Old Hairy
Absolutely marvellous - I thoroughly enjoyed the whole series of reminiscences and would like to thank you very much indeed for sharing them.
They brought back many memories of some of the places you visited, not least the Cocos Keeling Islands and meeting King Ross when passing through in an RNZAF aircraft en route from Singapore to Perth and on to Richmond.
You also had better luck than I did on your trip through rural Japan - I did mine in a prominently marked USN loaner with a chum and, when we got a bit lost on our way back to Yukosuka after climbing Fuji-san and then followed the detailed map we were given in a local "inn", it only took us about 20 years to work out that the reasons we eventually ended up at the local sewage farm were because a. we had followed the directions exactly b. our "guide" probably thought we were American! Oh yes, we did get the bath treatment in a small Japanese style hotel in Tokyo, but we shared it with an unusually shy Shirley Maclaine (whom we had previously met in HK), and no, she didn''t give us any Samurai awards!
As a direct result of your ripping yarns, I persuaded our skipper on a trip back from Cowes to Lymington last week to poke our noses into Calshot just to get a feel for the past. All too different now as I'm sure you know only too well.
With good wishes and renewed grateful thanks for sharing your memories.
Jack