The Old Sea Dog

                                            Chapter One  Tuesday My name is Michael or Mike to my friends and family, life has been kinda hard for me over the past 15 years, married twice to two of the worst women I have ever met, and a naval career in ruin. I was at this moment in time, sat in the departure lounge at Bristol Airport, awaiting my flight to Malta. A 14 day holiday, to get me over a scary situation. I had been going to work as usual, and as I entered the work gates on my pushbike, I noticed a low slung sports car just up from the main gate. I could not see the driver but did recognise the number plate ROB1, I realised that Robby, the wife son had somehow found me. When I walked out on my second wife after 7 years of being treated like a glorified meal ticket, and after a blazing row with both the son and the wife, I did the only thing possible, I stormed out of the so called family home with Robby screaming at me. "I'll find you, you bastard." And it looked

 Maureen was going downhill rapidly, at night in bed, she would lay there crying, saying she needed to get away from this hell hole, we even started to look for somewhere to live. I was then contacted by a new man at the housing association, and to be honest, he was even worse than the schoolgirl they sent to interview us, he was arrogant and thought he was way above yours truly, so after Brian had had his heart attack I let rip, with this man, he emailed me saying he did not like to be threatened, and if I continued, he would drop the whole case, all I had said I hoped those at the Association were able to pray because if Brian died because of the problems going on at the Close, they would have blood on their hands. I also knew Brians daughter, she was livid with what was happening, and the fact nothing was being done to stop it, she told myself and some of the other neighbours, that if he dad died because of this, she would sue the company for her father's death, using negligence

 Maureen and I were getting on with our lives, and to be honest, life was good for us, we were getting our pension every week, I was getting my naval pension and my M.O.D. pension, so with all we were getting we had enough to live on, with a little to spare. I was getting a small hand out from the local council, but noticed, that every time my pension went up, the hand out went down by the same amount, so I stopped that, it meant tightening our belts for a year, but after that, we were doing well, and all the money that came into our little flat was ours, then last year, life totally changed for us. Our next door neighbour Graham who had been very ill, died, his front room wall was next to ours, one brick thick, plus a couple of wallboards, He was a great neighbour, we would talk when he was out on his little patio, he loved gardening, and turned his area outside his flat into a very nice flower and plant area. But he died in the June July, and the company who owned the block of flats

 Maureen and I have now been married for 30 years, and life has been very good, we started off as a married couple knowing each other, fully, and the only thing Maureen said for the first year, was that if I went off the rails, I would find my gear in black bin bags on the doorstep. But like I told her. "I am a one woman man, and as,  like all men, I will look at other women, but you have the right to stop me crossing the road to talk to her." But as I proved, Maureen was and is the only woman in my life, and over the years we did everything together. we went camping for two summers, we bought a camping trailer which we used for a couple of summers, then my wife said. "I have had enough of going on holiday, but still having to do the washing up, so next year, I want to go to a hotel and have a proper holiday." We went to Malta for a week. The only problem we did have, was flying, I am not the best when it comes to flying, Totally no problem if I can see those propel

My second marriage was, to be honest, was a total sham. I refuse to say her name because it's a marriage that I wish to forget, so I will only say, I jumped from the frying pan into the fire and got badly burned. She was I Jehovah's Witness, and as soon as we met, she wanted me to join her religious sect, and as someone who has always held religion as a good thing, I started to get involved, I liked what I read, I liked what I listened too, so I took it all in and joined her church. We got married, but I was told that when we made love, I had to wear protection, she said. "I have my family, I have no wish to have that stuff sloshing around inside me, and I don't want any more kids. So for the next seven years, I became a meal ticket for the wife and her son, who it seemed like all his food between two slices of bread, including his Sunday roast. As for our sex life, I was allowed a pack of three a month, and the wife soon learned how to force me into using all three in

 My marriage to Liz lasted for some 10 years, but it was not really good years, both my mother and father flew home to England for the wedding, they stayed in the U.K. for a month, and in that time my father took me to one side and told me that Liz's mother was trying to run our lives and I needed to get Liz away from her mother so that we could be a proper married couple. I was offered a two year posting in Hong Kong which I accepted, but by that time we had been married for some five months and I was beginning to have my doubt about this marriage. Liz was a lousy cook, she rarely cleaned our first flat always having the same excuse. "I feel tired, I was waiting for you to come home and help me." she refused to go shopping, the bag was too heavy, so in those first five months, I had to do a full days work, then come home, cook and clean, but I felt at the time that things would change, so I gave her the benefit of the doubt, and anyway, we would cuddle up at night, and t

 Before I continue, I would like to say, to all my readers, A  Very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, we have had lots of problems over this last year, but we will get through it. After the two weeks with Liz and her mother and father, I went back to my ship, although Liz and I had gotten engaged, I was having, second thought about the whole situation, her mother was, to be honest, was the sort of person who did not look on my sort as anything more than something to step on with her shoe, she asked so many questions, you would have thought I was in the dock being questioned by a barrister. So back on board, I sat and thought what I was doing. I did like Liz, she was fun, and we got on well, together, but that is as far as it went. Back on board, we got ready to sail again, we stored ship, took on fuel, and with me in the wheelhouse with the chief on the wheel, we left Portsmouth and headed for Gibraltar again, then it was on to Malta, through the Suez Canal and down the Red Sea int

 Having enjoyed a couple of weeks leave, I was moved around, to a couple of different ships, but I was also looking for someone to share my life with, I was getting older, and when on board ship, and the mail arrived on board, I was lucky if I got one letter in a fortnight, usually from mother, telling me how my sister was growing, and that everything was well at home. In the Navy, every month we would get a paper delivered to the messes, it was called The Navy News, it's still going strong, I do see it in Smiths and other paper shops. Anyway, inside the back page was a small set of adds, from girls looking for sailor to write to, and I saw this one girl who I kind of thought would do for me, we started to correspond with each other, and I found out her name was Elizabeth, she lived in Leamington Spa with her mother and father, an only child and was very happy to write to me. After some time, we agreed to meet, but the meeting did not go down too well, she took me home to meet mum

 We arrived back in the U.K two weeks before Christmas, back to Portland, and with the whole family coming to Portland to spend Christmas with us, Life was hectic but very enjoyable. In the January I went to Portland Top Hill S/M school, which for me was a fifteen minute walk, Kelvin went to a school in Weymouth, and during that time, both our parents sat Kelvin and I down saying they were planning to adopt a new sister for us. Now years later I was told by my mother, that father was having problems in the sexual department, but at 15, I was still somewhat innocent with regards that side of the girl boy relationship, it was only in the March, when they had chosen the baby they wanted, and were signing the final documents that something crazy happened, mother collapsed in the chair, and the on site doctor arrived to take a look at her, he then told my father. "better not sign those papers Mr Palmer, your wife is pregnant." So the papers were left unsigned and both my mother an