This yarn goes back to the sixties and the restricted drinking hours in OZ, Sydney in particular. The ship was stuck in Sydney, it was Sunday and no cargo was being worked. An Australian friend of mine and his wife came down to the ship and offered to take anyone who was interested for a drive around the place. The result was that myself and the third and fourth engineers piled into this monster of a Chevrolet and off we went. My friend said he would drive us up the Blue Mountains to see the wonderful scenery, and he was right - it was fantastic. On our way there we passed through Penrith ( from memory ) when my friend said we had gone more than 25 miles and could legally go into a pub for a drink ( we were Bone Fide travellers according to the Law and could sign in and have a pot or two.) The main street in this town was utterly deserted, not a human in sight, not even a cat, except for one young woman walking on our side of the road and in the same direction . We pulled up outside the Pub as this lady walked past, and at the same time as the fourth engineer pushed open the car door which made her hesitate and do a side step. The fourth blurted out an apology and this woman took one look at him and screamed " and where the f....ing hell have you being this last seven years " It turned out that this couple had being engaged to get married back in Dundee when the fourth got cold feet and just disappeared to sea without telling her and had never had any contact until that fateful meeting in Australia !! The rest of us went inside the Pub and left these two arguing on the footpath, they were still at it when we came out of the pub, we just grabbed the fourth and threw him into the car and drove off. Bye the way, the trip to the mountains was fantastic, such scenery. Regards Peter in NZ.
