Odd ones

[Jim Brady]

Hi Glan,I was only on the Distributer for 8 days.Preston,Foynes,Cork and back to Ellersmere Port signed off,not really the type of ship a young man wants to be on,although I will say with hindsight I'm glad I did the time on her it gives one an insight as to what it's like on the coast.That was strange paying for your grub.I think it was £1.10s.0d per week when I was on her.The cook was given the money by the captain and the cook did the shopping.That Shop/Bar you mentioned I think a lot of the coaster cooks used to shop at that place.A previous cook to the one I was with must've left a note in the order book or whatever they kept to the effect that a case of condensed milk had been paid for and not collected.Whilst we were having a pint the cook said to the barmaid,young lady last time this ship was here we paid for a case of con/milk which we did'nt collect.I'l just check sir,good enough she came back with the case of milk.The cooks face was a picture,previous case written off,the money for this one right in his pocket.He always had a holdall with him,always looking for something for nothing that he could claim for.He went into a farmers field there and dug up some cabbage!!!He was from Swansea,a crowd came into that bar,deep sea ship full Swansea crowd,many of them knew the cook.Once again his face lit up,what stores can you get me boys,anything wiil do.The following morning about half a dozen of the Swansea lads turned up at our ship with a sack of spuds and all kinds of stores.It was about 8AM the cook asked me if I could go and get some ale from that pub,I had to knock them up Bridie looked out of the bedroom window I told her what i wanted and she came down and served me.As you say Glan Happy Days.
By the way Glan I did'nt answer you question after all that ,it was January1960 when I was on her.
Regards.
Jim.B.

[Lou Barron]

while i have been in many strange pubs and nothing amazed me but when the wife and i was in the uk in 1993 one day the wife and daughter decidedto go shoping so i took of for central London i spent a few hours on HMS BELFAST most enjoyable feeling like a beer i called into this pub i dont know the name of it anyhow i got a pint and sat down in a corner table i notice all these guys but no females as other guys came in they kissed one another thats right it was a gay bar i found out

[happy daze john in oz]

Den
One of the brothers in laws wife is from Kildare.
Now you may have heard of Ned Kelly, the infamous Australian bush ranger hanged in Melbourne 1880. Well his grandfather came from Killenaule, Co. Tipperary the same town my wife was born in. There is now a house there as a museum to Kelly. At one time the local priest was a descendent of Kelly as is the local vet.
About five kilometers up the road is a small coal mining town of Balangarry. From there the grandfather of our last Prime minister came.
There is a stange connection between Kelly the bush ranger and our last PM. Kelly robbed the rich to give to the poor, the PM just robbed everyone.

[John Arton]

Hello
Odd pubs in South Shields, wish I knew where they were, all my pubs seemed to be filled with drinkers, ladies on the pull and buskers.
Anyway
In the tiny village in the Lake District that I grew up in there was one house that had been built as a roadside hotel back in the 20,s when motoring became popular.
By the time we moved into the village it had long since ceased to trade as a hotel and it looked more like a haunted house with dirty windows and a huge, overgrown hedge surrounding it.
It was run by a short, fat old lady who had a permament Woodbine in her mouth and never appeared to wash. She would come out of the hotel and scream obsceneties at us kids if we dared to enter her gardens (big and totally overgrown). How she existed I dont know as she apparently never had any guests.
Anyway, one day my mother decided in a fit of daftness that we should go and introduce ourselves to this woman, so dragging me behind her, she marched up to the front door and knocked on it. Eventually the old woman came and answered the door and suprisingly invited us in. Inside was like the outside, covered in dust and filthy. She led us into what must have been the dining room and bar in its heyday, but now only had emptydinner tables around it, yet behind beautiful old bar, covered in dust, was an absolute treasure of spirit bottles that were nearly all full. Even at my tender age I realised that at one time this place must have been a hive of activity.
She offered my mother a cup of tea and then reached behind the bar and pulled out a huge bottle of boiled sweets, again covered in dust and dirt, and with grubby hands offerred me one (I took it, at that age nothing can upset a young boys stomach).
My mother tried to get the story of the decline of the hotel out of the old lady but she just kept muttering things which neither of us understood. Eventually we left, no wiser. I believe that my mother did go back again on a few occasions to try and help the old woman as she was known to be eccentric by the rest of the village, but to no avail.
She reverted to type the next time I strayed onto the property, appearing from nowhere shouting and screaming obscenities at me.
In my mind she was a witch so I guess you can say that I have been into a haunted hotel run by a witch................how odd is that.
rgds
Capt. John Arton (ret'd)

[Captain Kong]

Another `odd `bar I got to was the Whim Creek Hotel in northern Western Australia.
We were in Dampier/ Karratha, I asked an old timer where was there a good pub.
He told me there was a good one, the Whim Creek Hotel, just down the road, only 130 ks.
It was hot, around 125 f. The Long Haired One and I made it across the desert, nothing inbetween. A wooden building painted red.
We went in and there were a couple of drongos sat on stools at the bar covered in flies, drinking wine.
I asked the bar tender for a couple of cold beers, he says `Sorry Mate, no beer, the beer truck is two weeks late in delivering.` It had to be the original pub with no beer. as in the song.
She says can I have a cup of tea, the sweat was running into our eyes, I said I will have one too. So we had come 130Ks just to have a cup of tea and another 130 Ks back.
It was a very interesting pub, Whim Creek had been a gold mining town since 1887 and a small town had sprung up, the gold finally runs out and the town dies, the Cyclones that occaisionally tear through there blew the town away and only the pub survived. It has a small mining museum in the pub and in the garden is a few animals, Kangaroos, Koalas wombats and various parrots and cockatoos..
How many people go on a round trip of 260 Kilometers just for a cup of tea in a pub.
Cheers
Brian.

[Captain Kong]

Here is the Whim Creek Pub with info, from wilkipedia.
The original Whim Creek Hotel was a tin-roofed structure which was blown down in a cyclone in the 1890s. The hotel was resurrected, and has been blown down twice since; in the mid-20th century and in the 1990s.
Whim Creek was renowned for its alcoholic camel which used to drink patrons' beers before being relocated to Wiluna, suffering from cirrhosis of the liver, and a large python which used to live within the rafters above the bar.
Three brothers from the local Aboriginal community are commemorated for their war service via a mall memorial in the car park. They died in 1943 in the Papuan Campaign of World War II.

Cheers
Brian

[Doc Vernon]

A real Barren part of Aussie that isnt it!
Wouldnt like to get stuck in some of those remote Areas,imagine just sitting in the Middle of say the Nullarbor Desert with no Transport,i am sure one would perish pretty fast!

OK so how did one get there in the first place! haha! Jumped out a plane i guess! Oh what the heck! LOL!

Have a gander at some of these way out Pics!
Would you live there!
I reckon i would quite like it,if it wasnt so damn Hot!

SPIRITLAND.net - North West Coastal Hwy, WA.

Not quite as bad is of course parts of Southern Africa,like going through the Great Karoo,can get quite hot and dreary there too!
Been to many such out of the way places in my time,and seen quite a few odd Pubs and People haha!
Cheers

[Captain Kong]

VERNON THOSE PHOTOS WERE FANTASTIC,
.
SPIRITLAND.net - North West Coastal Hwy, WA.
.
I thought I had taken those photos, that is exactly where we went along the same track, North West Coastal Highway, to the same places.We eventually got as far as Port Headland 1600 north of Perth, I love the Pilbara, Gasgoyne regions, fascinating.
Thanks for the memory, It is a place well worth visiting.beats everywhere else.
We went back to Perth through the inland route, via Marble Bar to Mount Newman, Tom Price , Meekatharra
Mount Magnet and Paines Find. Paines Find had a population of Two, we doubled the population overnight.
no electricity at all. wow, what fantastic places you guys have on your door step. I am back in Oz in March.
Brian.

[Doc Vernon]

Hi Brian
Yes very facinating Country this,and full of almost everything one would want! From barren places to the most Exoctic!
Thats why it reminds me so much of SAfrica!

Now i really hope that on your next Visit you will let me know when you arrive here (hope you do get Sydney in) you are more than welcome to bed down here for a while if you so wish! I could then at least meet you in the Flesh,and we could do a few things together!
That would be great,but will leave it with you,as i know when one is on Holiday,you want freedom and do your own things!

Anyway keep me in the Picture!
Can only offer you normal hosptality,no fuss etc,but the Breakfasts will be good haha!
No cover charge either! LOL!
Cheers

[Captain Kong]

Hi Vernon , Many thanks for your kind Invitation, I would love to take it up. The problem is I have two women in tow, She and her widowed friend, We are arriving in Sydney on Queen Elizabeth, on Tuesday 28 February and I think they are booking a coach trip to the Blue Mountains on that day. Let you know the details on that later. Maybe that would be a good time seeing as you live up there. then we leave the ship on Wednesday 29 Feb.and check into the Travelodge Hotel 5 York Street in Syd. then we have Thursday and Friday in Syd and on Saturday morning 3 March my neice is picking us up to take us home to Lake Illawarra until Tuesday, then we fly to Coolangatta for Surfers Paradise to see a mate then three days later we fly to Perth for ten days, While we have a trip around Kalgoorlie, Norseman and Esperance. etc. Then off to Singapore for four days before flying home.
So we have three days in Sydney altogether.
Thanks again Vernon it is very kind of you.
Cheers
Brian.