59th anniversary start of National Service ....

8th May 2017  (Monday) .... 09.00     It doesn’t seem like 59 years ago since I set off to do my National Service.... but it is.   I remember meeting Jimmy Sneezby at
Er ... 'Soldiers' at Aldershot 1958.
the bus  stop in Colinsburgh, and he decided  go to Kinneuchar Station to see me off on the Edinburgh train.    A lot has changed since then:   for a start everything is 59 years older;  and there’s nae Kinneuchar Station.... nae East Neuk railway line in fact.    I have never been back to Aldershot, though I did enjoy my time there.... three months intensive training, to turn us into soldiers.    Soldiers? .... Hmmmmm.

We have a nice morning... a bit breezy from the Northeast, but we can cope with that .... stay out of the wind.

21.00      Once again we have had a ‘bright and sunny’ day... and yet again we have been plagued by the Northeast wind taking the temperature down by a good few degrees.    With the wind blowing quite hard in the morning (F4-5) I didn’t go out on the bike;  instead Jimmy and I went to Leven to do some shopping at Lidl’s.   
I did get the bike out in the afternoon .... it was still breezy, and cold, but I needed to hand in a prescription, .... and I fancied a wee explore through the Estate.    It was b
Er ...'Soldier' in Cyprus 1959.
raw when I got into the estate... I was sheltered by the wind, and ended up biking round to the ‘picnic table’ and wandering around that corner.     I fell off the bike when the front wheel got stuck in a rut, but it was a ‘sort of’ controlled ‘fall off’:   undignified  yes, but nae damage done, and nobody around to have a laugh at my expense.

The wind is forecast to be light and variable in direction tomorrow morning .... eventually ending up Westerly for a day or so.   I will be glad of that change in direction, even if it is only for one day ... east winds hamper my ‘style’ something awfie .... and bring on migraines.    I haven’t got a plan for tomorrow, but I’m sure something will attract my
Elie Estate.
attention.... actually something already has;   I’ll get ‘up’ early as there should be reflections if there’s nae wind.    Having looked up the tide times, getting ‘up’ early would be a waste of time;   the tide will be out in the morning .... high tide isn’t until 14.45.   Oh well I’ll have a ‘sleep in’.... haven’t had one of those for a while.


Photographs : Top – folk could sleep easy in their beds in 1958, knowing that ‘The Troops’ were on the alert!... Next – one of ‘The Troops’ in 1959 (Cyprus)... Next
Elie estate.
two photos .... a quiet corner of Elie Estate.

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