Got to be done Chaps; this is clearly, the “before” picture. the aftermath wasn’t particularly pretty(!)
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You look dapper Brian!
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Thanks Richard! All down to Junior Leaders I suspect the mad (by today’s standards) concept - whereby the British Army took boys of 15 and spat then out two and a half years later - shiny and bombed up!
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I take it there was some imbibing involved?
I’m afraid so - and then some(!)
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For the record - and this is really told against myself - I ended up in a pub with a retired LE (that is, up through the ranks) Lieutenant Colonel, Royal Artillery (spit); I’d only met him at the remembrance service that morning, but as is the nature of ex-servicemen perhaps, we quickly got outside eleventeen pints or so. I suggested we retire to a different pub, just because we could; As it happened, upon entrance we were promptly bought a round by someone I vaguely knew (and quite frankly did not think a huge amount of - benefits scrounger etc) so that was a pleasant surprise and a trenchant reminder to me to not be so snobbish. We were chatting gaily about times past; I briefly stopped to acknowledge the bar-maid who I knew quite well - and was attractive enough to make one’s pint taste even better - when there was a clatter and a crash, and my drinking companion fell to the floor. I hadn’t quite realised in my commemorative zeal that he was suffering, plus I had around 5 years or so on him, so expected a little bit more(!) He picked himself up briskly enough, but shortly after went on his way.
The moral (not that there really is one but indulge my waspish sense of humour): Don’t drink with the Staff Clerks!
Of course, the other moral is (there is one after all), as I said above, don’t judge people too harshly, though it’s a hard habit to break.
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i have a VJ Day event to attend next week, not surprisingly the local town council and MP haven’t put their hand in their pockets or offered to attend. it makes me sick to be honest and i have purchased about ten national flags with VJ Day logo’s on them for the even. i am not looking for praise, reward or financial compensation, i just think it is the honourable thing to do… but what do i know.
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I think David - apart from the unstoppable traction of “Woke” which appalls me - it’s mainly down to the abysmal teaching of history, if anything even approaching the subject is taught properly anymore. Let’s face it - most teachers are somewhat left-wing , and their, and their unions’ partisan syllabi seem to prevail, despite what the respective Ministry dictates, and at the moment we don’t seem to have a remotely responsible SofS in any case (in fact, let’s call a spade a spade, the government is abysmal on most levels). However, this is not meant to be a rant (though I clearly can) but an observation as to why.
I mentioned earlier, last week, in a different hostelry, to an acquaintance, that I was attending the remembrance ceremony this last Friday, whereby a barmaid piped up, unbidden, “I think that’s disgusting, all those poor Japanese and the atom bombs and all that!”
I mean, that’s a whole new depth of ignorance; I left, somewhat stunned to be honest.
Funnily enough, we didn’t drink there on Friday.
Anyway, go and commemorate as you see fit, and to hell with the lot of them.
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You scrubbed up a treat there, Brian! Very dapper indeed. Sounds like you had a justifiable and enjoyable day! Good for you.
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