How many miles.......

[Borr 5,803]

23 hours ago, mackem said:

Was your grandfather in the chindits? I have seen photos of partition, a railway platform in either Lahore or Amritsar carpeted in corpses, what a time to have lived through.Very interesting Borr, thank you. 

Sent on emergency tasks apparently, part of raoc , royal army ordinance corp

[Borr 5,803]

On 15/09/2024 at 20:26, mackem said:

I have been to murree where your mum was born,back in the days of the raj it was a hill station and holiday destination,it's a stonesthrow from 'Pindi/islamabad,do you know which part of HK your mum lived?I think your family history/migration is very interesting.

 

But that was when i was at boarding school, howevef at that time he was  running Port Dickson  when the British Army was handing over to The Federated Army of Malaya, he was in charge of that Camp and got highly commended by the Brigadier Commander at Seremban who recommended that his temporary rank of captain was converted to Permanent. His language skills were used i. Most of his postings, fluent in Malay, Fluent in French (Supreme headquarters ofcthexAllied Piwers in Europe )
Passable Urdu and Hindi  (partition of British India) Cantonese (Far East Emergency)

[mushroom 12,871]

1180 miles door to door to my mum’s house. She’s still in the same home we all grew up in.

[mackem 26,244]

2 hours ago, Borr said:

His language skills were used i. Most of his postings, fluent in Malay, Fluent in French (Supreme headquarters ofcthexAllied Piwers in Europe )
Passable Urdu and Hindi  (partition of British India) Cantonese (Far East Emergency)

He sounds like a really interesting bloke, the sort you could spend hours chatting to. Do you or your children speak romanian? Have you inherited the family's linguistic skills? 

[mackem 26,244]

On 15/09/2024 at 02:36, chartpolski said:

I’m back to about five miles from where I was born. I was the only one of the family born at home but we left when I was a baby.

I’ve  lived in some far flung places since, but when I retired I decide to come back “home”.

Starting to wonder if it was a mistake, as we could have went virtually anywhere.

Cheers.

In every district stretching back through time there's always been a small % of nomads, people a little different from those around them, forever looking at the distant horizon and wondering what lies beyond, they founded trade routes and discovered new lands, they made the British flag an empire the sun never set upon, Born a hundred years earlier you would have been a prime example of such a wanderer. 

[mushroom 12,871]

56 minutes ago, mackem said:

He sounds like a really interesting bloke, the sort you could spend hours chatting to. Do you or your children speak romanian? Have you inherited the family's linguistic skills? 

Has he fuuck!  

[chartpolski 23,200]

8 hours ago, mackem said:

In every district stretching back through time there's always been a small % of nomads, people a little different from those around them, forever looking at the distant horizon and wondering what lies beyond, they founded trade routes and discovered new lands, they made the British flag an empire the sun never set upon, Born a hundred years earlier you would have been a prime example of such a wanderer. 

I’ve got two brothers, one older, one younger and they have never been out of the UK , never had a passport, in fact I don’t think either have been on holiday even in the UK ! But they are happy with their lot.

I worked with people abroad who spent every leave back home, even though they could have flown anywhere in the world for free.

I took the opportunity to go everywhere I’d ever dreamed of, ticked things of my bucket list; the Alamo, the scene of JFK’’s assassination, the pyramids, bridge on the river Kwai, Ayers Rock, Lawrence’s railway and , of course, to indulge in my passion for hunting and running dogs around the world.

Was I lucky, was it fate ? I don’t know, but if I had decided not to attend the interview for my first job in the Middle East things may have turned out completely different !

Cheers.

[jukel123 7,957]

I believe in random events influencing lives. We are just pinballs bouncing off corners. Something happens along the way  which dictate or change  your whole life. Often you can be enjoying life and then an event  happens, maybe a personal tragedy, which changes how you view your life. It's chaos. You can plan all you want, but random events have more influence on your life than a million life plans imo.

The biggest equaliser is your health. If you lose that you lose everything. If you're lucky with your partner and your health, it's as good as winning the lottery.

A guy once told me never judge your own success in terms of somebody who has done better in life than you. If you've got to compare, think of everybody in your class at school. You will probably find many more shit lives  and a lot shorter lives than your own.

Edited September 17 by jukel123

[jukel123 7,957]

11 hours ago, mackem said:

In every district stretching back through time there's always been a small % of nomads, people a little different from those around them, forever looking at the distant horizon and wondering what lies beyond, they founded trade routes and discovered new lands, they made the British flag an empire the sun never set upon, Born a hundred years earlier you would have been a prime example of such a wanderer. 

Mate, . .youre the born wanderer. You must have travelled more miles than Marco Polo.

You should have' Just passing through' written on your gravestone.

I used to fancy myself as a nomadic gunslinger in the wild west or the 'littlest hobo'. But I read, much to my disappointment,  that nomadic gunslingers didn't really exist. They were a Hollywood creation. And if I were a stray alsation, I'd probably end up in the pound and get put down.

Edited September 17 by jukel123

[greg64 2,812]

20 hours ago, Daniel cain said:

Don't matter where I am in this world ...I will always bleed Red and 3 feathers for

y Ddraig Goch surley ,not the 3 feathers of an English prince and on Owain Glyndwr day tut tut

Edited September 17 by greg64

[mC HULL 12,234]

39 minutes ago, chartpolski said:

I’ve got two brothers, one older, one younger and they have never been out of the UK , never had a passport, in fact I don’t think either have been on holiday even in the UK ! But they are happy with their lot.

I worked with people abroad who spent every leave back home, even though they could have flown anywhere in the world for free.

I took the opportunity to go everywhere I’d ever dreamed of, ticked things of my bucket list; the Alamo, the scene of JFK’’s assassination, the pyramids, bridge on the river Kwai, Ayers Rock, Lawrence’s railway and , of course, to indulge in my passion for hunting and running dogs around the world.

Was I lucky, was it fate ? I don’t know, but if I had decided not to attend the interview for my first job in the Middle East things may have turned out completely different !

Cheers.

ive sisters like you mate lol 

instead off paying for your brothers ticket giving them there first trip abroad youd go round the world and send them pictures lol 

id be like that a week away im itching to get back home 

pyramids dont do it for me stinking country aswell 

the alamo jfk bridge on the river kwai would be right up my street that 

[Borr 5,803]

9 hours ago, mackem said:

He sounds like a really interesting bloke, the sort you could spend hours chatting to. Do you or your children speak romanian? Have you inherited the family's linguistic skills? 

As 'el elano Espanol ' so eloquently put it no lol. The wife used to speak Spanish and German and obviously Romanian and English. My kids were around it young and know lots of words so I'm sure the lingo part of the brain developed and they'll learn languages, I worked in UK most of the time we were based in Romania, I came close to learning french but without learning the language properly and being able to converse in past tense my conversation skill were not up to par plus they spoke nasal patois french which added an element to it. I may have another go at some point. The wife's father is Hungarian and her grandfather Ukrainian and she learnt English watching TV as a kid. My mother used to know Malay as a kid and speaks fluent french. I am envious of people with language skills , and fairplay to mushroom his Spanish is very good, English not so much .

[Daniel cain 45,085]

31 minutes ago, greg64 said:

y Ddraig Goch surley ,not the 3 feathers of an English prince and on Owain Glyndwr day tut tut

The 3 feathers have been around a lot longer than the 17th century ...way before an English/german prince used it

Ancient Christianity used it, especially the Medici tribe,it was  the symbol of hope, faith and charity....I'm a Christian,so that will do me

[greg64 2,812]

4 minutes ago, Daniel cain said:

The 3 feathers have been around a lot longer than the 17th century ...way before an English/german prince used it

Ancient Christianity used it, especially the Medici tribe,it was  the symbol of hope, faith and charity....I'm a Christian,so that will do me

the prince of Wales plume is different though even the words on it  ICH DIEN mean i serve

[tatsblisters 9,466]

1 hour ago, jukel123 said:

I believe in random events influencing lives. We are just pinballs bouncing off corners. Somethings happens along the way  which dictate or change  your whole life. Often you can be enjoying life and then an event  happens, maybe a personal tragedy, which changes how you view your life. It's chaos. You can plan all you want, but random events have more influence on your life than a million life plans imo.

The biggest equaliser is your health. If you lose that you lose everything. If you're lucky with your partner and your health, it's as good as winning the lottery.

A guy once told me never judge your own success in terms of somebody who has done better in life than you. If you've got to compare, think of everybody in your class at school. You will probably find many more shit lives  and a lot shorter lives than your own.

Ain't that the truth. Our little gang from school that spent most of our time bird nesting fishing and rabbiting with our pack of mongrels two did life terms for murder and recently found out one had become an alcoholic and passed away one who has done well moved to Oxford and became a clerk of works in London.