I had a short break recently; it's now called a "staycation" apparently.
I was sixty-three, during that break and of late, I have been really thinking, no, I mean it, really thinking. Without the pressure of work routines and do you know, since COVID, it’s been me working from home abbreviated by work as WFH. So "pressures", they are not really what they once were pre-2019. Actually, as I work and look around me daily, the chap next door cleans his car every week, inside and out and does his grass over with a bit of gardening thrown in. The lady next door does her garden regular like and we meet to take the bins out every Wednesday to say, "all ok?". So, my so called 'work' these days -it might be, like retirement; shall I book the funeral plan now, I often think.
As I look out of my makeshift office window, I tend to see squirrels and wood pigeons mating and occasionally I meet people on Zoom or Teams. I am sleeping more soundly these days but I miss the processing time I used to have going to and from work. It sort of provide me a breather and so I have started to think and use my thoughts to aid this oncoming life event, called retirement.
I try walking at different times of the day and now I have started journaling and writing poetry to clear my thoughts, so they won’t bother me at bedtime.
More about that later blogging journals, but in this First Blog, I wanted to recall my time in this world and where I came from.
Having joined the Royal Navy as a young boy of sixteen in 1976, the hottest summer on record, I think it still is, despite the recent "global warnings" maybe it was evident then but we just enjoyed it. From June 22 until August 26, I was in Cornwall at an Air Base called Royal Naval Air Station (RNAS), Culdrose and for that period and in that year for nine weeks, the weather was consistently dry, sunny and hot.
I grew up in Yiewsley, Middlesex in the United Kingdom. Yiewsley was famous, as far as I am aware only for the pop star, Ronnie Wood who went on to back Rod Stewart's group called "The Faces" of course Ronnie later joined Mick Jagger's "Rolling Stones" and will be at this year's Hyde Park Event called British Summer Time or BST unless something else happens to prevent another cancellation. Check out this News Link, if you have any interest in this, Ronnie or Ron as he is now often called will be at the 60th Anniversary tour, tickets are on sale here, but I guess you need to be quick these days!
My brother, Ken, was about his age and I think he must have known him - oh, and there was a sort of market shop called "Gordon's Gift Box" - see lead picture above, a shop which claimed fame on their pink carrier bags and which said " London, Paris, Munich, Yiewsley". We all laughed about that, probably called a "scam" these days?
So, there I was, finished Comprehensive education with no qualifications except something called CSE's, which stood for Certificates of Secondary Education, which I think means that you actually attended a "big school" and I was working as a labourer in a factory, called "Air Oil Burner". They made these contraptions which were manufactured on lathes and other specialist tooling machines, then when all assembled and painted, they were shipped to customers on oil rigs. That was my first real job and the firm had me down to do an apprenticeship but for around six months having learned how to sweep up and screw on a few bits, I knew this was not for me.
So, I don't really know why, but I went to the Recruitment Centre, which was then in Holborn, in London and sat the entry tests. I had a mandatory medical and they said, I was able to train as an Aircraft Mechanic in the Fleet Air Arm and enter as a Junior Naval Air Mechanic 2nd Class.
That really was it, I know my best friend and next-door neighbour in Whitethorn Avenue, Gary, must have had similar thoughts about Yiewsley and having seen the life outside of school. He he joined the Army and earned his stripes; but my, six weeks of learning to be a sailor began on 13th January 1976. In those early days, I was full of excitement and having done my basic training at HMS Ganges, which was in Ipswich -I was far away from my mum and dad and Yiewsley.
I was sixteen to be seventeen in the March of that year. So, I can say, now, like the latest recruiting drive that " I was born in Yiewsley, but I was made in the Royal Navy".
Poem Added
Yiewsley
Have you heard about this tiny village where,
I grew up, and was founded there?
Such a place, we often prayed,
At School on Sunday, where our souls were saved!
Famous for Gordon’s – a so-called “gift box”
For the “Byrds” with Ron, of the faces and Jagger, that rocks!
Where Genevieve near De Burgh was filmed when she broke down,
in location, West Drayton, we called “the town".
To EVELYNS, at eleven, I sat to discuss,
Why I was in 1C, for failing my “plus”.
Delivering papers, riding my bike,
Then past the nags head, for the regular hike.
To the entrance of the “Comp” we walked - to join up with those,
Wearing, Harrington jackets, Crombies and brogues
Such 70s styles, which mum could not afford,
After the six months of 1c, I knew I was bored.
The jokes and taunting which haunts me today,
Affected my schooling, which affected my stay.
As far as I know, the village still serves,
As a far distant memory of childhood and nerves.
Goodbye Yiewsley, I guess you served me,
To work my way toward a life on the sea.
Goodbye Yiewsley, of course, I’m glad, you were there,
You'll live in my memory, so hard to repair.