who are unsure and generally drive on the right the left or in the middle. In this country we drive on the right, well! at least most of the time we do.
Cheers and keep reading.

Put A Shot Across Her Bow Mr Richards

This could be considered a rum story

This tot time story has always stayed with me as the greatest ever, but also probably the most unbelievable and ridiculous ever told!!!!

Taff Richards, who recently turned twenty, was now old enough to receive a daily tot of rum. ‘Tot time’ was usually when our messmates regaled us with numerous stories about their adventure aboard their last ships. Most of the stories were greatly exaggerated and usually dismissed with a huge pinch of salt. It was on one of these occasions that Taff decided to tell us a story about his last ship.
His story would be remembered for the duration of our time on Cockade.
It started when someone commented that a small tramp steamer had failed to dip its ensign when passing us that morning. Merchant ships traditionally lowered their flag when passing a warship as a salute, or a mark of respect.
Taff immediately began relating a story about his last ship, a Mediterranean based destroyer. He was working on ‘B’ gun, just below the bridge, when a merchant ship passed and didn’t dip its ensign.
The Captain was furious at the show of disrespect and ordered the ship to turn around and go after the miscreant freighter. As the destroyer over took the merchantman the skipper leaned over the bridge and shouted down to Taff.
“Put a shot across her bow, Mr. Richards”.
This outlandish tale went well beyond the most exaggerated of tot time stories. No sane captain would ever fire on a merchant ship, and certainly not for so minor an offence.
Poor Taff certainly made a name for himself that day,  for the next two years he was known as ‘PASAHB,’ an acronym for ‘put a shot across her bow.’

Alas those wonderful and amazing tot time stories are no more, however, this particular one should go down in the annals of Tot Time History.

God Bless and keep reading

A Little Sunday Humour

A traveling salesman broke down on the bad side of town one evening after a long day of door-to-door sales. After calling AA from mobile, he decided to wait in for the tow truck in a nearby bar.
He sat down on a bar stool in the corner of the bar to quietly nurse his beer. Trying to mind his own business, he was shocked to look across the bar to find a very large, muscular sailor doing shots. While the sailor’s chest and arms were huge, the salesman was shocked to notice that his head was about as big as a grapefruit. Needless to say, he couldn’t help but stare.
Soon the sailor stood up from his stool and swaggered over to the salesman, who was shaking in his loafers. When he reached him, the sailor said, “I see you staring at my head over here.”
“N-no,” the salesman responds, “I wasn’t, really, I ..”
“That’s okay,” the sailor said and sits down next to him. “I want to tell you my story. I was out at sea last year and there was a terrible storm. My ship was sunk, and everyone drowned but me. I struggled to stay afloat and managed to swim to the shore of a deserted island. I stayed there all alone for six months, eating coconuts and crabs.
One morning I was woken up by screams coming from the lagoon. Running down there, I discovered a woman struggling in the thick seaweed. I ran down to the water, ripped the seaweed from her naked body, and pulled her up to the beach. She was a mermaid! I stood gawking at her for a while, and then she thanked me, offering to grant me three wishes.
My first wish was to be back home before the end of the day. She said, ‘Okay.’ My second wish was to have a billion dollars so I would never have to go to sea again. She said, ‘Okay.’ Then I scratched my head and tried to think of something else. I said, ‘Well, since I don’t really need anything else, how about we have some sex?’ She smiled and wagged her fish tail at me. ‘Silly,’ she said, ‘look at me. I can’t have sex with you.’ I laughed and said, ‘Oh okay, then how about a little head?

God Bless and keep reading

Must Have been Eventful??

As the caption with the photo states, it must have been a very busy two weeks in the Royal Marine Corps. Prince Edward joined the Royal Marines some years ago but quit because of the harsh training? However, to have earned the five medals he is wearing, not to mention the military uniform it must have been a very eventful two weeks. Of course we might also consider the wearing of the uniform and medals borders on stolen valour????? He could be arrested under our Canada laws especially if Tom Eagles spots him LOL. This is very  similar to the phony sergeant arrested in Ottawa a couple of years ago?

God Bless and keep reading

Blanco??? A Trip Down Memory Lane.

Blanco????(A Trip Down Memory lane)

Who knows what blanco is??? Certainly sailors from my era and earlier will. When I joined the Navy in March 1955 we wore black caps in the winter and white caps in summer. There was no such thing as plastic cap tops back then, we had to whiten our capswith white blanco. It is best described as a white paste that we painted on the top part of the sailors cap. We also used blanco on our white web belts and gaiters. I remember when it rained, which was often in the UK, the blanco ran and dripped onto our blue uniforms. The belt and gaiters left a white residue on bell bottoms and the tunic waistline. Around mid 1956 the Navy changes the rules and we wore white caps year round. Caps belts and gaiters were made a newer plastic type material and could be kept clean simply by washing the items. The days of blanco were over, and we sailors could not have been happier. Other uniform parts changed too, replacing the skin tight uniform jacket that we struggled to pull on and off, indeed often needing help to get it off, suddenly had a zipper. The scratchy blue wool sweater (sea jersey) we wore in winter ceased at the same time as the black caps and was replaced with a white front (gun shirt). Uniform material also improved from  thick woolly serge, to a lighter smoother material.  Life became much easier! I recall shipmates trying to shave the old serge uniforms to make them appear more like the more expensive Doeskin cloth. Those were indeed the days, a time when it seem the Royal Navy was far behind the other Navies of the World. We envied the RCN with their modern zippered easy to wear uniforms, and even the Yanks with with their loose fittings uniforms. Both had that amazingly fast and convenient zipper fly.  You probably don’t want to hear of the difficulties we encountered when needing to pee.  I will not draw you a picture, suffice to say after a few too many pints, peeing seemed to become an ever increasing emergency trying to undo too many buttons etc. Nevertheless, I still look back on my time in the Royal Navy with fond memories, and in case you are thinking, no! I always managed to pee without wetting myself, but it was sometimes close!!!

God Bless and keep reading

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Be sure to inform your Bank when you Die!!!

No Forwarding Address

Subject: CANCEL YOUR CREDIT CARD BEFORE YOU DIE

 

Reported in the Newcastle  Evening Chronicle recently:

Be  sure and cancel your credit cards before you  die! This is so priceless.  And so easy to  see happening – customer service, being what it  is today!
A lady died this past  September, and MBNA bank billed her in October  and November for their annual service charges on  her credit card, and then in December added late  fees and interest on the monthly  charge.

The  balance that had been £0.00, now is somewhere  around £60.00.
A family member  placed a call to the MBNA Bank:

Family  Member: ‘I am calling to tell you that my  grandma died in September.’
MBNA:  ‘But the account was never closed and so the  late fees and charges still apply.’
Family Member: ‘Maybe,  you should turn it over to your collections  section.’
MBNA:  ‘Since it is two months overdue, it already has  been.’
Family  Member: ‘So, what will they do when they find  out she is dead?’
MBNA:  ‘Either report her account to the Frauds  Department or report her to The Credit bureau,  maybe both!’
Family  Member: ‘Do you think God will be mad at  her?’
MBNA:  ‘Excuse me?’
Family  Member: ‘Did you just get what I was telling you, the part about her being dead?’
MBNA:  ‘Sir, you’ll have to speak to my  supervisor.’

Supervisor  gets on the phone:
Family  Member: ‘I’m calling to tell you, she died in  September.’

MBNA:  ‘But the account was never closed and the late  fees and charges still apply.’
Family  Member: ‘You mean you want to collect from her estate?’
MBNA:  (Stammer) ‘Are you her solicitor?’
Family  Member: ‘No, I’m her grandson’
MBNA:  ‘Could you fax us a  death  certificate?’
Family  Member: ‘Sure.’  ( fax number is given )

After they get the fax:
MBNA:  ‘Our system just isn’t set up for death. I don’t  know what more I can do to help.’
Family  Member: ‘Well, if you figure it out, great! If  not, you could just keep billing her.  I  don’t think she will care.’
MBNA:  ‘Well, the late fees and charges will still  apply.’

Family  Member: ‘Would you like her new billing  address?’
MBNA:  ‘That would help.’
Family  Member: ‘ Plot 1049.’ Heaton Cemetery, Heaton  Road , Newcastle upon Tyne
MBNA:  ‘But, that’s a cemetery!’
Family  Member: ‘Well, what the hell do you do with dead  people on your planet?’

The MBNA were not available for comment  when a reporter from the Newcastle Evening  Chronicle rang  them.
God Bless and keep reading

Old Farts

Old farts

Don’t worry – fart is an olde Englishe worde, used in all social circles up to the late 19th century. ) I never really liked the terminology “Old Farts” but this makes me feel better about it. And if you aren’t one, I’ll bet you know one! I got this from an “Old Fart” friend of mine!———and sent it to Old Fart friend OLD FART PRIDE  It’s not a bad thing to be called an Old Fart. Old Farts are easy to spot at sporting events; during the National Anthem, Old Farts remove their hats and stand at attention and sing without embarrassment. They know the words and believe in them. Old Farts remember World War II, Normandy, Spitfires and Hitler. They remember the Atomic Bomb, Vietnam, the Korean War, the Cold War, the Moon Landing and all the Peacekeeping Missions from 1945 to 2005. If you bump into an Old Fart on the pavement, he will apologize. If you pass an Old Fart on the street, he will nod or tip his cap to a lady. Old Farts trust strangers and are polite, particularly to women. Old Farts hold the door for the next person and always, when walking, make certain the lady is on the inside for protection. Old Farts get embarrassed if someone swears in front of women and children and they don’t like any filthy language on TV. Old Farts have moral courage and personal integrity. They seldom brag except about their children and grandchildren. It’s the Old Farts who know our great country is protected, not by politicians, but by the young men and women in the Navy Army or Air Force. This country needs Old Farts with their work ethic, sense of responsibility, pride in their country and decent values. We need them now more than ever. Thank Goodness for Old Farts! Pass this on to all the “Old Farts” you know. I was taught to respect my elders. It’s just getting harder to find them.

Forgot to mention we Old Farts are also very charming!!!
God Bless and keep reading.