Gentlemen, Today is the 10th !
(and Danny is putting a Cyberbarrel on tomorrow night in the CyberCrewRoom - CyberMetMan swears it'll be No Fly tomorrow (perhaps the fact that we invited him [and the Moderators] might have had something to do with that), so the 8hr Rule can safely be ignored). Let Joy be Unconfined !
Now I am absolutely overwhelmed by the mountain of Birthday good wishes which you have piled upon me: it would be invidious to mention all your names, so all I can say is that I thank you all most sincerely for your kindness. And I can assure you that my self-imposed task (of telling the story of an unexceptional young man who served in the RAF through five years of hot war and later twenty-three of Cold) has been an absorbing pleasure for me for me to write, and I'm gratified that it seems to have been of interest to others across the globe.
As Ted Sly RIP (quoted earlier by Fantome) said:
"...luck of the draw, you've got to remember . . . it's just luck of the draw...." That summarises my "career" (and that of all who served) - for Fate takes many turns (and different ones for each one of us).
Yet among the host of birthday greetings, there are interesting general points which deserve thought and reply; I may put in a few words about these in the next few days.
93 ? - whoever would have thought it ? Yet I have a brother-in-law who is due to receive his Telegram from H.M. on 11th December - so there's hope for us all yet !
Written in the last minutes (GMT) of the 10th, then,
Goodnight, all and God Bless, Danny.
