Anchorage.

[Bill Bland]

tropical bolton, where the palm trees wave in the breeze. happy new year brian. think i was two weeks ahead of you at the Vindi 25-2-52, to16-5-52. all now distant memories. bill bland

[Tony Wilding]

born in London, moved from there in 1945 to East Kent, Broadstairs *1950 to *Essex/ Southend on Sea, about 30 years there, Mahon in Menorca *3 years, *then near Caistor, Norfolk, to Ramsgate, to India 7 months, all over but mostly Goa, *to Southend again, now Cebu, Central Philippines, Shipped out of KG5, *To my mind the UK has *gone past the point of no return, what with the EU and a Goverment *who only penalise the poor and *disabled, and the crime rate of *immigrants, illegal or otherwise ,* * PS almost forgot went to Trinidad for a month with the idea of possibly living there, biggest problem there was being kidnapped for ransom by the African community, it was rife, the Indians were fine, population is roughly 50/50 , problem was i stayed in Rio Claro, with in laws, never seen drinkers like them, Overproof Rum in Jamaica was tame by comparison to #Punching Rum# one Million Population and the Murder rate was higher than London, so back to UK.

[Ivan Cloherty]

Ivan,my son dropped anchor in Croatia but he still fly's all over the world to ship inspections and dry docking.
Regards.
Jim.B.

Good luck to him Jim, I know what hard work that can be, did it for over 20 years, your neighbours think you are going on holiday all the time, they don't see the 20+ hour flight and then straight in at the deep end without chance to draw your breath and then off onto the next job. But mind you I wouldn't have changed a thing, it kept me close to ships and the characters (and barstewards) who sailed upon them and widened my knowledge of the world and its peoples from other than a seafarers experiences.

Guess I kind of envy him now

[Captain Kong]

tropical bolton, where the palm trees wave in the breeze. happy new year brian. think i was two weeks ahead of you at the Vindi 25-2-52, to16-5-52. all now distant memories. bill bland
.
.Hi Bill, I was at the VINDI 17 March to 6 June 1952, so we must have met in those days.
They put three of us in a Catering hut, B3, for four weeks then to the ship for the rest of the time. I enjoyed it there.
a girl friend from Sharpness who I saw for two years after, got in touch with me again at one of the reunions after near 60 years. amazing. She was now a millionairess after marrying a lad from the village who made it big.
Cheers
Brian.

[Duke Drennan]

Born and bought up in Dover, but went deep sea as early as possible, mainly out of The Royals,Tilbury then Southampton, Dover (cross channel) then London Docks also Fowey. finely dropped anchorage in Winnipeg Canada in 1973. and reading some of the blogs on here about the conditions in the UK, I think i made the right desicion.
keith moody
R635978

Keith,
As nice as Winnipeg is, don't you miss living near the ocean?
On a similar note, to those crew members that live in countries other than their home port, don't you ever miss the "Auld Country" so to speak? I read the many posts of those who complain at the state of the U.K. these days, but is it really any worse than the other countries that some members chose to drop anchor in? After all, the common denominator in all of them is the politics and all of them are rotten to the core, the politicians, that is. As good as the U.S. has been to me from a career and standard of living perspective, I still miss Scotland and go "home" every year. Say what you will about the U.K. but I still feel fiercely British and doubt that I'll ever change in that regard.
Just my 2 cents worth, sorry, I mean pennies.

[Keith Tindell]

i agree Duke, i love England and the part that i live in, i certainly would not live anywhere else, i do my fair share moaning, like most. This country has been very good to me, although i admit i was lucky to grow up in the era that i did, ie plenty of employment, plenty of ships etc. I still think if you are prepared to graft there are still oportunitys here. the only country that i have visited in the last few years that could have a draw on me would be New Zealand, but no, i will die here in good old green leafy England, regards KT