Memories and Loss

A couple of days before Christmas, some flowers were delivered to the Royal Navy Submarine Museum. Each year a lady leaves a floral tribute to the crew of HMS P48, a Royal Navy submarine sunk in the Second World War, and her brother in particular.

Coincidentally, another lady visited just after Christmas. Her god father was Able Seaman Miller who, along with Lieutenant Low was posthumously awarded the Empire Gallantry Medal (which later became the George Cross). An account of his actions on HMS UNITY can be found online:

"Lt. F. J. Brooks. RN (On the first day of his first patrol, on his first command) was lost in an accident in the North Sea, while operating out of Blyth. (ack. Ron Biddle). In collision with Norwegian SS Atle Jarl. At 1730 on 29-April-1940, Unity sailed from Blyth for Norway. The weather was poor, with visibility down to 300 yards as Unity moved out of the harbour; in the main channel, where the Norwegian ship Atle Jarl was proceeding inbound on her way from Methyl, Scotland to the Tyne, visibility was down to 100 yards: Neither vessel was aware of the other until the submarine spotted the ship at 50 yards and on a collision course. At 1907 a prolonged blast of a ship’s siren at 50 yards was heard on Unity's bridge. There was just time to shut the bulkhead doors and order the engines astern before the Atle Jarl smashed into the submarine. The order to abandon the submarine was given at 1910 and Unity sank only five minutes after the collision.
The order to abandon the submarine was given at 1910 and most of the crew made their way topside and were crowded on the bridge. HMS Unity had taken an angle of 25 degrees and sank within four-five minutes. Although all the members of HMS Unity, bar the 1st Lt., Lt JNA Low RN and AB Miller, escaped from the stricken vessel, Leading Seaman James Hare and Stoker 1st Class Cecil Shelton were not picked up by the crew of the Atle Jarl during the subsequent search. A subsequent investigation revealed a breakdown in internal communications between the Submarine and the fact that the Methyl-Tyne convoy had not been due off Blyth until at approx 1930.
Four men were lost - Leading Seaman James S HARE P/JX 145574; Lieutenant John N A LOW; Able Seaman Henry J MILLER P/J 55387; and Stoker Cecil SHELTON P/KX 91083.
Lieutenant Low and Able Seaman Miller were the two men on duty in the submarine control room. When the order to abandon ship was given by the submarine commander they were instrumental in helping almost every member of the submarine to escape. Lt John N. A. Low RN and AB Henry J. Miller were each awarded a posthumous Empire Gallantry Medal, later (Sept 1940) exchanged by their next-of-kin to the George Cross."
(Source: http://www.ww2talk.com/forum/war-sea/20681-hm-submarine-unity-ss-atle-jarle.html)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HMS_Unity_(N66)
http://uboat.net/allies/warships/ship/3385.html

As far as the ladies are concerned, it's touching that someone should be remembered for so long after their death. It also shows, perhaps, how traumatic, how scarring it can be to lose someone in such violent circumstances, and where there is no grave or memorial. The Area of Remembrance at the Museum takes on that role for many people it seems.

Having read of the actions of Lt Low and AB Miller, I find myself wondering if I could do anything as selfless and as brave. Of  course our actions are always tempered by the time and the environment and I'm sat at home watching telly. So who knows?

Christmas Under The Sea

As has happened for the past 50 years or so, there will be at least one British submarine at sea today. The ships' company won't get boxes from The Sun, a mention on the BBC or additional minutes on their Paradigm cards. If they're lucky they will get their 40 word Familygram from home, which may have been censored; they certainly won't get the chance to talk to their families. They will be at 15 minutes notice to fire their terrible weapons against which ever foe they are directed. Their routine will be unchanged from any other day.

Spare them just a fleeting thought.

To All My Readers

To All My Readers

Merry Christmas

Joyeux Noel

Vrolijke Kertsmis

Fröhliche Weihnachten

Feliz Navidad

ميلاد مجيد

Nollaig Shona

Christmas Amshamshagal

с Рождеством Христовым

З Різдвом Христовим

wesołych świąt bożego Narodzenia

Yep. I really have that much global reach!

(If you're not a follower, please sign up over there on the right at the top)

Ignorance and Want

"'Forgive me if I am not justified in what I ask,' said Scrooge, looking intently at the Spirit's robe,' but I see something strange, and not belonging to yourself, protruding from your skirts. Is it a foot or a claw.'

'It might be a claw, for the flesh there is upon it,' was the Spirit's sorrowful reply. 'Look here.' From the foldings of its robe, it brought two children; wretched, abject, frightful, hideous, miserable. They knelt down at its feet, and clung upon the outside of its garment. 'Oh, Man. look here. Look, look, down here.' exclaimed the Ghost. They were a boy and a girl. Yellow, meagre, ragged, scowling, wolfish; but prostrate, too, in their humility. Where graceful youth should have filled their features out, and touched them with its freshest tints, a stale and shrivelled hand, like that of age, had pinched, and twisted them, and pulled them into shreds. Where angels might have sat enthroned, devils lurked, and glared out menacing. No change, no degradation, no perversion of humanity, in any grade, through all the mysteries of wonderful creation, has monsters half so horrible and dread. Scrooge started back, appalled. Having them shown to him in this way, he tried to say they were fine children, but the words choked themselves, rather than be parties to a lie of such enormous magnitude. 'Spirit. are they yours.' Scrooge could say no more. 'They are Man's,' said the Spirit, looking down upon them. 'And they cling to me, appealing from their fathers. This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware them both, and all of their degree, but most of all beware this boy, for on his brow I see that written which is Doom, unless the writing be erased. Deny it.' cried the Spirit, stretching out its hand towards the city. 'Slander those who tell it ye. Admit it for your factious purposes, and make it worse. And abide the end.'

That's Not A Bad Christmas THIS Is A Bad Christmas

This year's Christmas won't be as extravagant as other years because of the lack of work. However, compared to the people in Cornwall and Stonehaven who've been flooded out of their homes, the friend of my wife whose father died 2 days ago and the old Naval friend who is going into hospital on Christmas Eve for an orchidectomy, and faces the prospect of chemotherapy, I would say it's going to be a pretty stonking time. And some people have a cold and bitch about it on Facebook.

Pass me another mince pie and a sherry. matron.

Tying Up A Loose End

I last had contact with  a particular friend about 25 years ago, just as his own career was beginning to take off. We went different ways and our paths never crossed again. Both our similar careers were on the up except that one was a much steeper curve! Last year I worked out where he was (or where I thought he was) and sent him a Christmas card, and he eventually received it in February, when he wrote back to me. Well, I mislaid that note but rediscovered it this Christmas, and vowed that I would make contact again.

Well, I made that telephone call tonight. For half an hour we had an excellent  chat and compared our summarised histories. Mt friend does not seem to have changed one iota, although he has done extremely well in his career. We've agreed to meet for a beer in the New Year and, I suspect, an even longer chat.

The thing is, once we hung up, I actually felt quite good. Inwardly I was smiling, and I felt rather pleased and calm. I think it was to do with tying up a loose end - a sense of completion, albeit a small one. 

Somebody Said It Couldn't be Done

Somebody said that it couldn’t be done,
   But, he with a chuckle replied
That "maybe it couldn’t," but he would be one
   Who wouldn’t say so till he’d tried.
So he buckled right in with the trace of a grin
   On his face. If he worried he hid it.
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
   That couldn’t be done, and he did it.

Somebody scoffed: "Oh, you’ll never do that;
   At least no one has done it";
But he took off his coat and he took off his hat,
   And the first thing we knew he’d begun it.
With a lift of his chin and a bit of a grin,
   Without any doubting or quiddit,
He started to sing as he tackled the thing
   That couldn’t be done, and he did it.

There are thousands to tell you it cannot be done,
   There are thousands to prophesy failure;
There are thousands to point out to you one by one,
   The dangers that wait to assail you.
But just buckle it in with a bit of a grin,


It Couldn’t Be Done by Edgar Albert Guest

This was spoken at tonight's BBC Sports Personality of The Year as the Team Award was give to Paralympics GB and Team GB.

I think it may be something to keep in mind.

To Delete Or Not To Delete

When friends die, they leave behind them little reminders of their presence; physical items, memories, photographs, entries in address books.  When those friends are also 'friends; on social media sites, then they also leave traces there-a page, a website, an account. And like a photograph, those electronic images often pop up to jog a memory, or sit as a constant reminder in the corner of the screen.

This year, 3 people I know as friends - 2 in everyday life and one as on-line 'friend' - have died this year (2 by their own hands, sadly).And yet, I've still to delete their names from my pages and on-line address books. Much like a couple of names in an old address book I have. There's a finality in making such a move so why am I, or are we, reluctant to take such a step?

When In Doubt, Drive Don't Fly

This past weekend, I had to travel up to Northampton for a committee meeting of the Royal Aero Club 3Rs. One of the other committee members suggested that I stay with him and his son the night before and we could then either fly up the next morning or, if the weather was unsuitable, drive up. After a very sociable evening, 2 bottles of wine and a good sleep, we reviewed the weather. It seems there was a lot of patchy cloud and at low level so the decision was made to drive rather than fly.

It seems this was a really good idea. We would have flown from Blackbushe to Sywell which is less than half an hour but instead chose to drive and our trip out and return by road were uneventful. The next day I got sent this email:

Pete,

You might recall that one of my concerns about flying yesterday was the forecast for temporary patches of low cloud or fog. It looks like someone got caught out yesterday and crashed, fatally, due to the fog so I'm pleased that I made the decision I did although I think it would have been ok here. 

This thread on the flyer forum ( http://forums.flyer.co.uk/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=80660 ) is regarding the crash yesterday and it's very sobering. The text below is from an experienced pilot who was also in the area at the time. Again, very though provoking!

"I was airborn out of Nayland with virtually zero wind.. I turned S W for maybe 10 mins then saw the edge of the bank of fog/cloud rolling towards Nayland.

I tried to beat it back and headed straight back to Nayland at 120knts and ran smack into it at 8.3 miles to run . The speed it came in was staggering, I have never experienced anything like it in all the years I have been flying .
At 4 miles to run smack on runway centre line I was down to180 feet and could not see a thing. I climbed back up through it into brilliant sunshine and stableised at 2500 ft. It was clearer towards the coast so I headed that way. I called wattisham and they were giving cloudbase as 100 ft or less.

At that point I saw someone else on top obviously looking for a hole next minute he headed down at a fairly steep angle at about 30 degree bank and disapeared from site into the cloud.

At that point I changed frequency to Tibenham and heard them flying, tried to raise them on the radio but failed which didn't supprise me as they usually use a hand held with limited range. I set course for them anyway.
I then retuned to wattisham ,just as the rescue helicopter popped out of the cloud in a pretty much vertical climb. One of the people with me knew its call sign and frequency so we tried to call it. At that point we heard that an aircraft had gone in and it was dispatching to the crah site. We saw it orbit and let down through the solid cloud bank.

Setting course for Tibenham at 120 knots we could see the cloudbank out running us and we again towards the coast to see if we could run in under the cloud. We were down to less than 300 feet with 9 miles to run and masts etc ahead.

Another climb back up to 2000 ft into clear sunshine. A call to Seething (10 miles towards the coast ) gave us CAV OK with the fog /cloud bank visable 6 miles to the east.

We touched down as 4 or 5 others were calling for diversions. Within a few minutes of landing we couldn't see across the width of the runway.

In all my years of flying I have never experienced a day like today . It was a lethal day.

Seething were wonderfull and even managed to make room to get me into the hangar whereupon the sun came out but too late for me to get back to Nayland. It could have so easily been me that went in. I had plenty of fuel on board and time to out fly the conditions but it took all my skills and could have been such a different outcome....What a day"

Fog bank close to the Blackbushe - Sywell track

Gregory Clipstone crash death pilot: 'Man of integrity' 

Dear reader, I think you'll understand how grateful I am that the right decision was made, when it could have been so easy to 'chance it'

Simon Hanson - Songs From the Silver Box

My friend, Simon Hanson, is incredibly talented, irritatingly. As well as playing drums for Squeeze on their current tour, he's recorded with Grace Jones, Iggy Pop, Liam Gallagher, Death In Vegas and others. He's a good looking sod, too. I hate him. Anyway, have a look at his showreel here.

Copyright Jon Gardner Photography

He's just created his new, and first solo album  and to get it released in the UK and the US he's seeking funding on Kickstarter. Have a look at his project here and then have a look at what you can afford to help get his new album 'Songs From The Silver Box' off the ground.

And his mum, Judy, will be very pleased, too. She's a nice lady.

www.simonhanson.co.uk

Seasonal Music

For the next couple of weeks leading up to Christmas, I'm planning to post some seasonal music videos on here and you'll find the link towards the top right of this page where it says 'Seasonal Music'. These will include some of the time-worn (and clichéd  ones, but also a few of my own  favourites which may be slightly less popular with others.

As a taster here's the first one:

I also found this slightly unusual link on the TuneIn website:

Christmas Vinyl and their website can be found here www.christmasvinyl.com

Make sure you become a Follower if you want to see what I like in Christmas music by clicking the link over here--------------------------------------------------------------------------------> that says 'Followers of 'Follow by email'