13 May 2008

13 May

There are some dates in a person's life that stand out as being memorable. In my case, six dates come to mind. They are: 18 March 1941 - my date of birth. 14 November 1964 - I got married. 23 January 1967, 13 June 1968 and 24 November 1969 - Andrew, Annette and Nick's arrival dates in this world. That is five, so what is the sixth you my ask?

13 May 1958 was the day I signed on in the Royal Air Force. I was one of about 155 callow youths who joined the 89th Entry, Royal Air Force Apprentices at RAF Halton. For those with a mathematical background, you will note that that is 50 years ago today.

Some of those boys are still in touch and some of them will have met up today at the National Memorial Arboretum to remember that momentous day (for some of us) 50 years ago. Regrettably, I was not able to attend but I have been thinking of friends made all those years ago and hoping that they have had a good reunion. I shall be at the next Annual Reunion at Tunbridge Wells in October.

Instead of celebrating, I have spent the day, amongst other things, in climbing up and down a ladder, cleaning the guttering. This is a soul destroying task slightly worse than cleaning windows, which I hate. I then had to fix the exhaust on the Ride-on mower before cutting the 0.81 acre field alongside the house. The Strimmer came next and I would like to think that I am getting better with it but the results leave a lot to be desired. In the meantime, Maria has been hard at work with a myriad of different things including washing, ironing and loads of weeding. We finally packed up at about 7pm, had some tea and settled down for the evening. For me that means catching up with the Blog, sorting the e-mails and tidying up some Family History.

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