Curly brackets.

[Ivan Cloherty]

John, just as well she didn't smell you when you had been blackberry picking in Africa

[Colin Hawken]

A typical Ivan comment.You don't improve with age do you?

[Graham Payne]

Hi John
Sadly " Unwins " is no more as is "Threshers" its mostley in the supermarkets now.
When buying a bottle of Gin however it can be uplifting.
The little girl on the supermarket till rings the bell for another little girl to come and ask you if you are 18 years of age or more, not bad for a balding ginger haired wrinkley aged 66.
I picked the wife up off the floor after she fell over laughing, I really don't know why she fell at all,
I didn't think it was that funny

[Tony Geeves]

Seen off many a flagon of Docter Penfold and Mister McWilliams on a Melbourne park bench. Am just amazed Ive reach the age of 73, no thanks to the gloom and doom merchants that predicted my early demise!

[Captain Kong]

Isnt it lovely that we start off with a lesson in Grammar and Mathematics off Rodney and end up bevied with a gallon of Penfolds Wine on a park bench in Melbourne. singing waltzing me tabnab.
Only Seafarers can do that. Maybe that is what is missing in Colleges today. A lesson in life.
Cheers
Hic!!
Brian.

[happy daze john in oz]

Seen off many a flagon of Docter Penfold and Mister McWilliams on a Melbourne park bench. Am just amazed Ive reach the age of 73, no thanks to the gloom and doom merchants that predicted my early demise!

Some of those park benches can get a bit cold at night.

[Geoff Anderson]

Seen off many a flagon of Docter Penfold and Mister McWilliams on a Melbourne park bench. Am just amazed Ive reach the age of 73, no thanks to the gloom and doom merchants that predicted my early demise!

That's because its closely related to embalming fluid, after drinking that stuff you'll never rot. Some of our neighbours use it for deweeding their drive ways

[happy daze john in oz]

That's because its closely related to embalming fluid, after drinking that stuff you'll never rot. Some of our neighbours use it for deweeding their drive ways

That may explain the leather looking skin of some of those guys on the partk benches. Do not see so many these days, maybe because the brown paper bag has been replaced with a plastic one!

How did we get from curly brackets to Dr. Penfolds , the mind boggles!!

[Geoff Anderson]

Haven't a clue John, but wasn't it always the same at sea start on one subject and end up with 6 others sometimes there were more than Heinz 57 varieties
I had eighteen bottles of whiskey in my cellar and was told by my
Other half to empty the contents of each and every bottle down the sink, or
Else... I said I would and proceeded with the unpleasant task. I
Withdrew the cork from the first bottle and poured the contents down the
Sink with the exception of one glass, which I drank. I then withdrew
The cork from the second bottle and did likewise wit
H it, with the
Exception of one glass, which I drank. I then withdrew the cork from
The thrid bottle and poured the whiskey down the sink which I drank. I
Pulled the cork from the fourth bottle down the sink and poured the
Bottle down the glass, which I drank. I pulled the bottle from the
Cork of the next and drank one sink out of it, and threw the rest down the glass. I pulled the sink out of the next glass and poured the cork
Down the bottle. Then I corked the sink with the glass, bottled the
Drink and drank the pour. When I had everything emptied, I steadied
The house with one hand, counted the glasses, corks, bottles, and sinks
With the other, which were twent-nine, and as the houses came by I
Counted them again, and finally I had all the houses in one bottle,
Which I drank. I'm not under tha affluence of incohol as some tinkle
Peep I am. I'm not half as thunk as you might drink. I fool so
Feelish I don't know who is me, and the drunker I stand here, the
Longer I get.

[Gulliver]

That may explain the leather looking skin of some of those guys on the partk benches. Do not see so many these days, maybe because the brown paper bag has been replaced with a plastic one!

How did we get from curly brackets to Dr. Penfolds , the mind boggles!!

Those see-through plastic bags-don’t you just hate them!



Yes,I know we’re supposed to use those sturdy recyclable ‘bags for life’ (which sounds very optimistic in some cases,-I think they mean the bag,not your lifespan) -but on the occasions when you forget to take it with you,and I suppose it’s going to happen more as I get older, you’re forced to walk through town with your purchases ‘on display’ in a see-through job,as it were.


Last time I just happened to be collared by the nice enough but nosiest lady in town,( I couldn’t avoid her quick enough,She was like a battleship in mid channel,sweeping up everything in her path,)and of course I couldn’t get away from her.
In between opening and closing her mouth ,her eyes were busy doing impossible acrobatics at everyone and everything passing by,as well as trying to scan from every conceivable angle my Co-op flimsy see-through plastic bag- the contents of course which were well on display.
I ‘m not going to explain or justify here the reasons why I had this selection of consumables,but I had ;--one (only)very large baking potato;a mini feather duster,( it was a 99p special offer)-I thought it would be ideal for my laptop keyboard-who cares if it was bright orange? );a steak and kidney puff pastry Pukka Pie( Interestingly I once overheard one young chap pronouncing it ‘Puker';a bunch of purple grapes and a packet of Tenor lady (ahem) female incontinence pads- not for their intended purpose though. ! I wonder what that same young chap would have called those then?)

So,it was a microcosm of my daily life on that particular day-All blatantly on display -thanks to a see-through bag.

I’ve been paranoid ever since ,looking at everybody I meet for facial expressions of either sympathy or disapproval ,as Mrs What’s her-name-would surely have broadcast the contents of my see-through bag by now to all 14,000 inhabitants of the town,or maybe further afield to...Stourbridge?...or London?..or oh no,not on the T'internet !
Do any of you chaps find growing older ashore a challenge,it’s not easy,is it?…
I want to go back to sea.