History on this All Fools Day..OP Iceberg.

     It was my eighteenth Easter; one I will never forget
April !, Easter Sunday April Fools Day . The previous day we hit the tail end of a typhoon,Our A/C carriers were unable to fly off planes which saved a few lives by having less Nips  to contend with when the Americans invaded Okinawa on that following frightful day. However , fewer was more than enough, All or our carriers were hit, some several times, and yours truly with others  in the aftermath cleared the  ship of one disintegrated Twin engined Jap Betty Bomber.This was a sign of things to come in the following nine weeks ,
Les, On HMS K G V  Flagship of the British Pacific Fleet - Just Seventy years Ago..

A Hardley Normal Delivery.

     As stated in my previous post, I arrived at the HARVEY NORMAN  store at Lake haven NSW, at about 2pm Wednesday March 25 and ordered a New washing Machine, for which I paid the asking price and the delivery charge with cash, I was told it would be delivered the following day between 9am and 5pm. This delivery time failed on Thursday and on Friday.
I phoned Harvey Norman and after a bit of banter hung up the phone. then my Son rang to enquire and was informed it would be delivered today at between 9am and 1pm.The delivery was made at 1255 pm. however, the washing machine had at least Two Dents which were clearly seen and the  delivery was aborted and then I refused to take delivery.
My son informed the store manager that we wished to cancel the sale and be refunded.
this was agreed upon and now my son is out looking for another non bent supplier, hopefully we will have success elsewhere, meanwhile the washing is piling up.
Harvey Norman, Or should I say Hardley Normal.
 Vest
3-15pm
A happy ending. My son returned from a shopping centre further afield and returned with a newer model W/machine same make but not a discontined model like the dodgey one offered by Harvey Norman also it was $4-00 cheaper and it fitted into the Falcon wagon just right. saving $55-00 delivery charge. Oh and the dealer was "The GOOD GUYS at ERINA NSW .

Alls well that ends well .. Vest.

A sort of Political Washup.

   Two days ago, a round trip of nearly two hours which involved a trip to the bank for a large cash withdrawal then the weekly lotto splurge at the newsagent and a political chat with a oriental guy and another with a Yorkshire accent who were handing out election flyer's  the oriental saying vote for this bloke on erection day and the yorkies banter reminding me of his *ebagum lingo which further reminded me of the political despot  Bob *Mugabe who ruined The banana republic of Zimbabwe.Now governed by a geezer Named Banana( no kidding) it also seems  this despot has in opposition a mystery Polly with the name of Richard Spudd  Who is a hot contender to be the next Dick Tater.
        The main shopping exercise was to be the purchase of a new washing machine at the Massive 'Harvey Norman 'Store at Lake haven about ten min drive It took about twenty Min's to select and pay for the w/machine and was delighted to know it would be delivered the next day between Nine and Five, The next port of call was the Boozatorium where I purchased 3 bots of JW for 89 bucks then a visit the local super market for the staples in our diet, a successful day so it would seem..
Sadly I must inform you the W/ machine has yet to arrive. About an hour ago I telephoned the  store and gave them a good old bollocking, and hung up the phone  I am now waiting to see what happens next.  I am unable to leave the house unless the W/Machine turns up, it is a Blessed nuisance to say the least,as the poor wife has to do the wash  by hand like we did sixty years ago, and the wife was not pleased when I stated it would be a saving on the power bill.
* reverse.
Vest.... The best is yet to be.

Go to the next post for the ongoing saga of the washing machine, yet to be delivered.

This may be my final post

     It was back in  2005 on March 23 nearly ten years ago when my first attempt at blogging took off. since then other bloggers have come and gone; some like butterflies whose life expectancy was brief, then there were the strugglers who sought fame and lost, some being disillusioned and  others bored to tears with other witless bloggers and finding there was life after blogging. None of the bloggers I crossed swords with ten years  ago are around anymore each of whom have died on the vine at various intervals over the past decade.
     There are a few people who still comment here, some more frequently than others some whom I have a great deal of respect for and others much less, which of course is to be expected when most subjects within the blogosphere are controversial and which remains the main source for blogging apart from the never ending doubt and suspicions regarding the plethora of miscellaneous Gods and other mythical purveyors of non existent eccleslastical wonderment..
     I do not have a degree in science , however, I do have an interest in truthful scientific evaluations. and abhor the use of so called lesser  abnormalities and crimes  used in expediting major political and other non secular and pontifical matters  for the so called betterment of all.
     Recently my appearance has been sparse, this has been due to my ongoing health problems and more domestic and marital responsibility being imposed due to my spouse who at the age of  eighty; and eight years my junior; having serious memory problems., it can be expected that these problems will not be going away and can be regarded as simply just another cycle of our existence until our T O D.
     Comments by relatives on the past 1,268 posts on this blog have been nano minuscule to say the least however those who have sent email messages have been few also , but to those few who have bothered to do so I offer my thanks - particularly the vast majority  of whom were from the UK .
Very little interest seems forthcoming from  the relatives in  Australia mainly the younger four of our five sons and their issue who will due to their lack of response fail to hear the news that our eldest son who has resided with us for the past fifteen years and has and is still being our main source of support in most situations which required assistance  will be the sole benefactor in our last will and testaments, being that most of the gang of four are  already well off and doing substantially well in their various fields of  monetary pursuit, the one exception being the most junior who has a permanent fire in his pockets. This is  by no means  not an altogether. disclaimer of my brood, birthdays and yuletide messages  are sometimes remembered particularly when embarrassed by receiving like  messages, although a little distant we are still amicable except for one dissident son and his non wife partner are still at loggerheads with me by their choice and not my own., so sad! I offer them a 'Get well soon' message.
Most of our relatives in Australia live a fair distance away; meaning a max speed X two to four hours, not a trip one would do on a regular basis which also helps along the theory 'Out of sight out of mind', but not necessarily to us their parents who think of them each day as good parents should.
     This post it seems has taken an eternity to write due to more than a dozen distractions, it is a problem that I have to face up to in the future. If by chance an opportunity to post comes along I shall try to do so but visiting friendly blogs will be my main pursuit.
     Five interruptions in six minutes - have to go, the mind boggles.

Vest .....Back soon ...'Perhaps.'

DING DONG.

After Quasimodo's death, the bishop of the Cathedral of Notre Dame sent word through the streets of Paris that a new bell ringer was needed.

The bishop decided that he would conduct the interviews personally and went up into the belfry to begin the screening process.

After observing several applicants demonstrate their skills, he had decided to call it a day.

Just then, an armless man approached him and announced that he was there to apply for the bell ringer's job. The bishop was incredulous
'You have no arms'
'No matter,' said the man. 'Observe !'

And he began striking the bells with his face, producing a beautiful melody on the carillon.
The bishop listened in astonishment; convinced he had finally found a replacement for Quasimodo.
But suddenly, as he rushed forward to strike the bell, the armless man tripped and plunged headlong out of the belfry window to his death in the street below.

The stunned bishop rushed down two hundred and ninety five church steps, when he reached the street, a crowd had gathered around the fallen figure, drawn by the beautiful music they had heard only moments
before.

As they silently parted to let the bishop through, one of them asked,
'Bishop, who was this man?'
'I don't know his name,' the bishop sadly replied,



( scroll down )

' ............... BUT HIS FACE RINGS A BELL'



WAIT ! There's more ...


The following day, despite the sadness that weighed heavily on his heart, due to the unfortunate death of the armless campanologist, the bishop continued his interviews for the bell ringer of Notre Dame.

The first man to approach him said, 'Your Excellency, I am the brother of the poor armless wretch that fell to his death from this very belfry yesterday.

I pray that you honour his life by allowing me to replace him in this duty.'

The bishop agreed to give the man an audition, and, as the armless man's brother stooped to pick up a mallet to strike the first bell, he groaned, clutched at his chest, twirled around, and died on the spot.

Two monks, hearing the bishop's cries of grief at this second tragedy, rushed up the stairs to his side.
'What has happened ? Who is this man ?' the first monk asked breathlessly.
'I don't know his name,' sighed the distraught bishop, 'but...'








'HE'S A DEAD RINGER FOR HIS BROTHER.'

History on this day Wed March 6 1957.

HMS Ceylon and crew carrying the flag officer Admiral Varyl Begg the representative
of the Queen , gave away the West African colony the Gold Coast and a couple of other
adjacent territories, which formed the new country of Ghana , under the political
leadership of Kwame Nkrumah.
Vest at the time came within spitting distance of this great leader.
Much jollity and shouts of "Freedom"filled the air.
It rained that evening; My white uniform was a total mess after the boozy celebrations with
ex pats from the the United Africa Co whose hostel I stayed at overnight.
Woke at six am on hearing a crash of a bicycle coming down the stairs, a still tipsy Reg
Harris a well known cyclist selling Raleigh bikes to the locals, had to be replaced by
a similar looking person ,
The house boy as he was called told me my washed uniform was not dry and there was
little hope of me wearing it to get back to the ship..
I rang the ship on a crackling ship to shore phone and was told to get back by the
following morning.
My original explanation was misinterpreted, and by the time it reached the Captains
ears it had been passed around a fair bit.
"He is drunk and naked in a police cell and has lost his uniform." Some yarns are hard
to live down but are great memories. Most of mine are historical.

From my memoirs.... Vest..... Back soon.Today in history

This was first published in my March 6 2007 post, much more info there than here.