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Our last trip was when we set out as usual but without looking at the tide table. The tide ran at about 8 knots and we were swept up the lagoon, past the Marina, round the back of the Island and confronted with Carter Bridge, the only road connection between Lagos and Africa. It was of low, girdered construction and we just knew that we would not make the higher arch in the middle. We didn't. The mast caught a girder and the boat tipped fore-and-aft and flooded. With my trusty penknife I cut the rigging, the mast fell down and we turned sideways, staving in the side of the boat which then drifted clear under the bridge. I shoved my foot against the stove-in side, it popped out and we were off, several hundred yards from shore and just one paddle. We baled like mad with our cupped hands and stayed afloat. The tide having drawn us through, it then abandoned us in a back-water. Now what? I looked over the side and could see the bottom, so I clambered out. A hundred yards from the shore, the water only came up to my waist, we pulled up the centre board and I was able to push us towards a small canal cut through the Island. it was going to be dark soon and we had already incurred a fine for late return (the Yacht Club servants had to wait until all boats had returned and they were paid overtime). As we pushed up the canal we saw a rather fine house with its garden running down to the riverside, so Deborah jumped out and asked the owner if she could telephone the Club and tell them we were on our way. We did have to pay only a 10/- fine, but the whole event frightened us off ever using the yacht again. Anyway, the accident had shown that what we had been using was riddled with Toledo worm which had eaten away most of the wood, leaving only a thickly painted shell holding it all together. After that, we just 'crewed' on better and bigger yachts, but our interest didn't last. We all think we know New York. Like vacationers coming to London, we know we know the city, even if only after a few days' sightseeing. You and I know that nobody can absorb either the facts or the feelings of a place so easily. The only way to know it is to live there for years with an enquiring eye. Alan Thomas, our speaker last month has lived in NY, NY (New York City, Ne York State, for those who have forgotten, not 'so great they named it twice') for many years, working there and, importantly, learning about it at the same time. Whatever he was working on there, he used his enquiring mind to learn about the place, things we had never thought about, like the fact that Indian tribes had lived there for eleven thousand years before the Dutch bought Manhattan in 1604 for $24, calling it New Amsterdam in the territory of the New Netherlands. Sadly for them, we English took it in 1664 and Charles II named it for his brother, the Duke of York later to become James II. Then we lost it to the rebels in 1776 and they made the city their federal capital for a year before clearing the swamps of Washington, DC. Why the 'Big Apple'? Would you believe it's because that jazz players from New Orleans were paid in fruit and the 'fruit' they could earn in NY was big. Apples. Life for New Yorkers ain't all that safe - it comes 203rd. in the safety list - but they have plenty of time to contemplate their fate, Newyorkers having the fourth longest life expectancy of the nation's cities. Somehow we think of the UK as having the saddest history of demolishing important buildings, but NY has the same problem. Even Carnegie Hall was threatened, but saved, just about. Penn. Central Railroad terminal was not so lucky: A classical building fronted by 57 columns, ripped out in the 60s because their 'air rights' were sold to make way for Madison Square Gardens so now the station looks like a shop front. The 57 columns were dumped in the Hudson River. An enthusiast talking about his enthusiasm, Alan was splendid to listen to.
The Day Excursion to Caithness Crystal & African Violet Centre in King's Lynn was blessed with beautiful weather and good transport by Consort Tours. Eleven of us went and had a thoroughly enjoyable day out. There were the gardens and the garden centre to admire and to buy things from and the glass-Mowing art was demonstrated in style. That much could have been foretold by the name of the Centre, but to have squirrels and penguins on show as well, that was a bonus. In the matter of organising Outings, Phil Munson has volunteered to be the organiser/co-ordinator for the forthcoming year. He has a couple of interesting trips in mind, but more of them when we have the details. Thanks, Phil, you deserve our support. Bryan Chilton is still housebound, twelve months (three of them in hospital) after catching a chill. He tells me his doctor says there is no known way of speeding recovery, nature just has to take its course. He is slowly getting the better of it all and keeps cheerful enough. The main thing is that he is keeping his mind active with duties to his church, the local Residents' Association and the like. He said to be sure to send his best regards to us all in Probus. Leo Hermes, too, is keeping his pecker up while looking after Barbara. She is 'so-so' and well cared for by both Leo and a host of medical and support assistants. He too sends his best wishes to us all. Your Editor will be asking for further contributions for the Newsletter, so keep them going. A point, though: a couple of months ago I took our correspondents to task for writing too much to fit on the back page. I recommended a maximum of 550 words, having laboriously counted a couple of examples. Well, you must all be using short words, because recent offerings have been too short, so, gentlemen, feel free to write as much as you like. I shall contact you if anything needs modification and that way readers will get full value for money. Writing of money, you will recall we featured an advertisement two months ago, accepted because it was to be paid for quite handsomely. So far, it remains an open account despite a 'statement' being issued a month after the invoice. Am I out of date in expecting fairly prompt payment? I know that when I ran a business we paid all bills at the end of the month following receipt of the invoice and expected (and usually got) our clients to do the same. Advice, please, from those more up to date. This month's Newsletter is being written within 48 hours of landing on your luncheon table and that includes an assumption that I shall find something sufficiently interesting to fill the title page, always done last. The reason I am late is not because I have been rushed off my feet doing political things for today's General Election, but because I am in the process of painting the outside of the house, a long-overdue, time-consuming exercise to be completed before my neighbours start nudging eachother and commenting on uncaring members of the community. Three-quarters done on the front now, just the difficult bit to do on the high gable, which must await calm, dry weather. I finally "got caught for National Service at the old age (for recruits) of twenty-two. I was not able to serve as an airframe fitter, in spite of being an ex-BOAC apprentice as this trade was only open to those serving up to nine years. Instead, they trained me as a radar fitter. The forty weeks, very thorough and intensive course was one of the longest in the RAF Two-thirds of the time was spent on basic electronic theory and its application to Ground Approach Radar, the equipment I was trained on. The other third was spent in "the truck" on maintenance, set-up and in particular, fault finding. They would ask you to set up the system, except of course it would not work because (if they were in a really nasty mood) they had taken out a valve, cut a pin off it and replaced it. The equipment consisted of a" Search" system with a rotating antenna used to locate an aircraft up to forty miles away and enable the operator to line up the pilot with the runway, The 'Precision' system, with a scan both in vertical and horizontal modes was then used to "talk" the pilot down to the runway. The controllers were mostly commissioned ex pilots. However, on watch as a fitter, I was responsible for the efficient operation, maintenance and adjustment of the equipment. This included both radar and radio systems, power supplies, etc. As some bright person put it, this amounted to "about five thousand valves all queuing up to go wrong". The USA built equipment behaved "like a complicated American car. Very efficient but God help you when something went wrong." Based at RAF Valley, Anglesey, the equipment was mainly used for pilot training. However, as a Diversion Station, we often got a night time call out to talk down Vee bombers who had gone on exercises but could not return to their base due to fog. Personalized tale: I was in Waitrose the other day, looking for a packet of cloves which I could not find, so I asked a passing shelf-filling youth "Do you do cloves? "No, mate", was the reply, "Only tee-shirts."
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