Of Supporters Rampant, Bezants, Wavy Bends and Achievements
I would not have been able to write the odd title of this story, if I had not once been a keen student of Heraldry. I was about 12 when I discovered Heraldry, the ancient and chivalrous art of the illumination (design) and emblazonment (description) of coats of arms. The lovely old Norman French language and cadence of a full heraldic emblazonment was enchanting to me. It felt like a rare and romantic skill to read, and then to be able to draw, solely from the description a shield bearing “Azure, a wavy bend sinister or; on a chief ermine, charged three bezants” . In Plain English: “A blue shield, with a wavy gold diagonal stripe oriented left up; and at the top third, a broad horizontal white band with little black tufts of fur, containing three small superimposed gold circles” (Pardon inaccuracies – I am recalling skills some 50 years old!).
Heraldry was a completely useless area of research but at 12 or so Read more
M/S Lundefjell
Early in February 1969 I left my job as forklift truck operator at a tobacco warehouse. I had given myself two weeks to find a ship to work my passage to Canada. I had arranged to fly with Air Canada on a fly now-pay later scheme sponsored by my grandfather if I was unsuccessful in finding a ship in that time. I had thought I would give emigration a try for 6 months, so it did not seem that I was going to leave for ever. I had partings with friends, some heart-achingly sad. My girlfriend and her mother were unhappy. I was comforted that a good friend was going to look after my girlfriend. (He ended up marrying her, and we have been close friends ever since). My brother David inherited my flat and furniture.
It may have been a Monday morning, but I recall it being foggy. I went down to the Docks and Read more
Of Taxes, Tobacco and “Them There Norwegian Ships”
I was approved by Canadian Immigration to emigrate to Canada in late 1968. But I had to find a way to get to there. I also had a large tax bill to pay. Britain’s tax authority had discovered that I had not paid tax on weekend income working at the BBC TV studios. A very unpleasant, bullying tax officer threatened me with the warning that if I left England without paying the tax I owed, I would be discovered by the Canadian government and sent back to England. I thought that unlikely but I was not of a criminal mind and did not want any trouble. So I had to earn more money to pay the bullies their rightful tithes.
I left my low-paying job as a trainee Systems Analyst at Cerebos Foods in the fall of 1968 and Read more
Why O Canada?
In 1965 and 1966, while in the 6th Form, I studied North America as the specialty for my “A” level GCE in Geography. I had no choice: our teacher, “Jessie” Whitehead, was passionate about North America, particularly Canada. She had never visited the USA or Canada, and would not until she retired a few years later and took an assignment as the personal assistant for a business man traveling North America. She died shortly afterward.
Because of Miss Whitehead, I became fascinated with Canada. It seemed such a large, open, Read more
Street Traffic: Rag and Bone Men, Grinders and Onion Sellers
We lived on King Edwards Gardens, In Acton. It was a typical West London road, crammed with narrowly separated two storey houses; detached they called them. It was a quiet and decent neighborhood then. It is probably still very nice, but expensive, now.
In the 1950’s and early 1960’s a parade of tradesmen, commercial folk, used to traffic down the road. Every now and again an old man, an old horse and an old cart, combined in a slightly unsavory ensemble, would creak along the street in the nice neighborhood, often leaving unnice turds in the street. “Raagboooonesss! Raagbooonesss!” the old man would yell, Read more
