Chapter 2. The run from Malta to Aden was, apart from the sand storm in the Sues Canal was uneventful, the sand storm did cause some problems, Jonny was on duty as port side bridge lookout, he saw what he thought was a huge cloud bearing down on them, he reported it to the officer of the watch, who realised what it was, within minutes the whole of the port side of the ship was being bombarded by sand, at very high speed, by the time the ship had gotten to the bitter lakes, the whole of the port side of the ship was down to bare metal and looked very shiny, but once in Aden, where the ship stayed for a week, the port side of the ship was repainted and looked very smart.
On the run to Singapore, they joined up with other ships including an aircraft carrier, so it was a case of exercising all the way, with gunnery being the main thing on the agenda, with the carrier having aircraft, the four frigates and two destroyers were given gunnery practise almost daily, and by the time the squadron arrived in Singapore, they were all glad of a bit of free time. Barrosa also needed her boilers cleaned, so that the ship's company were told would last four to six weeks, during that time, the ship worked a four watch system, as long as a quarter of the ship's company were on board, the rest could go ashore after 12 midday.
Jonny had saved a load of money on the trip out to Singapore, so for him, a walk into the nearest town was going to be fantastic. Walking into Sembawang village took about 30 minutes, along Admiralty Road, then it was a right turn into the village its self, and all along the left hand side of the road were bars, shops and places to eat. After the walk, Jonny made his way to one of the bars called The Candlelight, sitting down he ordered a Tiger beer, it was cold and after the first drink felt much better. Jonny was then offered company to sit with him, but he soon realised, that every drink she had cost him a dollar, or two and six in old English money, and when he tried the drink himself he realised she was drinking cold tea and not whiskey as the girl claimed it was. Jonny was not going to spend his hard earned money on little glasses of cold tea, so if this girl wanted a drink, she could either have beer, or a coke, she refused either so Jonny finished off his own drink and walked out, she did try and stop him saying that when he bought her a drink, she was given a small disk, and at the end of the night, each disk was equivalent to money and that was her pay for the night, but again Jonny thought it was daylight robbery on the sailors that frequented the bars, and so he headed back to the dockyard and his ship.
Over the six weeks, the boilers were cleaned as planned, and the ship was repainted from top to bottom so that when she left Singapore and headed out into the South China Sea, she was ready for anything. But, this was a new sort of ship, and everyone in the Far East wanted to see what the British Royal Navy was now using to combat air attacks, as this seemed to be the new thing, war wise, the old standoff and blow each other out of the water from 21 miles was it would seem old hat, now it was all going to be done with jet fighters, so with Barrosa, the idea was, in wartime, she would go 300 miles ahead of the fleet, and that would give the fleet commander time, to get his own aircraft off, but also to scatter the fleet if needs be. The Barrosa had a life expectancy of some 8 minutes, any minute over that time just meant, the other side hadn't found you.
So, the Barrosa was sent first to Hong Kong, she would remain in port for three weeks so that navies of the world could see what the Brits had up there sleeve. The ship entered harbour at mid morning, by 11 am she was secure and the gangway was in place, and as the ship was still working summer routine, leave started at midday.
Jonny went ashore and headed for the China Fleet Club, where he had some dinner in the junior rates lounge, and then headed into a place called Wanchi which although the main bar area also had some fantastic shops. As Jonny was walking along he suddenly found himself in front of a music store, and in the window, his eyes caught sight of an electric keyboard, the likes of which he had never seen before. Walking in, he asked to see the keyboard and try it out. The shop owner took Jonny over to one of the keyboards all ready to play, he switched it on and allowed Jonny to sit at the stool. Jonny ran his fingers over the keys, then started to play, as he played, the shop keeper told him, if he pressed this button or that button, or dropped this switch or that one, he could make it sound like any instrument in an orchestra, or by pressing and dropping switches the keyboard could sound like a full orchestra, if he wanted an 8 piece band, he could even do that. Jonny was very impressed, but on asking the price found out it was way out of his budget, he did try to barter, but the shop keeper was having none of it, so after thanking the shop keeper he left the store and headed for a well earned drink.
Outside of a bar called The Wild Stallion he saw an American sailor giving one of the Chinese girls a hard time, it looked as if he had already hit her twice, and as he bought his hand back to hit her again, Jonny grabbed his hand, and in his usual calm quiet voice said. "Sorry my friend, I don't believe in men hitting women, so why don't you go back into the bar with your shipmates and have a beer to cool you down". "She's a slut, she tried to rob me, bloody slant eyed bitch". he turned and walked into the bar. The girl looked at Jonny, she was no older than himself. "Thank you". she said. "I no bar girl, I walked past bar when sailor grab me, he try to drag me inside, I thank you, I thank you". "It's alright". Jonny said. "I do understand, not every girl in Hong Kong is a bar girl, and looking at you, I can see that is very true. Look, I need a drink and something to eat, why don't you join me". "You not try pick me up". she said. "No". Jonny said, "I had some food in the China Fleet Club, and to be honest it had no real taste to it, and you being a nice Chinese girl, may be able to point me in the right direction to getting a nice meal, and a decent cup of tea or coffee". "Ok, I take". then grabbing Jonny by the hand she lead him along the main road to a very small tea house, on the second floor Jonny found himself in a very plush room with tables and chairs, there were tablecloths on the tables and in the background Jonny could hear the sound of music, not Chinese music, but music from a dance band that he seemed to recognise, but couldn't put a name to. Helping the girl to sit down, he sat opposite her, as they chatted, he found out her name was Ling, and she was 17, she worked with her father in his shop most days, but today, she had gone into Victoria to sort out a banking problem. When the food arrived, it was fantastic, giant prawns in batter, followed by a sort of scrambled egg with smaller prawns and chicken in rice, and when Ling put some soi sauce on Jonny's food, it tasted even better.
With his stomach full to bursting, Jonny asked Ling if she could arrange a cup of coffee for him, she did and again it tasted ok, sat back in there seats the two of then talked about almost everything, Jonny talked about his naval career and what he planned to achieve, and Ling talked about her own future. "My aim in life is to find a man who will love me, and treat me properly, American men are brash and overbearing, Chinese men treat girls as items, they are there to work, they are there to do the bidding of there men and nothing more. So Jonny, what about you Englishmen, what are you really like, you seem kind enough,you did help me out of a bad situation. so, what's your story". "Well, Jonny started to say. "My mother and father had me late in life, my father was killed in an accident at work, but we don't talk about it, as for my mother, well we don't talk any more, not since I joined the Royal Navy, which I might add, I love". "Jonny, you have girl at home". "No Ling, I don't have a girl at home, in fact, I have never had a girlfriend, I joined the navy at 15, and now at 17 I am here in Hong Kong and life is just being to get exciting". Jonny looked at his watch, it was 10-45 and he had to get back to his ship, Jonny was one of the unlucky ones, he had to be back on board ship by midnight. "Ling, can I walk you home". "No need, I take taxi". In the main street, Ling and Jonny were saying goodbye. "I enjoy tonight". Ling said, "We can meet again maybe". "I would love that". Jonny said, "I am duty tomorrow, how about Saturday midday". "Ok, I meet you at main gate of naval base, I wait outside wall". As she hailed a taxi, she leaned up and kissed Jonny on the cheek. "You nice man, I like". then jumping into the taxi, she was gone. Jonny walked back to his ship, he felt very good, and his life was taking on a whole new twist.
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