Vagueness and the Aftermath - A sporadic diary

[bagel]

grandfather on my mums side fought in the somme  , other grandfather in el alemein in ww2 where he was awarded the M.C serving as a doctor and a conscientious objector .

mums two older brothers were old school journalists in fleet street for the times and telegraph , for decades , so they were able to arrange an interview with their dad about the somme , when he was in his 80s

very dark stuff, with some funny bits too , believe it or not .

they also arranged an obituary for my grandad on dads side  to be printed in the times which is an interesting read. i will dig them out this weekend sometime , and ask someone to help me post them up

[RED-DOG]

Cheers bagel, I would be interested to see those.

You find dark humor in all kinds of horrible or macabre environments. Accident scenes, pathology labs, battlefields, prison camps, operating theatres etc. Its a human coping mechanism

[Pokerpops]

https://imgur.com/a/CsiMbeq


I’ve tried putting this link in the but nothing happens…
I’m sure I’m missing something simple but I can’t see what it is.

[bagel]

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1408014/Carl-Warner.html?msockid=07dae07c82fa67be17aef58983416697

have found online but its behind a paywall , no idea how to get around that so will be next week till i post it up

also found the somme "interview" , first time i have read it for a few years , pages are very worn and yellow so may not scan. if i have couple hours free in the week i will type the lot out .

might try the free trials for times and telegraph , had quick look but not clear if would be able to look up archives from 1984 (somme) or 2002  (north africa)

... tried the free trial , looks like i had one in the past so no luck there

[tikay]

Tony uploads pics so there must be something out there that even a chimp could use.

Indeed.


I just save the image to my Laptop, then when I want to post it, just click "Additional Options" (bottom left of the "text box" we are typing our post into)  then "Choose File" & it's that simple. No need to bother with Imgur that way.  

[tikay]

See it here?

After you click "Additional Options" this is what you see. Sort of bottom left. Click "Choose File" & it brings up all the Images which are saved on your Lappie.

Click the appropriate image, then click "Open".

[tikay]

Not sure if that works on 'phone though. I save the Image to my Lappie then go from there.

[RED-DOG]

Thanks Tony.

[Karabiner]

Tony uploads pics so there must be something out there that even a chimp could use.

Indeed.


I just save the image to my Laptop, then when I want to post it, just click "Additional Options" (bottom left of the "text box" we are typing our post into)  then "Choose File" & it's that simple. No need to bother with Imgur that way.  

I do that too and I'm not anyone's idea of a technocrat apart from my golfing buddy Geoff who doesn't know how to text on his mobile.

[Pokerpops]

Tony uploads pics so there must be something out there that even a chimp could use.

Indeed.


I just save the image to my Laptop, then when I want to post it, just click "Additional Options" (bottom left of the "text box" we are typing our post into)  then "Choose File" & it's that simple. No need to bother with Imgur that way.  

That’s much simpler, thanks Sir.

All I need now is a quick and easy way to reduce the size of my .jpg files 

[Geo the Sarge]

Plockton

As mentioned earlier, after my heart scare I took myself off up to Plockton, “The Jewel of the Highlands”

It’s a lovely little village overlooking Loch Carron. There isn’t too much to do there apart from walking and water sports. There are a couple of good restaurants but mostly just a beautiful spot to take time out and chill.

I hadn’t really heard much about Plockton other than it was the setting for the TV programme Hamish Macbeth. I live opposite the auction house here in Rosewell and quite often browse the auction items and occasionally something will pique my interest.

One particular day they were filming for a portion of the TV programme The travelling auctioneers (Christine Trevanion…mmmm) Filming of the actual auction was at the nearby Dalkeith Country Park. I noted a particular nice painting of a lovely bay with some fishing boats and lovely houses. I googled Plockton and a few of the pics that popped up were very similar to the painting. Anyway when it came to the bidding, no-one seemed to be interested and the asking bid was dropped to a fiver so I made a bid (secretly hoping that I would be shown on the programme.) Someone else made a bid to 8 quid so I popped it to 10 and won the bid. I never did make the cut for the TV show.

The reason I decided to go to Plockton was to see if I could identify the spot it had been taken from, so I took a couple of photos of the painting and off I popped. When I got up to Plockton I soon realised that there were quite a few similar spots from which it could have been done and my guess was that the painting was possibly done in the 40s or 50s so quite a bit could have changed.

I was paying particular interest to a small thatched cottage which caught my eye and had snuck around the back garden for a wee nosey.Whilst doing so I was approached by a man enquiring as to what I was up to. I made my apologies and explained that the cottage had caught my eye and I wanted an all round look see.

He introduced himself as Ian Hay, the owner of said cottage which he rented as a BnB and then kindly invited me in to have a look inside. It was stunning, he also gave me some history of the cottage, explaining it was the last “Black House” in the village. Just google Plockton Thatched Cottage and you'll see it.

I told him why I had came up to Plockton and showed him the photos.”That’s my grannies hoose!” he screamed, pointing to one of the lovely wee cottages in the painting, and that boat belonged to so and so and is still there but in a rotten state. He then proceeded to tell me all different things within the painting and to each there was a story attached, as you can imagine, I was in heaven. He took me to the very spot that the artist would have sat and pointed out all the features, who lived in which house, which boat belonged to whom etc. It truly was an awesome couple of hours he spent with me and really made my day. We parted with a promise that I would bring the painting up for him to see.

A couple of weekends later Mrs Geo and I made the trip up to Plockton for the weekend with the painting in tow. Ian lived in a larger house beside the cottage sat very nicely on the bay, he invited us into his home where we sat and had a brew and some biscuits with his lovely wife Linda. We spent a couple of hours being regaled by Ian’s wonderful stories of life in Plockton back in the day. I pop back often and always look him up to say hello.

BTW, I thought it only right that the painting should remain in Plockton so we gifted it to Ian in recognition of his most generous hospitality.

These small moments in life I find very special.

Geo

[RED-DOG]

That's an absolutely wonderful story Geo. You couldn't make it up.

[tikay]

Fabulous story Geo.

Gill & I visited Plockton when we spent Christmas near the Isle of Skye. (Glenelg I think?). EDIT - it was Ratagan

Anyway, we visited Plockton on Christmas day around 12 years ago & had a pot of tea in that lovely pub overlooking the bay, by the palm trees.

I can't recall why, maybe just to say "Merry Christmas", but from the pub I rung Maureen (Reece's Gran) & for whatever reason we both had a good cry.

I often wonder how both Maureen & Reece are these days. Anyone heard?

[Geo the Sarge]

Fabulous story Geo.

Gill & I visited Plockton when we spent Christmas near the Isle of Skye. (Glenelg I think?). EDIT - it was Ratagan

Anyway, we visited Plockton on Christmas day around 12 years ago & had a pot of tea in that lovely pub overlooking the bay, by the palm trees.

I can't recall why, maybe just to say "Merry Christmas", but from the pub I rung Maureen (Reece's Gran) & for whatever reason we both had a good cry.

I often wonder how both Maureen & Reece are these days. Anyone heard?

Thanks Tony,

Glad to see you are well and I hope you get as much fun in retirement as I have.

Yeah, Palm trees in Scotland, who'd have thought

Geo

[Karabiner]

Lovely story Geo - I'm pleased to hear that you're in good health again.