Tales of Home [6]

They are very frosty

I may have to rub them vigorously to warm them up and get some life back into them if I want to have something worth showing come spring.

I found this quite evocative, somehow.

Yup it is- nice picture Blue.

I can see you in the rear view mirror Blue. You're closing fast!

we haven't actually had a Winter yet and all the flowers are popping up too early. like two months too early.

Friend took this picture of the Holy Loch- and assures that its untampered with, the sky really was this colour that morning-



And another friend took a boat trip out to the sugar boat, which is out in the Clyde, near to Gourock.
Heres the wiki entry on it-

'On the evening of 27 January 1974, a severe storm caused the vessel to drag her anchor while she was waiting at the Tail of the Bank to deliver sugar to the James Watt Dock in Greenock. Her captain ordered the engines to be started with the intention of running for the more sheltered waters of the Gareloch but before she could be brought to power she drifted onto the taught anchor chains of the BP tanker British Light. The tanker suffered no damage but her anchor chains holed the sugar boat below the waterline, allowing water to pour in.
Captayannis's captain, realising that water was flowing in so fast that she was in imminent danger of sinking, opted to beach her in the shallow waters over the sandbank and steered to the desired spot where she stuck fast. The pilot boats, the tug Labrador and Clyde Marine Motoring's Rover came to assist. The vessel heeled over so far that it was possible for the crew to jump onto the deck of the diminutive passenger vessel. 25 of the crew were taken ashore aboard the Rover, but the Captain and four crewmen waited on the Labrador, standing off the stricken vessel. The ship finally succumbed the next morning, rolling onto her side. She has lain there ever since.
Through time Captayannis has become 'home' to marine life and birds. She has never been removed as confusion surrounds the identity of her owners and insurers - no-one accepts responsibility for her removal.'

I guess the sea normally tastes salt, but around your parts it must taste sweet.

Nice picture.

Pettytyrant101 wrote:Through time Captayannis has become 'home' to marine life and birds. She has never been removed as confusion surrounds the identity of her owners and insurers - no-one accepts responsibility for her removal.'

For the record, I was nowhere near the Clyde in 1974, and I can prove it if forced to.

And I can confirm as Davids legal advisor, that he does not in any way, shape or form own that boat in his own name.

{{{{{Thank you for that, Blue! BTW is there a statute of limitations on liability in Scotland? I'm asking out of idle curiosity, you understand..... }}}}}}

5 years in Scotland. Given it was sandbanked in 1974 you should be ok!

The bill is in the mail.

wow a purple sky, never seen one of those before.

And I always thought it was just a side effect of all my buckie drinking!

It does look pretty science fictiony.  

Pettytyrant101 wrote:Friend took this picture of the Holy Loch- and assures that its untampered with, the sky really was this colour that morning-

Nice, but weird Purple sky...

It seems everyone on this forum, other than me, lives within walking distance of fantastic scenery...

It does rarely go that sort of colour- Ive seen that particular view under some simply incredible skies colourwise. I grew up in the village which is on the left bank of the loch (though out of picture frame to the left).
Thats the same loch the US Navy base was on and a whole bunch of nukes. Its very, very deep in the middle- which is why they used it, the subs could get in and out unseen by Soviet eyes (that is when the soviet sub wasnt just following them right behind to test their latest silent running kit!)

Its a weird one- I grew up in the 70's there, so it was both exciting- there was a colossal ship out there, constant traffic to and from it, Americans!! Everywhere. With a base they let you go into, watch the basketball in the huge gym. Go and watch their films in the cinema- I saw, or rather didnt see, Rocky 3 in there- the one where he fights the Russian, at the height of the Cold War, me, two mates, and about 40 giant marines who stood for the entire fights and threw every punch and chanted USA a lot.
Or play ten pin bowling, as they also built a bowling alley.

Right down towards the head of the loch, on the left in that picture was Eagles Court 1 and 2- which was the American housing schemes. The population of which was larger than our entire village. My local primary school the Scots were in the minority, every year we played the American kids in two matches- one football the other American football.
And the Navy pumped a fortune into the local community- they pretty much paid for the primary school.
And of course they imported America basically- local fields suddenly turned into baseball parks.
On fourth of July Dunoon Stadium bizarrely celebrated America breaking away from the Empire, but we all celebrated anyway because they they made mountains of burgers and hot dogs- all brought in from the US, and oil drums full of ice and cans of Mt Dew, Dr Peeper and other exotic tastes. And then they gave it all away free and finished the whole thing with a massive fireworks display.
So all that was just amazing growing up, so much more diverse than normal life in a small Scottish village on the coast and I got to interact with a much wider range of people than is the normal (although I do for a while grow up in the mistaken belief all black people were giants with rippling muscles and very short hair as 90% of the black people I saw as a child were hulking huge marines. I so wanted to be one).

On the other hand we got daily drills on what to do in the event of a nuclear attack (the true answer was die of course we were ground zero and better still on the Russian list of priority targets we were designated number 1). Protesters and the like were a regular feature and as my Dad worked for the American Navy we got a bit of stick off them occasionally, and we also got secret serviced on and off as my Dad went up in promotions- phone tapping used to be so crude! You always got a hollow sound, like you were speaking into a huge room, it was a dead giveaway.
And all the politics of the Cold War was very real, and constantly present and you were very aware that at any moment a siren might go off letting you know you had four minutes left to live. And thats a pretty weird thing to grow up knowing.

are there still Americorns in the base?