Being a right Tosser Helps

   Winning the Toss when playing cricket is giving you the edge over your opponent some say at least fifty runs on the board. and the present test and one-day matches have proven that 100%...

I am not surprised the Indian cricket team has achieved top rankings worldwide compared to the other thirteen international cricketing nations. even giving a 50 pe discount on half its population being dirt poor the remaining population is 45 million larger than the Aus, Eng, Paki,
NZ, Sri Lank,.B Desh, S Africa.Scotland, West Indies, Netherlands, Ireland, Afghani, and Zimbabwe
608 million.
Indians outnumber Australians by 59 to one. and and the population poor kiwis by250 to one.

I am old enough to remember watching the last day of play of the 4th day in a five-day scheduled test between ENG and AUS at the Oval In Surrey played between Aug 20 and 25 inclusive, in 1938 when I was a twelve-year-old boy who paid two shillings to sit on the grass. England won by an innings and 579 runs. BTW there was a rest day on Sundays back then.

VEST.... Back soon.

Too Hot For Words

The Air Con is on full and the temp outside is $42 Cel, laziness and do as little possible the order of the day, I can afford to be lazy and do nothing until this oppressive heat ceases... Back soon hopefully.

Seventy Seven years ago

Seventy-seven years ago I Vest joined the British Royal  Navy. After twenty-four and a half years I retired on an indexed pension for the past Fifty two and a half years.. There were times when my investment was in doubt due to times of conflict. but if  I  were born again, I would never take the gamble but take a safe option. Other than that, Nothing is often a good thing to say, and always a clever thing to say. The saving of man is the holding of his tongue. and a little bit of luck.

 Vest Back Soon.

I wonder where words are for this Wednesday, ?. .2-1-19

THE NAUTICAL SCHOOL.

Words this week are Controlled. Belongings. Shook. Reminder. Routine. Black.

I don’t remember how I got to HNA, but I was very pleased to be back with my brother after a year of separation. Christopher seemed changed. He was in Class 2B when I arrived on Wednesday 16 December 1936. I was exactly ten years and five months of age. Christopher was in Seven Company and I was in Six Company, each company having about forty-five boys between the ages of eleven and fifteen-and-a-half. I had two days of schooling before the Christmas break when I was told I would be in 1A, not the 1B class. (The Headmaster had obviously read the letter from Mr Pointer. the head from  my previous school).

It was a BLACK* day for me when I had all of my belongings taken from me and clothing replaced by that of which the boys in that school all wore.
 Halls Naval Academy was a charity CONTROLLED* school with a nautical theme run on militaristic ROUTINE* principles. The estate was located in the Suffolk rural countryside far from the outside world. It was situated on the edge of a plateau that sloped east to a valley near the river Eastham where the school farmed the land. HNA had a population of a large staff and about three hundred students between eleven and sixteen years of age. The students were allowed to take two three-week vacations each year during the summer and at Christmas. All other holiday periods were spent at the school. Students without guardians never left the school. Students had no access to the outside world, arbitral access, or personal rights. Discipline was strict. Hunger and fear of punishment were constant. Love and affection were non-existent, I was constantly REMINDED * that my existence seemed to be modelled on a latter-day Oliver Twist.

 All communication to and from the school was censored. Those boys who never left the school on vacation became conditioned to their surroundings (like caged birds) and were probably happier at the school than those of us who had an occasional release from our incarceration. On the 20 December 1936, having been told by my brother that he was going home again to Auntie Parker, I raised the roof and said, “I should go, too!” I was told, “No money, no ticket, no permission. Sorry, you’ll have to stay”.. This SHOOK* me to the core.

Like bloody hell, I thought. Then the bugler sounded the action stations call and the lucky ones – about half the population of the school – marched to the East Oakville Station. Two or three hours later, I was on a train that had stopped at a large station. My friend, Ernie Booker and I had no idea where we were going,  we had done a bunk from the school, I had had enough of that school.
Halls Naval Academy

At the dead end station, we must have looked conspicuous. The ticket bloke and staff at the station locked us up. Soon after, we were back at HNA. Living in a dark cloud of rejection, I was totally at odds with that place. I wondered how much more I would have to suffer.

22 December 1936
My brother had arrived in Charlham. Meanwhile, I was confused and in a state of apathy. Ernie and I were in serious trouble. Having only been at this place for six days, I was to get six cuts of the cane. Having no one to turn to for help, I was wretchedly homesick. It was suggested by a few teachers that because it was so close to Christmas we should be forgiven, but our Capt. Superintendent replied, “Peace on earth and goodwill to all men applies only on Christmas day.” The remaining population of the school gathered to witness our punishment. A box horse for us to bend over was produced, plus the biggest rattan cane – even bigger than the one at Charlham School. Ernie went first. It seemed like a bloody execution – minus the knitting hags, the French National Anthem, and a basket for our heads. Ernie was brave but white as a sheet after his six and had to go to the sickbay. I later learned he had received a testicular injury. Ernie going first made little difference, as another instructor, ‘Gunner Marten’ was to be my tormentor. I felt bloody awful. My thin trousers barely hid the bleeding welts across my buttocks. After the six strokes, I shouted in agonising pain, “I hope you die, you rotten cruel sod!” and got number seven. Gunner Marten died during the war about four years later. I was unmoved. Christmas in HNA was over. Our total excitement had consisted of two church parades, an apple, an orange, and cake. Where was Charlie Dickens? What a pity he missed out on this place.

Excerpt from memoirs... 99% true. Vest Daily Gaggle.

A Merry Christmas Everyone...Here’s the link to the video - https://www.dropbox.com/s/2w73rbjcd1m2jnc/joyeux-noel.mp4?dl=0

Christmas Shopping..

.Christmas shopping for me these days hold few qualms, no lists and no what can I give is made simple by giving a monetary gift, providing of course should they visit their aged 93 year old grandfather if not no deal, in any case, it is now nineteen months since I last saw some of my grandchildren. Their parents will have access to this info shortly.

It seems the Christmas card debacle is over once again. but not without its questionable dealings with the large post office in my local shopping complex. It was on Thursday, November 29 a bad day for shopping being it was pension day for the frail and aged payday millionaires who crowd the shopping centre for their indulgent $4-00 Latte shots and other lavish spendings.

 Having circumnavigated the underneath carpark Several times I finally parked at a car wash section where the guys in charge said it was OK. Thanking them I then walked toward the Entrance and the elevator which was out of order and a two-minute climb was the next obstacle.
Having done the grocery shopping I returned to the car collected my Christmas cards and walked to the post office. On arrival at the post office, I posted a dozen or so cards in the mailing box, leaving ten local and thirteen overseas cards to be stamped and posted
. At the counter I asked the female person for my allowance of seniors local stamps and thirteen UK overseas stamps, she replied they had sold out of the discount stamps ( The same story every time I asked for them at all the post offices I visit). So I purchased ten Local stamps at 65 cents each and Thirteen UK at $2-30 each. I sat down at a table nearby and affixed said stamps but was short of three UK stamps; only ten had been supplied. I returned to the post office and informed them they had shortcomings with the supply namely Three  stamps costing me $6-90 the lady at the counter was adamant that she was right and I was to blame probably thinking I was old and stupid, and I  not pursuing the matter any further purchased another three stamps at a cost of $6-90.. So it seems in the washup of this dodgy deal three recipients of my fifty cent Christmas cards in the UK have nailed me for $4-60 postage each.
It seems a  long time since I have heard the old adage " The customer is always right".

Vest Daily gaggle.

WORDS ON WEDNESDAY.

                                                            The words this week Are                                                         OPERA. RECOMMEND. CHAMPAGNE. EXCITEMENT. SUNSHINE and JAM.

                                          An evening at the Opera.

It was during the eighties when my wife Rosemary and I attended our first Opera- a Gilbert and Sullivan "The Mikado". The tickets had been provided free gratis by a well-heeled business associate; However, The hire of the pretentious costumes was a wallet killer.

Rosemary my dear lady wife could hardly contain her excitement. Still, in her forties, she loved  to flirt a little and loved to be told she was pretty as she really was without a doubt despite mothering five sons

We had previously attended a champagne party in air-conditioned comfort but travelling along George Street in busy Sydney on a hot day in a traffic jam was something I would not recommend especially in a Taxi with faulty airconditioning
However it was mainly a great day, and to see my Rosemary so happy, made my day.
                                                   -------------------
Women are the decorative sex, whatever they have to say, they say it charmingly.

Vest Daily Gaggle.