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virtual crazy gang, part II

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  #9576  
Old 28th January 2025, 08:21
Engine Serang Northern Ireland Engine Serang is offline
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For many years, nay decades, my skiddies were known only to myself and the Memsahib, now the entire Merchant Navy speak of little else.
Such is showbiz.

Last edited by Engine Serang; 28th January 2025 at 13:37.
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  #9577  
Old 29th January 2025, 03:15
tweediekiwi Scotland tweediekiwi is offline
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Does the Merchant Navy still exist as an organisation? That's a pretty ignorant question from a crew member but there are still a few things I'm ignorant of. But, if the MN is still going I'd better get a discharge book. Are we in the desert yet? I feel like a date. Don't tell the wife.
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  #9578  
Old 29th January 2025, 05:12
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look out the starboard window thingy!..by heck look at all that sand!..must be a BIG construction site there. cant even see the Cement or bricks!
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  #9579  
Old 29th January 2025, 09:29
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Pilot bloke is muttering something about electricians, I told him we already have a leckie and he got all irate and i don’t understand him any more.
Hope I haven’t upset him too much because his big friend looks a bit serious.
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  #9580  
Old 29th January 2025, 12:54
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Oh bugger! He got really wound up when I referred to his canal as the French Ditch.
Perhaps I should go and hide before he stuffs GD into the side.
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  #9581  
Old 29th January 2025, 21:58
Engine Serang Northern Ireland Engine Serang is offline
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The Gilly-Gilly man is in the Smokeroom turning Tawny Port into a popular drink. All welcome.
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  #9582  
Old 30th January 2025, 01:51
tweediekiwi Scotland tweediekiwi is offline
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I'll pop down and ask him about the MN then. He probably knows as he has lots of knowledge to pass on and it's Ever Given - Hard a port, full astern, pump out the bilge water that I'm talking before we all drown.
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  #9583  
Old 30th January 2025, 08:27
Engine Serang Northern Ireland Engine Serang is offline
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"Pop", Sarsperilla disguised as a pun, full marks Harris.
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  #9584  
Old 31st January 2025, 18:51
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Varley Isle of Man Varley is offline
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That is no Leckie that is a Suez Canal Leckie. Something like the reverse of what M&S would like us to think an M&S Leckie would be like.

Just because he partakes of Tawny doesn't make him an electrically wise owl it just makes him one who will get a smacked for engaging in haram practices as soon as we dump and his 'projector'.

Anyway, who gave him the cellar key?
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Lord Finchley tried to mend the electric light
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  #9585  
Old 31st January 2025, 22:27
tweediekiwi Scotland tweediekiwi is offline
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What sort of shorts do leckies wear? Or have the gone all H&S and just wear an anti-static strap?
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  #9586  
Old 31st January 2025, 22:41
Engine Serang Northern Ireland Engine Serang is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by tweediekiwi View Post
Does the Merchant Navy still exist as an organisation? That's a pretty ignorant question from a crew member but there are still a few things I'm ignorant of. But, if the MN is still going I'd better get a discharge book. Are we in the desert yet? I feel like a date. Don't tell the wife.
My dear Harris, the Merchant Navy never really existed as an organisation. It consisted of:-

P&O and the rest
BI and the rest
Blue Flu and the rest
Cunard and..............
Take your pick and ............

You get the jist of the Merch, another lesson on British class.

The Grey Funnel Line was a classy outfit but like all armed services now having trouble attracting spoilt brats with their mobile phones and skateboards.
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  #9587  
Old 1st February 2025, 03:24
tweediekiwi Scotland tweediekiwi is offline
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Thank You ES. Interesting. How did the MN uniform come about? I remember the old boy getting dressed up in his when joining ships etc., and he was on Salvesen vessels. We have an organisation here that provides for war veterans - The Returned Servicemens Association - and Dad, although never at war as such (he did plenty of battling with his mother-in-law) was accepted by them. So, who issued the discharge books? I must buy you a drink one day, for all this info'.
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  #9588  
Old 1st February 2025, 07:57
Engine Serang Northern Ireland Engine Serang is offline
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A drink!
A small pub would be more appropriate, with a cash sweetener to recognise all the overtime.

I'll give you a quick rundown of my journey through the strange world of shipping administration....


As a 16 yo born and reared in a coastal village with two Grandfathers who were Captains, I wanted to be an engineer at sea. My father pressurised me to stay at school to do "A Levels" to perhaps do engineering at university. Whilst studying I applied to a dozen shipping companies and had an interview with Texaco the day after my last exam and offered a cadetship subject to passing exams.
Off to college. Prior to joining my first ship Texaco sent me a letter of introduction which I brought to the Mercantile Marine Office, part of the Department of Trade and Industry. They gave me a Chitty to bring to a local photographer who had me hold a board with my Discharge Number on it, similar to a convict.
A week later my Discharge Book and British Seamans Card arrived by Registered Post...... The rest is embargoed.
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  #9589  
Old 1st February 2025, 14:11
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Varley Isle of Man Varley is offline
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Being down to earth and having shorts are topics of which we do not speak.
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Lord Finchley tried to mend the electric light
Himself. It struck him dead and serve him right
It is the duty of the wealthy man
To give employment to the artisan
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  #9590  
Old 2nd February 2025, 06:51
tweediekiwi Scotland tweediekiwi is offline
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Nicely coiled, sinuous layers of bureaucracy back then eh? Dad just turned up at Leith and signed on with Salvesen, as 7th Engineer I think it was, and the company did the rest for him. He signed the wrong articles and didn't get the full engineers pay apparently. So, he signed on properly for next trip out, as 3rd or 4th engineer, and made a killing as it was a better season (but not for the whales). He never wanted me to wear overalls and get dirty (spoiled brat I was) and apart from working on my own vehicles and painting my house I never wore overalls to work. A pity, because being a draughtsman was mind-numbingly boring, drawing the same lines day after day. So, I became tech for P&T, and when they got computerised, I did that. But, it sounds like you all much better times being at sea. Tell me another tale!
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  #9591  
Old 2nd February 2025, 06:53
tweediekiwi Scotland tweediekiwi is offline
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Varley, my lips are sealed, no more taboo subjects for me.
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  #9592  
Old 3rd February 2025, 11:44
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Electrickery....dangerous stuff...best left to the experts... Shocking stuff to mess with if you are not qualified. I always seek help in fixing things unlike Lord Finchley.
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  #9593  
Old 3rd February 2025, 14:26
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As I repeated to any of the 'up and coming' brethren. "If it was difficult Mrs. V's little boy would not be good at it".
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Lord Finchley tried to mend the electric light
Himself. It struck him dead and serve him right
It is the duty of the wealthy man
To give employment to the artisan
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  #9594  
Old 3rd February 2025, 15:18
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Ex - Something which has been.
Spert - A drip under pressure.
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  #9595  
Old 6th February 2025, 15:11
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Some people are really shocked when they discover that I am not a qualified electrician.
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  #9596  
Old 7th February 2025, 12:00
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Now that we appear to be in open water again this must be the Med.
There is a Greek island that might be worth a call. Whenever I go there it always seems to be rammed with bloody tourists but I gather that they have all buggered off so it should be fairly quiet, apart from the earthquakes that is.
Santorini make some interesting wines, well worth a quick slurp, apart from the one that tastes like cough syrup.
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  #9597  
Old 8th February 2025, 06:12
tweediekiwi Scotland tweediekiwi is offline
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Santorini, a novel by Alistair Maclean, quite a good yarn. Excellent for reading whilst supping wine in Santorini, with it's blue domed roofs and whitewashed walls, as the ground crumbles away beneath you ... pass your glass and I'll top it up ... it makes you forget the trembling ground ... if it goes right we could have a spa later.
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  #9598  
Old 8th February 2025, 08:33
Engine Serang Northern Ireland Engine Serang is offline
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BB I think we have a crew of grave robbers who want to plunder a shattered isle. Shame on them.
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  #9599  
Old 8th February 2025, 09:36
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Don’t mind buying a couple of cases but there doesn’t seem anyone to pay.
I think I preferred it rammed with tourists.
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  #9600  
Old 9th February 2025, 01:24
tweediekiwi Scotland tweediekiwi is offline
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Tourists make the place more vibrant. In Paris they've started hating them as there's too may. Tell them to come to NZ, we need the people as there's hardly anyone here. No grave robbing for me. I'll stay here and polish the pistons, oil the cranks and pump the bilges out.
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