I decided to attend the Leith Nautical College reunion weekend at the end of this week. I took this decision some months back, and now am faced with a 500 mile drive up to Edinburgh from Cornwall for a couple of days, then another 500 mile drive back.
Fortunately I'm able to break the journey in Stourbridge, very roughly half way there, and spend a night with family !! The old college I attended is now abandoned but I understand the building is still there. A new college was built in Portobello years after I left, although the nautical side of that is only a small part of the business. Ah well … we're not really much of a seafaring nation anymore, other than in re-unions for old men and memories.
Still, I used to hitchhike up and down from the Midlands to Leith back then, or ride old Brit bikes which I think if it had been from Cornwall would have damn near killed me even then .. especially in winter.
I'll have to travel down to Leith from Portobello and look at the old college building. Henry Robb's shipyard used to be at the back of it, students used to donate blood there, all that's long gone.
That is the
'kiss of death' don't you think.
