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1st June 2021, 04:52 AM
#21
Re: when the boat comes in
Yes exactly Victoria , if you dont succeed try,try and try again! Third time Lucky! Well that happened to me anyway! Yipeeeeee!!!
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1st June 2021, 06:30 AM
#22
Re: when the boat comes in
Or be like my poor brother. two goes at it both failed in the end.
But has three, or maybe four kids and is getting on with life.
Life can be a bugger at times.
Happy daze John in Oz.
Life is too short to blend in.
John Strange R737787
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1st June 2021, 06:33 AM
#23
Re: when the boat comes in
Talk about failing, I had to log in three times today, before it clicked, would never have got married at that rate.
Des
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1st June 2021, 07:52 AM
#24
Re: when the boat comes in
#25. On the other hand John I have a younger brother by 16 years who has Never been married and still lives alone. He has had the usual girlfriends and when asked why he didn’t get married , gives the answer we all mostly would of done in our generation. I couldn’t afford it. The morals of society which we were brought up with are totally different today than what they were. It was expected the man should be able to support a wife and whatever family they produced. Vows were taken and if you were a person of your word you tried to abide by them. Today the guidelines are all different . Most marriages today are just for convenience and vows taken are flung aside as the mood fits.It is not even necessary today to get married in the first place , whether you agree with this or not is beside the point , it’s the way it is. Myself I prefer the old morals and try to live by them , and have been very lucky as some of the horror stories I hear , if had made the wrong choice and still alive can imagine myself relying on the Salvation Army and soup kitchens. Being married has its advantages and disadvantages . I was married at 25( 26 the next day) and until I was 65 remained at sea for the next 38 years with possibly only 8 of those years ashore , so that means 30 years apart . Plenty of excuses for a divorce ? . My wife has never had to go out and work to pay the mortgage I have always made sure of that , and things have been very tight at times . But we both went through thick and thin together . Today here in Australia it makes me laugh when I see the fly in fly out workers are being traumatised in their lives by being away for 4 weeks on and 4 weeks off. Different people , different morals, different world. Give me the sea any day of the week. Cheers JS
Last edited by j.sabourn; 1st June 2021 at 08:20 AM.
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1st June 2021, 09:34 AM
#25
Re: when the boat comes in
I find myself agreeing lately with a lot of the comments 'in post'-except of course the seemingly deliberately provocative politically- biased ones with their predictable catty follow-up supporting reply!
As Victoria says there are a lot of lonely people out there now,especially amongst we ageing generation and more so exposed by this pandemic.
JS always makes astute observations and points out that even though he might be of a certain age and been married x amount of years,due to the nature of our calling,he has probably spent only x divided by 2 of those years actually together with his other half. That is bliss! Every leave was a honeymoon,and ,to my mind,a perfect relationship,the husband off to make his ,generally good,hard-earned money,and she running the household,bringing up baby and perhaps even forging out a career herself. I have always thought that a perfect partnership of common sense and dedication is a merchant seaman and a nurse. I think many of us might have been persuaded so by the parties we had on board in Durban,RSA, where many notions of an idyllic nurturing symbiotic relationship were planted in our heads... even if the chaperoning 'matron' from Addington Nurses Home tried to thwart our intentions!
I would think that being alone or even lonely is not such a problem for those of us in this profession,being well used to days and nights at sea over lengthy periods.On a ship,you could usually find someone to talk to if need be,just like in civilian life where there's always someone to share an interest in something.These days,we've also got t'internet.And,if I want to be like Greta Garbo,dear I can just switch off till next time.Lonely,not!
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1st June 2021, 01:53 PM
#26
Re: when the boat comes in
The only careers my wife ever had or needed Graham was running a catalogue for the neighbours , voluntary work ,and a keen interest in Scottish, English and Irish country dancing, and as you say bringing up two kids. You are right about the honeymoons though. My excuse was to make up for the first one which was 6 days in the Ivanhoe hotel in London a Temperance hotel just near the theatres near the Whitehall in particular and then back to sea for 8 months . The temperance hotel her mother booked , I am sure she did it on purpose. Those shows at the Whitehall used to run for years , maybe is still running now, without of course Brian Rix who must be a long time dead. Cheers JS
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1st June 2021, 02:37 PM
#27
Re: when the boat comes in
JS Your #29.Brian Rix .I think back in about 2000 when I was moving flats in London I had a cashflow problem,as you do. A few years previous I had bought myself a lovely Golf GTI.I lived up in North Wales for a time and booked the local EY Anglesey registration- R1 XEY. I was a bit flush with money at that time and paid about £1,500 for the number.When I came to sell it I got three times that amount-just for the number,they didn't want the Golf!,which I sold separately. I'm not certain who purchased the reg,because the Registration Broker couldn't say for client confidentiality ,but he hinted at one famous theatre actor-manager.The cryptic hint he gave me was 'think of Annie Sugden in Emmerdale Farm.'.
She was Sheila Mercier,sister of.....Brian Rix.I'd like to think my 'Rixey' ended up on his Rolls Royce.....Brian Rix died in 2016 aged 92,and Sheila Mercier in 2019 aged 100.
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1st June 2021, 03:02 PM
#28
Re: when the boat comes in
Car number plates ... when we came out here in 1991 we had very little money , no job no money honey our house in uk was not sold for 3 years , and out of desperation I had to go back to sea which at the time was not my intention , without going into the problems of unions and whatever at the time some glib talking got me the really unwanted employment for the next 11 years. However out here motor transport is essential and when going to register the old banger we bought as our first car a private number plate was as cheap as chips compared with the uk , about $60 so I said put on JWS 111 my initials , they said you have to give another as a second choice in case the first has already gone without giving too much thought as never expected to get I said MBE 1007 .what came back was MBE 007 as only 3 numbers were allowed , the 1007 was the naval party I was in for 4 years and just came out . I had this same plate on 4 cars I have had and it went with the car when I sold last month as we are now down to the one vehicle . The wife’s number plate was GWN 111 which we still have on a new car we purchased last month . However when in the past we have gone south to the wine regions , the locals all think we are from the local media , as the TV station is known as the Golden West Network . You can’t win .JS.
Last edited by j.sabourn; 1st June 2021 at 03:05 PM.
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1st June 2021, 03:19 PM
#29
Re: when the boat comes in
I sailed on coasters for a few years and often we would see ships owned and run by Rix Shipping the same family as Brian Rix as mentioned above . But I don't think Brian Rix himself was involved in that side of the family business.
Last edited by Lewis McColl; 1st June 2021 at 03:20 PM.
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2nd June 2021, 01:21 AM
#30
Re: when the boat comes in
Never had a special number plate, wouldn't be any use as when I book the car in for a service I have to write mine down on a piece of paper , as I can never remember it, but I'm getting better, I can now remember my phone number thanks to Covid, have to give it anywhere we go.
Des
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