Wednesday, 31 January 2018

2nd Words on Wednesday.

 This  listing from Cindy follows

BLOODY.
CONFIDENCE.
RANGER.
APOLLO.
SUBMARINE.
BYRON.

     My story follows.

     Lord BYRON slept in the beds of some two hundred or more ladies ? so the lurid stories of him reveal, however, he was not the homely bed making person; more like a SUBMARINE dweller - where on which the bedding had multiple users.
      It was on my Forty third birthday; I recall, The day of the APOLLO 11 moon launch 16th July 1969 on that day I had travelled to Portsmouth (ENG). I had been invited by an old friend to visit  The SUBMARINE The HMS RANGER Despite of the fact that the crew had had a few days to tidy up the interior since returning from sea the un mistaking smell  of the SUBMARINE was BLOODY awful, even so only a few of the crew were on board when I arrived having previously doused myself with 'Super CONFIDENCE' a strong deodorant. capable of defying the smell of an aged billy goat. when one aged subby Say's " What's that funny smell " I replied "Anti Submariner stink" " never heard of it Say's he" . I wasn't surprised at his remark.
      It was a standing joke in the  Brit Royal Navy  that, if a sailor 'Whiffed a bit' he was deemed to be a Submariner.
But it came to pass as the saying goes there had to be a reckoning the Old Brit SUBMARINE was totally different to the sub I visited in New London Connecticut USA  the US Nautilus in 1965; it was larger than the ship I was serving on, a converted destroyer HMS Verylam... and the turkey dinner  on the Nautilus went down well too.

 VEST ... Daily Gaggle.  Back soon.



Tuesday, 30 January 2018

Words On Wednesday.

Below are the prompts for this little yarn which were provided by Cindy..

     DICTIONARY.
      GROUNDHOG.
      DANCING.
      RAIN.
      SILENT.
      GERMANY.

                                HERE IS MY STORY

      I am uncertain why Americans celebrate GROUNDHOG Day. Maybe  it is a reason for DANCING in the RAIN., Or it could be a SILENT  foreboding of  an ecological disaster which occasionally rears it ugly head at this time of the year or on the more pleasant side of the coin a reason for a feast for the consumption of apple strudel on some obscure date during the apple picking in GERMANY during the Autumn (Fall) season. I haven't bothered to check in my large DICTIONARY as yet, but will if I can find it among the pile of unopened boxes in the garage, most of which have lost the identifying writing describing the contents., during the past fifteen months before moving into this new home. so the guessing game begins. So eeny meeny miny mo is the only way for me to go..

 Vest... Daily Gaggle .. back soon.

Monday, 29 January 2018

A Petulant Captain.

Being an Australian of English descent I don't find it easy when international sporting activities plunge me into a problem  of choice, and I tend to observe things in the press and on the playing field that dyed in the wool Dinki di Aussies fail to see, Some of the crap and bilge snorted out by OZ cricket writers is unbelievable garbage the word Pom describing any British person is derogatory and insulting as someone referring Aussies as a bunch of Bludgery Galah's, Abo's or Wogs. The game of cricket in time honoured  five day test form can be fairly boring at times until  a batsman gets out bowled, caught or something or other then the bowler gets his  back  and Bottom slapped and is generally hugged by his team mates and sometimes kissed especially if you are an Aussie and better still from Van diemansland or  Melbourne Vic.
 Last Friday the skulduggery was exposed on the cricket field when the Wet pitch (Unplayable) dismissed the five top English batsmen
 Start of play should have been delayed one hour until the pitch dried out; one Aus guy suggested this. that their captain would enforce it but not if the POMS batted first.  what followed was a debacle until the pitch dried and although  The Aus team only just made it home to win on Australia day , it left a smell of skulduggery As for our schoolboy looking Aus Captain; his petulant attitude when not getting his own way is only too evident and too often.

Vest Daily Gaggle... Back soon.

Saturday, 27 January 2018

In retrospect.



    Thinking aloud  the other day,I realised that at my mature age it would be great to be able to start again at the beginning now knowing only too well how to conduct my life and omitting some of the unnecessary happenings which hindered my life. so below I have revised my life and hopfully it will come to fruition.

   

Now here's a thought...

Living Life Backwards.
I want to live my next life backwards.
You start out dead and get that out of the way. Then you wake up in an
old age home feeling better every day. Then you get kicked out for
being too healthy.

Enjoy your retirement and collect your pension. Then when you start
work, you get a gold watch on your first day. You work 40 years until
you're too young to work.

You get ready for High School, drink alcohol, party, and you're generally promiscuous.

Then you go to primary school, you become a kid, you play, and you
have no responsibilities.

Then you become a baby, and then...
You spend your last 9 months floating peacefully in luxury, in
spa-like conditions - central heating, room service on tap, and
then..........

You finish off as an msagro.
I rest my case………………………!

Friday, 26 January 2018

Political quiz. (1) with reply.


Quiz. What was the common given name both M & F within the families of the 1945 leaders of Britain's Three political parties?

Answer will be provided on Sunday. Jan 28.

Vest Daily Gaggle.

Answer to Quiz. Of the three Major Political Parties in this order Labour was CLEMENT Attlee. .Conservative was The wife of Winston  Churchill  CLEMENTINE, then Liberal leader CLEMENT Davies

Simple wasn't  it.  Vest.

Thursday, 25 January 2018

Words on Wednesday.

The prompts that Cindy has provided this week are the 2nd group. mentioned below.
     
   VANISH.
   MESSAGE.
   TOKYO.
    TWIST.
   MAIM.
   WANDA.
Coming up is my historical story.

      It was on the 5th day of August in 1962 my family arrived in Hong Kong for that promising cushy job at the naval base HMS Tamar.
     We settled down for two days into the Shamrock hotel In Nathan road Kowloon. On our arrival we learned that Marilyn Monroe had passed away on that day.
     On the 7th of Aug we moved into Jubilee bldgs the naval married qtrs at the top of Nathan road in Kowloon. and also taking up  my new duties  at the base on H K Island..
      After a couple of weeks we received severe storm warnings for Hong Kong, these MESSAGE'S were to become only too real, when on 10 AM Saturday 1st  of September.it became a reality..
      We were informed early that morning of it's impending arrival, most people took the warnings seriously; our neighbour failed miserably. We  Closed every window door and placed carpets over the windows secured by battens etc and waited for the worst Typhoon ever to hit Hong Kong -Typhoon  WANDA. The lady next door who did not get the MESSAGE , and on the corner of the building,  I rescued after her flat was wiped out completely.
      The epicentre of Typhoon WANDA passed directly over the colony, winds reaching 300 klms ph  were recorded, over 10 thousand souls perished 40 thousand injured and 100 thousand homeless. Cars , shops, trees, public signs  buses would VANISH and the debris MAIM unprotected animals and the already homeless.
That same morning I was due at the Base at 1130, they the heads of dept needed an explanation for my abscence, had not noticed that all public transport had ceased to operate and the Star ferry had  ceased too.
       This windy MESSAGE from the God of storms was not the first to be encountered. On Sat the 31st March 1945 The British Pacific fleet was caught in the tail of a minor typhoon which prevented the A /C carriers from flying their aircraft on the day of the Okinawa landings 'All fools day;  Easter Sunday April 1st.45. and in another TWIST of fate ,just in case the Allied ships failed to get the MESSAGE .the US and Brit ships copped another typhoon on entering Sagami bay, prior to our entry into TOKYO Harbour for the surrender  of Japan  . The ship I served on; The Battleship HMS King George V.  Flagship of the BPF With Vice Admiral Sir Bernard Rawlings C IN C and Captain Schofield the Co of the Ship.,was the third ship to enter TOKYO Bay,  I was aged  19 years and one month and had been to sea for the past 2.5 years.   After a lot of repairs mainly to our steering the ship finally returned to the UK March,13, 1946.

Wednesday, 17 January 2018

WORDS ON WEDNESDAY.

Cindy has posted these prompts on her blog.

 BIRTHDAY   HEPBURN
ROBBERY.  FERRY.
EARTHQUAKE.  ROLLING.
POOH.  LEDGER.
PARIS.  TOBRUK..
EXECUTIONER.  MURDER 
I shall use all of these Words.
 
      IT was the year of 1954. Hands up those who remember this.

       THE  contents of the misery ledger were spilling worldwide, both robbery and murder were becoming more commonplace this being due to to abolition of capital punishment  by the many forms of execution, in so called 'non third world countries' the USA being the exception to this idea  due to its 2nd amendment and its gun laws getting in the way and still is..
      During this year of 54 Humphrey Bogart and Audrey Hepburn were at their peak, Heath Ledger and Brian ferry were in short pants. and a new Despot had emerged in Tobruk  Libya.
      Meanwhile , back in Paris France; a Jewish Lawyer Pierre Mendes France  became (the first Post war french prime minister to stay in office for more than six months), he made the decision to withdraw french troops from Indo China.as Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam were known by at the time..
      Still in 54, Much married Eddie Fisher wed Debbie Reynolds , whom he cast aside later for the charms of Liz Taylor.
      Rolling strikes were becoming the norm in the UK and political stirrer Enoch Powell MP for Smethwick Birmingham Was stirring the bucket by saying "Send the bastards back!! Also  my small family , Rosemary  Baby Chris and I , Sailed on the SS Dorsetshire from Singapore to the UK.. Prior to all of this happening an earthquake occurred in IRAN on my 28th Birthday.
The final word POOH if it means what I  believe it does, I shall consider that, enough has been stirred already.

Vest Daily Gaggle.com .... Back soon.

Tuesday, 16 January 2018

XCI Plus Men's Clothes


      Despite the imagination of my readers being off key - most believing me to be a large and amiable old bumble bee in huge grey flannels wrapped in an all encasing belt, puffing about, then, and then only, shall I have solved the problem of clothes.
       But meanwhile,some words of advice. Firstly I have bagged a heap of clothing for Vinnies or sally Ann or the bin whichever comes first due to my weight descending in fifteen months from 115 Kilos to its present 84 Kilos, this weight loss comes at the expense of the local club and booze and over eating and simply moving around a bit more and a sensible diet - cutting down on spuds bananas burgers and meat pies.
      More advice. (1)Never take any exercise. Exercise develops the muscles, and when once muscles have been developed,they have to be banged to prevent them turning into fat. It is extremely painful to be banged. (2) when young,always have your clothes made a little too large for you.
This , as the real estate agents say, will give you a margin for development. (3) Concentrate on colour rather than shape. (4) Cultivate on impression of vitality rather than of Gothic  or weired  this can be done by slapping the thighs, it is curious how  a man becomes vital with a bit of thigh slapping. (5) Be very successful in your public life. Fame, more than anything else, enable's one to wear comfortable and even becoming clothes. (6) Avoid elegance in any form after the age of 25.
      And yet, and yet....It is all very difficult. You see,. I have said very little about clothes really because they do not interest me.  What does interest me  is the inevitable approach of the sit and grunt period of later middle and old age . Can clothes retard its approach, or disguise its advent? They can do nothing of the kind. The worst thing, I fear, about  being no longer young is that one is no longer young
My best gold buttoned Blazer is too large now its matching trousers too . even older blue and black jeans have been replaced by cool gear fitting my slender but aged body and  I feel great in them, my profile from astern seems thirtyish or maybe forty. wishful thinking.. no I shall not turn around.

 Vest Daily Gaggle  Back soon.








Friday, 12 January 2018

      An ancient  feature of the Chiltern hills in Merry England, the biggest of iron AGE earthworks, is the mysterious Grim's Ditch or dyke*(not Sexist)which runs right through the hills,appearing  at times as a ditch or brook with little flow,sometimes it is seen as a high BANK or part of Iron AGE defences or boundaries.
     Grims ditch can be clearly seen  near Great Hampden,  In the 17th century, Great Hampden was the home of John Hampden Who took a stand  against the payment of 'Ship Money', Member of parliament for Wendover. His stand against a HIGH TAX imposed by  Chas (1) in 1635? , led to the CIVIL war of 1642, Hampden died in 1643 from wounds received at the Battle of Chalgrove field and is Buried in Great Hampden Church.
      Chalgrove was my home for several childhood years , a monument depicting the battle of Chalgrove field in June !643 could be seen a short distance from my home at Number one Monument road Chalgrove Oxfordshire..
      BTW, Hampton's parliamentary forces lost the battle against prince Rupert a German Mercenary employed By Chas Ist. I believe Rupert  copped his lot later on at a battle near Oxford. that time the forces of OLLIE Cromwell - Hampdens cousin, won the day.

More words on a Wednesday

These words were chosen at random from a Financial newspaper.

BANK.
TAX
HIGH
AGE.
BURIED.
CIVIL.
.I am having difficulty with these words, My thought processes have been diminished by this oppressive heat today. I shall rest awhile and return soon.
Much scribbling and deleting, very baffling words but I am nearing something historical leaned from my childhood days.  Back Soon.

WORDS ON WEDNESDAY

This weeks words are below.
PACKERS.
PIE.
JAZZ.
CRASH.
SUPREME.
FAREWELL.

      The well known cashed up wealthy celebrity- patriarch of the Big Dick PACKER-MOOLAH tribe,  the  Mount Druitt PACKERS - big Richard himself, has acquired yet another celeb squeeze after being dumped at the SUPREME cost of Fifty Million bucks in departure fees extracted from his account by his former buxom (FAT)  American  boudoir playmate  a second rate blonde JAZZ singer, who most virile blokes would pass up for a slice of down to earth humble PIE in the form of a good looking honest less wealthy female with a New Ride Status
Only  Big Dick himself  could afford such a CRASH in FAREWELL fees.

Vest Daily Gaggle.com

Friday, 5 January 2018

My first career started 76 years ago today


My First Career
On 5 January 1942, I went to Shotley Royal Naval Base for a medical examination, which I passed despite being under the height requirement of five feet. I was four feet ten and a half inches, six stone six lbs (42.3 kg), and fifteen years, five months and twenty days old. I was an under-sized, under-aged piece of ‘cannon fodder.’ The school received a twenty-five pound Sterling bounty payment upon my delivery to the Royal Navy. My body was sold for approximately 55p or Aus $1-15 a Kilo or 30 cents U/S per lb. After a gruelling train journey to Fleetwood (near Liverpool,) I embarked in the early morning on the Isle of Man steam packet, ‘Rushen Castle’. It took four hours to get to Douglas, the capital and main port on the Isle of Man. I hadn’t been at sea for four years. Looking piteously at the first-timers berleying on the boisterous Irish sea, I was reminded of my first experience of sea sickness on a Portsmouth to Isle Of Wight ferry in 1938 the ‘Lorna Doone,’ a coal burning paddle steamer that smelled of beer, egg sandwiches, and tarred rope. I believe it was put to good use evacuating soldiers from Dunkirk (Dunkerque) France in June 1940. The Bible in my possession said, ‘To Leslie John Bowyer on the Feast of the Epiphany, 7 January 1942.” It was signed by the Rev. Harling. I often wonder if the Rev. Harling ever made it to heaven. Some of the other entrants who wore sailor’s gear like mine were from other navy schools. Some wore civilian clothes. It was Wednesday, 7 January 1942. I was now a boy, 2nd Class RN. The Americans had beaten me to this war thing by thirty-one days, but I was better prepared than most for my next encounter with a new type of authority.


In the Wash up It is pleasing to know that the RN is still paying me a fair sized pension for the past 51.5 years
.
 Vest....Back soon

Thursday, 4 January 2018

HAPPY BARBEQUE

Thursday, 4 January 2018


HAPPY BARBECUE

You have been invited to a barbecue, and find a Bert Banger type bloke, the traditional piss up chef and Master of the household out door cooking stuffing up the sangers and steaks.  Well I reckon there are nine of these incompetent twits in every ten  households. In most cases these blokes have already been at the beer before your arrival and is usually confirmed by his nibs stacking his empty bottles so all can see what a mutton head he is. Now this guy should not be entrusted to get near that large juicy 16Oz rump steak fresh from the abattoir and already primed with oil, because you know how; and why it should be cooked.
 Having checked the temp of the Barby plate by dropping a blob of water and seeing it disappear fast, you place your steak or if you are poor ( hamburger or sausage) gently onto the Barby plate and pat down.
You then stand guard over your steak in case mutton head starts flipping it over and over like everyone Else's steak; which by the time you have Flipped your steak once only after five or six minutes. and the same time for the other side to cook, your juicy melt in the mouth steak will be on your plate and exciting your palate, whereas Mutton head has drunkenly flipped the other guys steaks umpteen times and still flipping when yours has been consumed.
As for Mutton heads steaks or should I say baked leather, they will require more than a sharp knife and razor teeth to masticate to a consumable consistency.

Happy Barby.....Vest....Back later.

Wednesday, 3 January 2018

And More words on Wednesday

Should you remember using a TYPEWRITER You will have possibly lived for at least five decades of beautiful SUMMER days and through many a winter SNOW storm.
     It would seem that the kings of merry England were not so fruitful in years' also they had this awful fear of assassination during their regal term of office. much in common like USA Presidents.
     A short lived merry king was EDMOND 1 and for six years only when he died mysteriously at the age of 25.  EDMOND 1 was succeeded by EDMOND 2 who succumbed during his 46th year and ist year as the English king
. Both bodies of these kings were entombed each in their individual SARCOPHAGUS Their frail bodies were soon consumed by the ornamental stone coffin according to ecclesiology expectations. 
     Unlike William 1 the Duke of Normandy !066 and all that who became the first frog and snail munching king from FRANCE. Bill the first lived for 60 years and his probable cause of death was his change of diet(English Food) or a lack of Garlic.

Vest. Daily Gaggle.

More Words on Wednesday

The following words were chosen at random in alphabetical order and even I am finding it difficult to conjure up a yarn to fit. Sometimes a person may need to go into a trance and use some extraordinary happenings of yesteryear although some of ones memories produce a fitting story not always true but may have been possible..

ACCIDENT.
AGED.
HORSE.
ISLAND.
MORNING.
TAXI.

     My story Goes.

     The British Navy ship HMS Nonesuch, was visiting the ISLAND of Malta in the Mediterranean sea, and was secured alongside the jetty in Grand Harbour Valletta.
     An AGED crew member  nicknamed 'Stripey'who was familiar with the joys of Malta, put to good use his knowledge when he failed to return to the ship at the appointed time after a night ashore.
     Later in the day he was summoned to see the Executive Officer of the ship; who stupidly accepted his lame excuse being that, He was returning in the morning by Gharry ( A HORSE driven carriage)
When  suddenly the horse dropped dead  some distance from his destination which gave him few options but to walk to the ship and consequently being late..
     However, the following MORNING Stripey  failed to waken at the appointed hour due to his drunken and amorous overnight activities . As a result he was again summoned to front up to (Jimmy the one) Known as the Exec Officer.
     .Sharing stripey's problems were four younger sailors who were in dire need of a good excuse and which in turn was provided by  his nibs Stripey - No prizes for  the contents of the excuse. The exec Officer on hearing this familiar yarn wasn't wearing it and called over stripey and enquired if he was offering the same worn out tale to which clever dick stripey replied "Sir not at all. You see sir , I was returning to the ship in a TAXI ,not wanting to trust another Gharry when nearing the bottom of Crucifix hill the TAXI was unable to pass  due to an ACCIDENT  created by several overturned horse driven Gharry's and dead horses.

Vest.... Daily Gaggle.. back soon.

Monday, 1 January 2018

WORDS ON WEDNESDAY.

The following is a true story which contains the following words- well nearly all.of them.

     MINT.
     TOTTERING.
     CHEW.
     BINDER.
     COMING.
     PELMET.

                         The story goes.  I have no idea how to fit in the word PELMET The word Helmet may have helped - to go with the Motor Cycle about to be mentioned. in this true story about the lady who lived next door to us meaning my family in England before COMING to Strayer in 1972.
     The lady AGED and TOTTERING, approached me holding this large tin of sweets MINT sweets to be precise, the lady then told me to take as many as I wanted for my children and remarked that if she ate any more she would require an un -BINDER for her stomach. The aged lady then related how the large brand new Motor cycle arrived at her front door together with a helmet.
       The old dear explained that she had entered into a competition  from a company marketing "MURRAY MINTS' . And the  lucky lady wrote the following slogan.to
win her the second Prize,
      "I AM  FINISHING MY MURRAY MINT - THE TOO GOOD TO HURRY MINT"

VEST.... Back soon...

Vest Has Left the Building

To advise that Vest (Les Bowyer) passed away this morning. Regards, Chris (Son).