Hogan plus Vowles

  This story happened back in the 1960s when I was working for Sammy Collins in the Neutral Zone, the buffer state between Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. This was before I joined Offshore Marine,  the Cunard company.   When I was given command of the "Sarah", the Saudi-flag tug supply ship, I inherited a perfect Arab crew. This included the Steward/Chef, Aboud Yassin Abu Shama pictured above with the knife in his teeth about to fillet harmour or grouper. He was a magnificent chef and, not surprisingly, came from the ancient town of Nablus famous for its cuisine in Palestine. Now Nablus is about 40 miles north of Jerusalem on the West Bank occupied by the Israelis now, and at that time. Aboud had a wife and young son  in Nablus and could not communicate with them in those troubled times, he could not send a letter, money, or a gift from Saudi, the Neutral Zone, or Kuwait to Israel. Any communication would have been confiscated. Similarly his wife and family could not s...

  You just cannot legislate against old ladies. Gordon Brown certainly found that out and was lucky to get away without a clip around the ear besides losing an election.   There is an apocryphal story hereabouts in Somerset that tells of a Viking raid into Uphill where the marauders left their boats in the pill [harbour] and charged inland intent on rape and looting. They ignored the little old lady as they ran inland after the villagers. She took exception to this hairy bunch, she was not impressed, and so hobbled down to the pill, cast off all moorings, and let the tide take the longboats out to sea. This all lead to the Vikings to panic and so on, local populace gained heart, and the marauders got eighteen bells kicked out them   Well now, according to what I hear I think something like this is going to happen to David Cameron. He seems hell bent on this gay marriage thing for example and it is not going down at all well with this group of ladies. It is apparent t...

This is one of Tina's stories from when I was Harbour Master in Castletown Berehaven, West Cork, in the far west of Ireland at the entrance to Bantry Bay. It all started by chance. This fishing port is the first point of landing from the Atlantic Ocean and the major fishing bank offshore to SW Ireland, Porcupine Bank. One day a big Factory Freezer Trawler came into the outer harbour with a sick man and other issues. The Captain needed an Agent, a Shipping Agent, to do all the things needed, contact the hospital, deal with the Customs, post mail, get good fresh provisions, lubricating oil, etc, etc.  There was no Agent in the town to do this, he looked at Tina, the Harbour Master's wife, said why don't you do it?  And she did! and she did this back in those days in the beginning of the 80's just before we went to Newfoundland. Tina needed a Boatman, a good man with well-found fishing boat to help in running out into the bay to visiting shipping, and she found a ge...

I have this cousin, Allan, who comes from my Mother's side of the family. He's older, good looking [like me!], non PC, happily married, and can be a pain in the arse [just like me] but often times sends me something which is so well worth reading. I urge you to read this, it will make you think and it will give you insight into what makes us 70/80 year olds think. Do read it.   GEORGE CARLIN  (His wife died early in 2008...and George followed her, dying in July 2008)        Isn't it amazing that George Carlin - comedian of the 70's and 80's - could write something so very eloquent...and so very appropriate.      A Message by George Carlin: The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider Freeways, but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degree...