I didn't know that!

[Martyn 303]

One of my very favorite books. Used it to get my Texan son in law into John Le Carre.

[Martyn 303]

On May 23, 2018 at 4:52 PM, IAN123. said:

I didn't know that famous Hollywood Stars and world known writers visited

Redhill...in particular Orsen Welles and George Bernard Shaw.tucked away was Pendine House..home of George Brough of Superior fame.Many famous movie stars visited his home and Arnold.Two of Georges Jaguars at his Redhill home,notts.

Mark 2 Jag, one of the best affordable cars ever made. Somewhat like the Cadillac CTS V of today 

[radfordred 6,284]

Apparently Kim Jong-Un Dad Kim Jong-II invented the hamburger & called it Gogigyeopbbang ..... Who knew that?

[Jill Sparrow 10,305]

I knew that. My dad saw him. I believe he visited what was then Erickson's? Dad would have been 6 but remembered the event clearly.

[catfan 14,793]

On 6/2/2018 at 10:22 PM, IAN123. said:

Never knew a 3 litre estate Vanden Plas version existed. A Countryman.

 

One unsuccessful model was the Vanden Plas "R" model with a 4 litre Rolls Royce engine.

Brilliant engine but wasted on BMCs notorious car building quality.

My old boss had one & was one of the finest laxatives made at the time !

http://www.co-oc.org/vehicles/vanden-plas-princess-4-litre-r

 

[denshaw 2,871]

I didn't know that it's a long way to Tipperary.

[Martyn 303]

48 minutes ago, catfan said:

 

One unsuccessful model was the Vanden Plas "R" model with a 4 litre Rolls Royce engine.

Brilliant engine but wasted on BMCs notorious car building quality.

My old boss had one & was one of the finest laxatives made at the time !

http://www.co-oc.org/vehicles/vanden-plas-princess-4-litre-r

 

I’m ashamed to say that most British cars from that period were terrible and allowed mickey mouse cheap and nasty boring Japanese now Korean soon to be Chinese motors to take over. If you talk to Americans they say the same thing about that period. I will say the best, most comfortable, functional and reliable car I ever owned, however was a 1980 Buick Le Sabre.

As for German cars and "German engineering” all I will say is VW

[loppylugs 8,429]

I've stayed with my '98 Crown Vic, Martyn.  It's been a good car.  I've always done my own maintenance most recently ball joints and shocks.  Not a speck of rust on it and it drives like new.  It has about 150,000 on it.  I don't drive so much now and it might last me the rest of my driving life.  Gets around 25 to the gallon.  I've always bought Fords.  Always been happy with them.

[Martyn 303]

26 minutes ago, loppylugs said:

I've stayed with my '98 Crown Vic, Martyn.  It's been a good car.  I've always done my own maintenance most recently ball joints and shocks.  Not a speck of rust on it and it drives like new.  It has about 150,000 on it.  I don't drive so much now and it might last me the rest of my driving life.  Gets around 25 to the gallon.  I've always bought Fords.  Always been happy with them.

Loppy

Nothing wrong with a Crown Vic great cars. Mate of mine whose dead now used to swear by and always have a Mercury Grand Marquis (same thing). I’ve always loved American cars. I think its because of seeing them on the TV as a kid. Do you remember those convertible Chevies and Caddys on 77 Sunset Strip and we had A35’s or Ford Pop’s. I once paid off a ship in New York and before I flew home I bought a 1969 Cadillac Eldorado convertible second hand for $2k, which took 6 weeks to get to Southampton in a container. I was going to Plymouth Poly for 6 months and you can imagine the chaos I caused driving around Dartmoor in that thing (this was 1971).

Except for a Cadillac CTS V, which is the most fun it is possible to have in a motor, for about the last 10 years I’ve been into trucks and have had both Fords and GM’s. The 4 door F150 is great, particularly the Larriat and above, except the new engines are not all that good for towing so I and my kids (except for my eldest boy who wrote his off yesterday) all drive the same GMC Sierra 1500 Denali’s. 6.2 liter, 8 speed 4 door, I get about 17.5 mpg. 

[loppylugs 8,429]

I bet that Caddy was a bit painful at the pump in the UK.  What did they get, about 12 to the gallon?

 

We got a Ford Explorer a couple of years ago.  Mrs. L mostly drives it.  Only got about 5000 on it now.  It's got more electronics on it than I've ever seen.  Still not sure what half of it does.  

 

We don't go so many places now.  I used to like to drive up to Canada, but just lately driving does not turn my crank.  By the time the TSA have finished with you in Atlanta flying isn't much fun anymore either.  I'm just happy here with me dogs.

[Martyn 303]

1 hour ago, loppylugs said:

I bet that Caddy was a bit painful at the pump in the UK.  What did they get, about 12 to the gallon?

 

We got a Ford Explorer a couple of years ago.  Mrs. L mostly drives it.  Only got about 5000 on it now.  It's got more electronics on it than I've ever seen.  Still not sure what half of it does.  

 

We don't go so many places now.  I used to like to drive up to Canada, but just lately driving does not turn my crank.  By the time the TSA have finished with you in Atlanta flying isn't much fun anymore either.  I'm just happy here with me dogs.

The Explorer is good too and to be quite honest once you have a truck everything else is too small. You have a big cab and all that space in the back and i have a lid to keep stuff safe and dry. 

In those days I didn’t have a care in the world, i was making good money and when it ran out I would go and get more. I was more interested in the “pose” and what that achieved than in the price of petrol. 

There used to be a saying "3 hots and a cot”. No matter how broke you got, once you got on the ship you had 3 hot meals and a bed until you accumulated enough to go do it all over again.

I agree about the TSA. I have the 6 hour rule. If I can drive it in 6 hours of less I will not fly.

[Martyn 303]

30 minutes ago, IAN123. said:

Great post Martyn...like your style and stories..think you are a 'keeper ' on here.I can just imagine you bumping moggie 1000's off the road in '71.

Nice...ian.

Ian, thanks.

 

Driving on the wrong (curb) side, with the hood down, 8 track on (something a little soulful), elbow out,  blocking all that traffic 

[loppylugs 8,429]

I take it you were in the merchant navy Martyn.

 

my dad nearly got me to join up once.  He was in the navy during ww 2 and back in for Korea.  I could have signed on asan electrician.  Met the gal that became my first wife and I wasn't going anywhere anymore.  Lol.

[sue B 48 1,226]

That was a blessing then Ian.

[Martyn 303]

14 hours ago, loppylugs said:

I take it you were in the merchant navy Martyn.

 

my dad nearly got me to join up once.  He was in the navy during ww 2 and back in for Korea.  I could have signed on asan electrician.  Met the gal that became my first wife and I wasn't going anywhere anymore.  Lol.

I was at sea (Merchant) for 9 years if you include my time doing tickets etc. I worked initially for a Welsh tramping company until I became 2nd Mate, then as Mate on VLCC’s (Supertankers) and finally Chemical Carriers. For the first 6 years it was really good, didn’t know where you would go, what you’d be loading or how long you’d be there. I spent most of those years on the West Coast USA, British Columbia, Japan, Korea, Philippines, Australia etc. Occasionally did round  worlders via South America, South Africa,  Persian Gulf, East Africa and India. Containers came, the tramp ships disappeared and tankers were boring. British crews were replaced by Indians, Chinese and Philippinos and the writing was on the wall for officers, so I quit.

Lecky (Electrcian) was a good job on merchant ships. They had more or less the same rank as 2nd Mate and were day workers (not watches) unless they were called out for emergencies. Most of the Leckies I sailed with (still in touch with one of them) did it for say 5 years to get some experience and have some fun then went ashore working in shipyards or power stations. They of course had qualifications that “landlubbers” recognized whereas we didn’t. If I went to an employer and told him I had a 1st Mate’s Ticket he might respond “I’ve got a bus ticket”.

For what it is worth, I was Mate on the “Universe Ireland” which was the biggest ship in the world. If you search you tube with the ships name there is a short movie about the Universe Tankships going into Bantry Bay. Their voyage was Kharg Island (Iran) or Ras Tanura (Saudi) to Bantry Bay.

[Martyn 303]

14 hours ago, IAN123. said:

Birkinhead based Gerry & The Pacemakers..were originally titled:

Gerry And The Mars Bars.

But the confectionary company complained.

Bet they wished they hadn’t - think of all that free advertising 

[loppylugs 8,429]

Sounds like a pretty good life for a single guy back then, Martyn.  Seems like the best days for a lot of things are over.

[Martyn 303]

1 hour ago, loppylugs said:

Sounds like a pretty good life for a single guy back then, Martyn.  Seems like the best days for a lot of things are over.

 

Loppy 

It was a good life for young single guys but things changed rapidly. When I first went away a lot of the senior guys who had served during World War 2 (one Captain I sailed with had been torpedoed and abandoned ship twice) were in relative terms, quite old, beginning to retire. There was also a lot of turnover with the younger guys as they met girls and got married and left and so promotion was quite rapid. If i had stayed with my first company, got all my tickets and the industry had not changed, I would have been a Captain by the time I was 30. 

[loppylugs 8,429]

I've often wondered what it would have been like to be a Lecky on a cruise ship or the QE 2.  I would have thought it might have been good, but maybe not with all those folks aboard.  Did you know anybody that sailed on such a ship?

[Martyn 303]

25 minutes ago, loppylugs said:

I've often wondered what it would have been like to be a Lecky on a cruise ship or the QE 2.  I would have thought it might have been good, but maybe not with all those folks aboard.  Did you know anybody that sailed on such a ship?

I am sure if you had been a young Lecky on the QE2 your taste would probably have had to have been for the more senior but you would have gotten little sleep.

Cunard used to be a customer of mine and around 1990 we worked on the QE2 when she was in dry dock in New York. I went down for the day to have a look at how we were doing and to have lunch with a Cunard manager who was a schoolfriend of mine. Up front the ship was still quite grand if a little jaded, but behind the scenes “under the hood” so to speak she was a mess. Cunard is now owned by Carnival.

My parents, who were retired and still lived in Nottingham, were cruise junkies. At home they would live on beans on toast (joke) until they had accumulated enough money then splash it all out on a first class cruise, black tie etc (irresponsible money management obviously runs in the family). My friend began to include them on their internal fax list. If a ship, including the QE2, was to sail with empty cabins they would offer them to their staff at super discounted prices but usually with just a few days notice. A $10k cruise would go for say $2k including flights. Every now and again I would get this fax, I would call me Mam and she and Dad would be picked up from home, driven to the airport and taken to the ship and because of my friend have flowers and champagne in the cabin, invites to the Captains table, the works. 

I have known only 2 people who worked on passenger ships. A school friend who went work for British India (part of P&O now defunct) on their pilgrim and passenger ships out of Bombay who, had various stories that would make a healthy young man jealous but ended up working for ZiM Line out of Israel. I also had a periodic girlfriend who was a singer / dancer on P&O ships out of Southampton, who worked there because she couldn’t get a job anywhere else and would chase me around when she was on leave, but was then never heard of again.

[loppylugs 8,429]

Well I'm too old now anyway, but I think I'd just stick to merchant shipping.  I'd never stand the pace on a cruise ship.  

 

BTW.  Thanks for the detailed response.

[Martyn 303]

11 minutes ago, loppylugs said:

Well I'm too old now anyway, but I think I'd just stick to merchant shipping.  I'd never stand the pace on a cruise ship.  

 

BTW.  Thanks for the detailed response.

What did you do in the Rockies

[LizzieM 9,507]

I’ve only been on one cruise, and that was a mini/long weekend one from Southampton to Hamburg on the Queen Mary II.  Loved it and plan to try a longer one sometime.

I’ve only ever really met one person who’s worked on a cruise ship, a very friendly and highly amusing man who, since giving up life on the ocean wave, has spent the past 20 years employed by the Queen as her personal hairdresser.  He and his boyfriend (no doubt they are now married!) were great company by the side of a pool in Miami a few years ago and invited me and my two friends to join them for dinner that evening as well.   

 

[Brew 5,413]

I didn't know that:

Wandering around the internet, as you do, I came across a little snippet I didn't know.

No one knows for sure who actually owns Nottingham Castle!

The council in 1875 were granted a 500 year lease, who from is by no means clear. It has been owned by numerous Earls and Dukes - there's a Marquess, an Earl and even a Baron in the history but since the Dukedom died out in 1988 ownership is up for grabs it seems.

[catfan 14,793]

47 minutes ago, Brew said:

I didn't know that:

Wandering around the internet, as you do, I came across a little snippet I didn't know.

No one knows for sure who actually owns Nottingham Castle!

The council in 1875 were granted a 500 year lease, who from is by no means clear. It has been owned by numerous Earls and Dukes - there's a Marquess, an Earl and even a Baron in the history but since the Dukedom died out in 1988 ownership is up for grabs it seems.

Why not fill it with bleddy students ? Every other vacant city building houses them !