Bought my Hillman Minx on arrival at Kinloss for the Shackleton course in 1964. FGS 947 - funny how things like that stick in the memory. Many trips from Kinloss to Bath, where my parents lived, with cats , kids etc. It was an epic journey - the only good bit of road was the Preston by-pass. most of the rest was not even dual carriage way. Top speed of 57 m.p.h indicated, probably a lot less true. Then got posted to St. Mawgan, so a slightly shorter trip to Bath (about 240 miles), but again virtually no dual carriageway, so a slow trip.
Sold it in 67 when I was posted to Changi and bought a Standard Vanguard on arrival. Bought it from the M.T. officer who was going home - suspected he knew of a hidden stash of spares around the back of the M.T. workshops. In fact it gave very little trouble, and when I left in 69 I sold it for the same price as I paid for it. To a newly arrived M.T. officer. Confirmed my suspicions about the hidden stash.
Went to Singapore on detachment in '71 and saw my old Vanguard on the base at Tengah. Owned by, surprise, the M.T. sergeant.
On the subject of salt tablets, when I did the Jungle Survival course on arrival in Changi, we were told:- " put a salt tablet in your mouth. If it tastes horrible, spit it out - you don't need it. If you can't taste it, keep sucking it - you do need it."
We were also told that Mycota powder, which we were given to stave off athlete's foot, was good for sprinkling on the cords supporting your parachute canopy hammock, as it deterred the ants from travelling along them. But " whatever you do, don't put it on your feet."
Thread drift, what thread drift? The nice thing about this thread is that it is indeed like sitting around a crew room when the weather is sh*te, swopping irrelevant yarns