The pub being handy for Valentines night as they do half decent food and we can walk there and back!
Then we are back here for another 28 days! Joined on the Saturday by a very, old friend of mine, Mark, Kate and his daughter. Ive known Mark since 4th July 1983, why does that date stick in my head? Well, its the day, we both met up at Ouston, 26th Signal Regiment, and joined the Army! Now anyone who has ever been in, the day you join is not a day you forget!
Its like nothing on earth, culture shock, system shock, and pure shock! We then spent the next 9 months going through our training as Junior soldiers, I was still 15 when I joined up! We then both went to Catterick to do our trade training, and later, within a month of each other ended up at the same unit - the infamous 21st Signal Regiment, 2 Squadron at Osnabruck. This unit was full of lunatics, and I do mean certifiable lunatics. It certainly wasnt for the faint hearted, and as a 17 1/2 year old, yes that young it was a complete and total eye openner! My, did we have some fun!!!! Trips to Holland and Copenhagen, the Aldstadt in Osnatraz was mighty relieved once our unit left there! So many stories to tell about our time there I could write a whole blog just on that!
From there once the unit was more or less disbanded and returned to its parent unit in Wildenwrath we went our seperate ways, to other units, only to meet up again shortly after at JHQ Rhinedahlen, it was here that I had one of the scariest car rides of my life in Marks Escort RS, on the autobahn, (no speed limits) we were that fast in the wet, the wipers lifted off the screen!
Anyway, Mark and family are coming down from up North for the half term week with their caravan and staying with us on site. The stories will be coming thick and fast no doubt! We havent seen each other for probably over 10 years now, and last time we met it was only for 30 mins! So alot of catching up and drinking to do! Cant wait!!!!!
The last time an old army friend came to see me, Paddy, we laughed that much my sides hurt for two days afterwards, and was hungover for almost a week, he was only here a night! A whole week I will be needing A&E!
On another note, the temperature has been down the last couple of days, barely getting above freezing today! Light snow forecast, depending on which forecast you look at that is! Who knows, what the weather will do it seems to be that messed up at the moment!
I will be getting "M" to blog over the weekend, as I know how much you enjoyed her last post! You also get a different perspective on "our life in a caravan", which gives it all a little balance.
We had a stew tonight which "M" set about this morning and has been in the slow cooker all day, well, what else could you eat on a day like today!
Till later.......
Swift & Sure - (well, sometimes!)
My dad was in the signals in the 50s when they were in kenya fighting the mau mau . He was always telling us stories of his time out there - fishing with the "38 fly" (mills grenade) was one of his favourites . He kept in touch with his old army mates till he died 3 yrs ago
ReplyDeleteNow thats what you call fishing!!!
ReplyDelete