Tricks that old racers get up to after retirement

[jackiewilson]

Now, if you walked into a swanky hotel —— miles off the beaten track——- and you’d never been there before—————- first thing you see is this life sized bust of ????——- can’t quite put my finger on where I’ve seen him before!
Every time I walk past he’s looking straight at me——-frightens the crap out of me !
Roger——— remind you of anybody?——- Doreen, help please?

[jackiewilson]

View from the the window at SOUTH SANDS SALCOMBE—— low tide.

[jackiewilson]

Oh well, don’t look like anyone’s coming out to play on “Tricks” today——- it’s clouded over and the temperature dropped significantly. Frankly my dear!!!!
Theres a local “artisan” who’s good with a Welder———- has a touch of imagination—— I say that, as he’s asking £70 for a four inch tin frog and £800 for a two foot peacock made out of old knife, forks and spoons—— in less than a day!! All his stuff is on display in the hotel foyer!
Catching the ferry into Salcombe this morning——- plan on staying there all day, having lunch out and packing a picnic for this evening.


Thats the ferry ——- it trundles out into deep water———- docks the ferry boat——-transfers the passengers——- backs out again!?
you wouldhave thought it was easier to build a pier! But this is rural Devon !
Right, time to see if they can rustle up a half decent “English” breakfast!

[jackiewilson]

Never did get a full English breakfast——- did have the best eggs benedict since Ceasers Palace 1970—
Caught the funny ferry to Salcombe——- bit of a let down really——- Rag and stick craft and an abundance of “blow ups”——hundreds of the poxy things !all designer shops and stupidly priced boutiques, selling all the useless things you never wanted in the first place—— Fatface—-White Stuff —Joules—-Helly Hansen etc, you name it, they’re all here. A poor mans ALDBURGH really!
Tried to find a decent place for lunch—— failed miserably—— there is no such animal in Salcombe!.
Found a crab shack in the next cove called Giggling Prawn ? —- Great lunch at a reasonable price .
Had a look in the real estate window——- prices start around the mill and a half, all the way up to eleven million????
Damn place is more expensive than Martha’s Vineyard or Cape Cod ?

[jackiewilson]

Taking a trip to Dartmouth today——— will look in on Slapton Sands on the way back—— not just to please Phill—— mainly because of a duty of care I suppose !
Throughout history there have been huge cock ups, which have been hailed as Great Victories ! Or “HONOURABLE DEFEATS” ———- Look no further than Agincourt—-Rourkes Drift—-Waterloo—- Trafalgar—— Little Big Horn—-American Civil War—- Dunkirk—— Stalingrad to mention just a few!

Then there’s Slapton Sands ?——- nearly a thousand US personnel lost their lives ——- mainly due to cock ups by senior ranking officials. Incident was kept quiet until well after the end of WW2,—— but it
was simply lack of communication between the top brass——- another case of gross incompetence and lack of common sense!
Afraid I’m not qualified to pass judgment——- this is just IMHO——. (In my humble opinion) !!
Both the first and second world wars were run by wealthy politicians who went to Oxbridge, Eton Harrow and Sandhurst!
None of them had the one thing needed to fight a war—— common sense!
In both wars the Americans intervened——- ordinary men —— just like the English and commonwealth troops. Then the top brass came in—— commanders. Who went to Yale, Harvard, Stanford and WestPoint. ——— they didn’t bring much common sense in either!

Everybody wanted to be top dog——-Churchill— Stalin- Roosevelt—- Eisenhower—Montgomery—- DeGaulle (who spent the war in an underground bunker in London)

Get back to you after the trip to Slapton——- time for two of the threeSSSS.

[mr fun]

[QUOTE=jackiewilson;3079391]

Rich Luhers ?

[jackiewilson]

[QUOTE=mr fun;3079760]

Rich Luhers ?

Ya know what—— that’s exactly what struck me, but everyone’s keeping Schtum !

[jackiewilson]

Slaptom Sands——continuation —-
Visited Torcross and Slapton Sands this morning——- fine, dry sunny,—— so why did I come away feeling sad, gloomy and depressed?
Not a lot to show that nearly 900 Americans were “lost” while on a training exercise prior to the Normandy D-Day landings on Utah beach.
Theres a rusty tank in Torcross———- also what looks to be a huge memorial platform! I don’t have any idea what it is —- or will be in the future. But I’m sure it will be easy to find out on the google site.

Now where we’re we?—-ah yes, WW2 and it’s leaders——- Pettain was a First World War One veteran who was in charge of a country that was overrun by nazis ——- who were putting villagers up and down the country to the firing squads——- he was pleading for their lives via diplomatic channels, but of course the Germans just laughed at his efforts. Meanwhile De Gaulle was safely hiding away in England waiting to jump to the head of the victory procession into Paris and claim he was a hero?
Rest of the tale is history——- you can look it all up on the dot-dot.
American President Roosevelt didn’t want to enter the war——- but his economic advisers reminded him that the country was still in depression—— a war would get industry moving and the economy would grow,.
England had an empire and was good for 192 billion it owed the USA at the end of the war!
It took the best part of two decades before the bill was finally settled!
Rationing did not end in Britain unti 1953—- eight years after the war finished.
But what price tag can you put on the thousands of U.S. servicemen that lost their lives in the conflict?

Like I said at the start——- this is purely my point of view——-Ordinary man in the street has no say in the matter——- politicians pull the strings——- they don’t fight the battles.
Officers and gentlemen learned how to fight a war from books they read at university——- the commodity they All lacked was “common sense”.

What has all this got to do with the cost of a loaf of bread at the bakery today——- France in particular — Germany and a few others have very short and selective memories!
Britain is a democracy and held a referendum to leave the EU—— we voted to leave—— not by much—- but the margin does not matter——- the vote must be honoured. Or democracy loses its way.
Next time Europe loses its way and the Russkies or the Chinks start throwing ballistic nuclear crap at them———— who do think they’ll come running to, to bail them out again? You guessed it——— Good ole USA and G.B.
Maybe we should start charging France and Germany some of what WW2 cost us, instead of them threatening us with dire consequences should we not have an easy Brexit.

Enough of all this ——- promise not to mention it again.
Back home again tomorrow when I can start churning out a few more items of “ tricks that retired old racers get up to” again.

All of you out there, please bear in mind, the Above comments are my own—— no one else’s!

[powerabout]

2006 was last payment for the lend lease program for the brits

[jackiewilson]

2006 was last payment for the lend lease program for the brits

Took us sixty years to pay it off——- but we did—— a little matter of “honour” Pilgrim—— you don’t often hear that word these days!

[jackiewilson]

Dartmouth——- different kettle of fish altogether. Nowhere near as yuppified and pretentious as SALCOMBE. Plenty of places to eat, lots of history, beautiful setting right on the river Dart and house prices more realistic.
Any colonials thinking of visiting south west England would do well to visit Dartmouth, it takes a lot of beating!
Last night down this neck of the woods—— off home tomorrow—— back to the shop and sanity and reality.

[FUJIMO]

[FUJIMO]

...I think you might be on to somethin' Jackie...

[jackiewilson]

I knew damn well he reminded me of someone—- just couldn’t nail who it was—— I just needed a nudge and all becomes clear!
Ready to hit the road for home——- four days away suits me fine.
Been thinking all night long ‘bout which direction I’m headed once I get back home—— still tend to favour boats, but I’ve come across some interesting concepts ——- from frogs and birds to coffee tables and ridiculous.
come to the conclusion—— I’m better than some—-not as bad as I first thought—— but need to be less conservative—— grab the bull by the nuts — so to speak. Or was it horns?

See Europe got a 10-6 lead in the Ryder cup match——- but , there’s always a sting in the tail somewhere.
Would have loved to see Phil and Tiger come into form and spank some of the newbies—— maybe it’s not too late——- let’s see what today brings,
Many a slip—— between cup and lip!

[jackiewilson]

Damn—— who DOES that remind me of????