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 into the Indian Ocean. We did the odd exercise on route, and in the evenings we would drift along so that the crew could have a swim. We now had a skipper and a Jimmy who were able to work together as a team and the crew would do anything for them to make sure we were the best we could be. Commander King or Kingy as we called him was a fantastic guy, he would talk to everyone, at there level, and tried to get to know as many people as he could. In those days, the ship's company were given a tot of rum at twelve o clock, better known as up spirits, and if it was your birthday, everyone in your mess gave you a sip of your tot, if you hade friends in other messes, then you would be invited to there mess for a sip so that by the time you had gotten back to your own mess to have your own tot, you were pretty well out of it. the old captain would insist that you did your days work or duty without question. But Kingy, he did something different, he had a birthday book, and at six every night he would tell us what the ship had done that day, and how good or bad it had been, he would then tell us what was planned for the following day, then he would say something like. And tomorrow is Leading Seaman Palmer's birthday, please look after him, and Palmer not too much grog, my present to you is the afternoon off. This made everyone on board aware, that it was Palmer's birthday, he would get a little drunk, but after some food, he would be allowed to go to his bunk, and sleep it off, and whilst doing so, his messmates would keep an eye on him, and the ships doctor would also check him out, it meant, that Palmer was safe. it had been known for sailors who had a birthday on board ship, go to there mess and sleep, never to wake up again, which sounds bad, but it did happen.
We sailed for Singapore and had some time ashore, followed by a lot of exercises, then just before Christmas were were told, that we would be having Christmas in Hong Kong, something I was looking forward to, my mother and father, were now in Hong Kong, my father was the manager of the China Fleet Club, and it would be nice to see them both and my young sister. When in Hong Kong, I was granted leave over Christmas, so spent my time at the club, both mother and father had a huge flat on the second floor overlooking the harbour. As the number one son, in Hong Kong, I was taken out by the staff of the China Fleet Club to a very nice restaurant called the Kings Garden, we all sat around this table having a Chinese Chow, 13 courses, with soup, fish and meat dishes all laid out on the table. Before we set off for this chow, my mother took me to one side and told me that the Chinese play this silly game at the chow, your drink is filled, and you are asked to either Yum Sing or Yam Sing, one means taking a drink, the other means finish the glass off in one, she then asked me how much I could drink, I told her I usually drank a couple of pints, then went on to spirits at a slower pace. She said we will stick to beer, but I will slip the waiter who serves you, and it will always be the same one, a few Hong Kong dollars to change your drink to Ginger beer, nobody will know the difference around the table, and you son can walk away looking and feeling like you did when you walked in, all you have to do, is give me the nod when you want to change over." Mr Ma was my father's right hand man at the club, Chinese wise, but mother did not like him at all, so he tended to keep out of mother's way, seemed that when mother joined father, they put on a chow for her, and as the evening progressed she felt these fingers on her knee, as they moved higher, mother did the only thing she could do, she stabbed the back of the hand with the chopsticks she was holding, Mr Ma who was sat beside her, didn't say anything, but there were tears in his eyes and he kept rubbing his hand. At the end of her chow, mother spoke to Mr Ma and told him every quietly, that if he ever touched her again, except to shake hands she would cut off his meat and two veg, he had to ask father what she meant, in the office the following day. When my brother went out there, he was given a chow, but he got so drunk, they had to carry him home. To get to the flat you had to go along a passageway to the front door, Kelvin was sick all the way to the door of the flat, but they put him to bed, and my mother with a bucket and mop dressed in a pinny over her long evening dress made to clean up her sons vomit, when a staff member saw my mother, he went and called some members of staff to help her, even take over, but my mother was adamant, she told the staff to carry on with there duties and she would clean up after her son, however, she again confronted Mr Ma, and in his own small office told him his fortune, which I think he felt was not looking very good. So when I had my chow, it went extremely well. At the Kings Garden on the night, there was a show on, and a dance troupe, one of the dancers really took my breath away, and Mr Ma saw it, he asked me if I liked her, and I nodded, at the end of the chow, I did not go home with mother and father, I went with the girl, and got back to the club just after breakfast, a good chow, and a good night afterwards. On boxing day, mother and father put on a party at the flat, for all their friends, and they had loads,I was introduced to the chief gunnery instructor at H.M.S. Tamar with his wife and daughter Mary, she was beautiful but told me she never spoke to sailors, so I said fine and walked away, I headed for the bar and acquired another drink. I didn't know anybody, so stood at the window of the balcony looking across the harbour. It was then that Mary's mother came up to me saying that Mary was sat in the lounge crying her eyes out saying that you were men to her, I told her what had taken place, and was asked to go and talk to her.
Mary and I started going out with each other from the 27th and found we got on well together, in fact, we got on so well, I wrote to Liz, and told her that I had found someone else and that the engagement was over, The ship remained in Hong Kong for almost a month, and in that time both Mary and I were planning for the future, even to the extent, we were given time to make love with each other, and it was perfect, in fact, it was so good, we both realised that we needed to try again, just to make sure we had it right, and we agreed that this was what we both wanted. We sailed from Hong Kong and headed back to Singapore, then it was back to England, I was still getting letters from Liz, she refused to accept the situation, and Mary was also writing to me, saying that she would only marry me when I was rated up to Petty Officer, which I felt was way down the line, so we sort of stopped writing to each other and went our separate ways. Liz, on the other hand, kept on writing, she more or less let things go over her head and told me that the engagement still stood, she was still wearing the ring I put on her finger, and that she still wanted to marry me.
I leftH.M.S. Leopardon the 10th June 1968 and joined H.M.S. Osprey in Portland, I joined Flag Officer Sea Training Staff as the gunner's yeoman helping with some of the main sea training exercises, like the Thursday war, and gun running exercises held on a Tuesday.
Liz and I were married in the July, it was a crazy wedding, we had the reception at a family farmhouse, and while I was talking to some of the guests, I heard my mother in law say to her sister and brother in law. I will give this marriage no more than six months. It did last a little longer, but was a marriage of lies and bone idleness, lies from her mother, and idleness on the part of Liz.
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