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Nowadays, physical communication is so easy - through railways, cars and aeroplanes - that the number of people one brushes against in the course of a lifetime can be counted in thousands, in many cases, though the meetings may be short and even seem inconsequential at the time, their effect on your life remains for ever. With the introduction of radio and television, not to mention the internet, tens of thousands of folk may affect you, even though you have never physically met them. The glimpses you get into their thoughts and actions can change your life. Yet it is still the people you can call friends or relations that make the most difference and that still includes father, mother, brother and relations from the years gone by. How often have you thought "I wish I had discussed [such and such] with Dad", or "what would Mother have thought of the way I live?" Then there's the genius (literally) nephew, who not only explains things to me but -bless him - even asks my opinion on some subjects. I continue to learn from my neighbour me eminent engineer, another neighbour the politician and many, many others with whom I swap advice and assistance. Pride enters into it, too. I was proud of me esteem in which my father was held in the field of education and am still proud when others praise him nearly half a century after his death; I often compare my thoughts and actions with what I imagine would have been his. Can I be proud of Mother's ability to skin her friends at bridge and whist, even in her hundredth year? And what of my daughter, the famous local actress: am I proud when I'm introduced to strangers as her father? Well, maybe, but my gut reaction is "I'm ME, too, you know." When you have lived for more man half your life in one place - Old Coulsdon in my case - you get to know not just your neighbours and associates in local clubs, churches and the like, but also your local shop keepers. These last come and go and I can safely say that only one shop there, the Tudor Bakery, has remained practically unchanged since the early sixties. And it is the best for miles around. This past year has seen two catastrophic losses out of the ten-or-so shops on our parade: first, the loss of our butcher (been a butcher's shop since 1932 when they were first built) and now the loss of our greengrocer. Both found their trade dropping immediately after Tesco opened up in Caterham-on-the-Hill, which made their businesses untenable. One shop is being replaced by an Indian takeaway and the other by a funeral parlour; as I write, neither has opened for business. So we welcomed the sight of Michael Hewitt as our speaker. Michael is a member of the last generation of the Hewitt family to serve in the lost greengrocers' business, founded by Guy Hewitt, Michael's great-grandfather, in Caterham. Guy was the son of an engine driver on the South Eastern Railway Company who drove the very first train from Purley to Caterham in 1956, 150 years ago. The 150th anniversary of the opening of this line will be marked by the Bourne Society next summer, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the founding of the Bourne Society. Michael had not devoted his whole life to shop keeping, though. He has two other great loves, that of Formula One car racing and me other of Surrey wild life. A third interest draws these two together, that of being a first-class photographer and much of his time spent with us was showing his beautiful photographs of the Monaco Grand Prix round the streets of that town - hair-raising to say the least, both for the drivers and the crowds alongside the streets watching - and the flora and fauna of Caterham and Coulsdon. I must admit that the latter interest was more up my street than the former, but both subjects are beautifully and delicately recorded by his pictures; one hesitates to call them 'snaps', for that is what Jtake with a camera, while his are works of art. We also saw beautiful memories of his visits to the Lake District and to Florida and his holiday journeys on the Grand Union Canal. So there's more to a shopkeeper's life than just weighing out the potatoes and greens and we were delighted to share glimpses of his other interests. Great.
Jim Mulvey has reminded us of me Probus Photographic competition coming up shortly. He will no doubt be giving us further details today, so dig out your Brownie Box or, in this day and age, no doubt your digital mobile, get up at dawn, nip outside and record the scene to the best of your ability. Dennis Evans held a Quiz for us last month, when thirty-odd of us and friends pitted our wits and more worryingly our memories against the other seven teams. "What does the W stand for in George W Bush's name?" Of course you know the answer, you heard it on TV the other night, but can you remember? Your editor couldn't and indeed many other answers of a like mind failed to surface. We were each asked to give a name to team, so we called ourselves 'The Ne'er Do Wells'. How right we were, coming last of all. No matter, a very enjoyable evening on a cold night in me warmth of me Old Coulsdon Centre. How Dennis dug out so many searching questions boggles the mind. Good show and a big thank-you to the ladies who produced coffee and biscuits in the interval. Why is it always the ladies? Tuesday last week and I missed me trip to the London Museum, keeping an eye on the builders who had finally decided to turn up and finish the job they started in August. Not a bunch to be added to Phil Munson's Directory (see below). But even without me the museum was worth seeing, say all who went. Journey there easy, lots to see when they got there and all very satisfactory, except it appears that Tony Simpson's old car was not on display. They have their standards Tony... Be fair. Phil's Trades and Services Directory is expanding well. He has details of satisfactory people and companies covering Acupuncture, Car Service, Carpetfitter, Chiropodist, Computer service/repair, Domestic appliance repairs, Gas heating/plumbing General builder, New TV/video/hifi Plumbing & heating, Roofing specialist, Tree surgeon, TV/video repairs. You can get in touch with Phil at home on 01737 551817, or jphilmunson@aol.com. Phil Munson has also taken over as our Speakers' Secretary, now that Brian Blakeney has given up after several years' splendid service. Phil has given me a list of forthcoming speakers up to June next year, which I note includes John Miley on Rolls Royce cars. John was prevented from coming on July 7th. this year, due to living the other side of London and the cancellation that day of all public transport. Let us hope for quieter times on April 6th. The Newsletter could do with more 500-word stories for the back page. Bear in mind that many of our readers are ladies, so please keep 'em clean. "The Engineers and I have been talking," said the Captain, "and because of the fuel we dumped, plus the extra landing and take off, we don't have enough fuel to get to London. What we shall do is land at Cairo to refuel and then on direct to London; this shouldn't delay us more than a hour." I calculated that we should be in London about 8 hours late. Well it couldn't have been more than 15 minutes later when the Captain was on the speaker again, "We've been talking again," he said "and there's another problem. Because of what's gone on, if we stop at Cairo, the crew will be over their permitted flying hours, which are strictly controlled. So what we will now do, and I've checked this with the Engineer, is go on to Cyprus. This is much better as Cyprus is a British Airways hub and it will be easier to get a replacement crew or change planes." So there we were heading for Cyprus and hopefully men London. The cabin crew served breakfast and then prepared for landing. The landing was uneventful and we pulled up to a parking spot on the tarmac with me early morning sun shining into me aircraft. "Please be patient a little longer," said the Captain, "while I talk to the ground personnel about on situation, meanwhile we" get the stairs here, open me doors and let in some fresh air." It wasn't long before the Captain was on the speaker again: "Things aren't quite as I had hoped," he said, "there's no stand-by crew and no spare aircraft. The best answer to our situation is to disembark all passengers and put you up hotels for 12 hours, by which time I and my crew will have had our mandatory rest and we can all go to London on this plane tonight. I can assure you mat this is me best and quickest solution." He went on to say that BA would pay for the hotel costs, including lunch and dinner and that we should be prepared to be collected from our hotels about 9 o'clock mat evening. He then added "Now I know that this is very inconvenient for some of you, while others may see it as a one day holiday in Cyprus. For your information I was supposed to visit my mother-in-law today with my wife; now I'm going to have to phone her and say I can't make it!" The arrangements were faultless, we were assisted through customs and immigration, where we were given a raffle ticket in exchange for our passport, shown onto coaches and taken to various hotels. People filled the day in various ways, strolling on the beach, swimming, sleeping or whatever. The meals we had were very good and it was with a sort of reunion spirit when we met aboard the coaches and then to the plane mat evening. Sitting on the plane waiting for take off, the cabin crew treated us as long lost friends, the Captain welcomed us back and assured us that all was in order and we started to taxi - and then stopped. We looked at eachofher and wondered what was wrong. "It's me again," said the voice we had become so used to of late, "Now mere's one more problem. When we left Nairobi we had in the hold a cargo of mangoes and other fruit and vegetables for London, but with the plane sitting out in me sun all day, some of it has gone off and is smelling. So we have to delay take off for a bit longer to offload some of the cargo." After everything, we were now delayed by mangoes. I asked the stewardess whether our late passenger was also in the hold. "Yes," she said, "but while we were here he was kept elsewhere and also put in a coffin." So it was only the fruit mat was off. We arrived in London a little over a day late. One crazy passenger suggested forming a club and doing it all again next year! The Captain didn't tell us what his wife said.
Produced and edited monthly by Ian Scales (01737 553704)
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