h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

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(A2304253)

Hallo, Mr Mee -- thanks for pointing me towards the current colloborative articles...I ought to write about my dad's LST - he spent his war years circling the Mediterrenean ferrying supplies about for both the US and UK military. Judging from his diary, he spend most of his time keeping the old thing and its generator running!

Once he was back in the States, but still in the military, he was part of the motor pool, and I have many photos of him with the various cars, jeeps, and trucks on which he worked.

I think you might get on with him very well -- he has a nice car to get around in, but he has always had a passion for old Chevrolet trucks, usually 1950s models. I can't remember him not being happy tinkering around with these old things -- they ran quite well, although not up to motorway speeds, and looked a terror. He's 81, and still drives his current one.

I hate to disappoint, but I don't speak like a gangster...

cheers,
Carey

Hello Carey,
Welcome back, we have spoken before as I remember the dogs sheep and cats. I guess you writing buddies are pretty busy with the stories coming on site lately.
The exciting bit was being able to get Photo's on the site at last and I did post some which take some finding as I have so much material on here now.
I do have one of myself in the middle East days that your Dad would probably recognise. I spent some time dumping ammunition off those Bum boats when in Port Said. When this is finished I will find the story and post the number for you to peruse my elegant self and all the comments about knees have been made by Helen (cheeky girl) and other lady members on site.
You have to remember my Dad struggled for years with under powered hand tipped trucks trying to make a living. Those Opel trucks were light years ahead of anything we had at the time, a heater in the cab for one thing.
It would pull the other trucks off a sticky site with no trouble at all and carried more too. The twin ram tipper unit made light work of unloading and I could handle it young as I was.
Speed was not an issue as on our narrow twisting country roads the official speed limit of 20mph seemed fast though Dad would get up to 30mph on a straight bit.
From an early age I had to help Dad with the maintenance as he would come in Saturday afternoon and it had to be back on the road Monday. I could grease round change oils and clean filters at 11 onwards and in time change plugs and points then tune the engine. I loved tinkering too but it was serious to us we had to keep the trucks running.
We had nothing go wrong with the Opel but it was a boon when the Canadians arrived with their Chevrolet's. Apparently they were a straight take of from Chevy's built in an American built factory in Germany. Our Bedford trucks were American GMC's only they put a smaller engine in it for us.
That truck gave me the experience to go into Engineering and over the years I drove almost everything that could go on or off the road. My army unit repaired armoured vehicles among other things.
I still drive but unlike your Dad do not have a truck now it is a Ford car with all mod cons and I get it maintianed in the service shop, my spanner days are long gone. We would probably have much to talk about when it came to vehicles.
When I was in America seeing my Daughter in California I came across a pre-war Buick in perfect condition. My self and a cloured Gentleman who had once been military talked and inspected his car for nearly an hour and parted bosom buddies, my wife and daughter were not best pleased though.
I am not sorry you do not speak Gangster speak as I never really understood it while watching it on the screen as a kid. Now Cowboy and Indian! yes I understood that OK.
Regards Frank.

Carey,
Those stories you may like are:-
(A2097867) Its Over.
(A2553761) The Dance Hall.
Both have pictures and are an insite into the way we lived at that time.
Regards Frank.

Hallo! Hope all is well.

The sheep are much happier now that they have been shorn at last. Of course, in the days leading up to the shearing, the weather was miserable, hot and humid. Now that they are frolicking au naturelle, the weather has gone to chilly and damp...

Thanks awfully for the links to your stories -- such a balance of humour and then quite moving thoughts and wishes.

My mum is soon to be 75 (next month), and your write in a way similar to her own sentiment -- she has commented that having lived through a Depression, then a war, she is very sad at the terrible times now in the world; she's said that she worries about her grandchildren being young now, what their future may hold in uncertain times...

As for your story of the dance palaces -- oh, I wish my mum and you had known each other! She absolutely loved to dance, and my dad couldn't stand it! When we were kids, she would put 78s on the hi fi and she would make us do all the jitterbug steps with her -- she would lead of course, and throw us all over the room. She'd still be doing it now but for a slight health condition. She loves to talk of being a young teen in the 40s during and after the war, being too poor to afford to go to the dance halls, so every Saturday she and her friends would search out wedding receptions, and dance until the wedding party realised this group of kids didn't belong either to the bride or groom! And off they would go to another party.

It is a pity that she was either too young, or then too poor to go into the competitions, as from what I understand from aunties, mum was a fab dancer.

I must send along your dance hall story to my mum; I think it will bring quite a smile to her face.

Perhaps you know of the song 'Come Dancing' by the Kinks? It was written by Ray Davies, their lead singer (who is 60 on the 21st June, actually) as a lovely tribute to his much older sisters (by as much as 16 years in one case) who went out stepping every Saturday night with their boyfriends.

Shan't natter -- have been reading quite a lot of stories on the site of late; it is wonderful that people are adding their photos (and no I did not giggle at your nobby knees!) and that there was such a wonderful response about D Day stories.

Am off to bed as I must go to the library tomorrow, and where I live at present, that is a 200 mile round trip!

cheers,
Carey

Hello Carey,
I too remember my Mother hugging me and crying "what kind of world have we brought you into" at 75 and still ticking it cannot have been so bad.
We do worry about our Grandchildren and the way the world is today only they are not in the least worried as I was not at the time.
The exuberance and confidence of youth carries us over the tidal waves of life and into the calmer seas beyond. Man or woman need challenges, they find life boring without them.
Dancing was pure escapism, as the war dragged on things got short and those few hours in a world of make believe were the safety valve that relieved the pressure.
It was also a great leveller I was a mere lad but could dance and that got me many places my friends never got. In a world with a shortage of males the ladies latched onto any one who could dance and that was the way to learn. The mixture of dances with what we Called old fashioned modern and South American was also a welcome change to most ladies as the men usually managed Quickstep Foxtrot and Waltze. We often had the whole floor when a Tango or Rhumba was played and surprisingly enough when they played the Viennese Waltze, I loved that and we often got an ovation at the end. It was no wonder they had to widen the door to get my head in.
Todays kids lose themselves in Computers and Walkmans or fashion. To me that is sad, will they look back and talk about the good times they had as youngsters I wonder.
Your Mum probably has the same outlook on life I have, enjoy it all as the bad times are usually just around the corner.
Go put woolly jumpers on those sheep Carey and 200 miles round journey to the library I walk to mine.
Regards Frank.

Hallo! Gosh, I envy you -- I wish I could walk to the library. This is at the University of Virginia, where I did my graduate work, and in those days I could walk there -- and never realised how lovely that was! And the worst bit is I am permitted only 25 books at a time -- a bit tricky when trying to write this paper. Fortunately the lady was kind, and I was only 3 books over, so she waived the limit. I've found several texts quite interesting and relevant to my research; one, however, is written in such stiff and esoteric terms -- it appears almost to be some sort of code. I'll never succeed as an acedemic; my writing actually makes some bit of sense!

You know, that is interesting, your observation on what the different generations look back on. I am 38, and I've read sociological studies of my generation, and then the next one after me, and the researcher discovered that quite a number of people of my generation spoke almost exclusively of television shows they remembered growing up, with great fondness, but spoke very little of *actual* experiences -- when asked, what sorts of things did they do with their families, it would frequently be limited to looking at television, again.

I spoken to my niece and her friends on occasion, who are all around 15 years old, and they seem to know quite a lot of what is going on in the world, because of the internet, but as you say, don't seem affected much by it. This is not to say such a response is universal, and of course there are people who are quite involved and aware of the world situation. But my niece's indifference is very strange to me -- both to current events and history (she seemed to find it extremely strange I had interests in history; she couldn't imagine how such a field could occupy anyone for any length of time...)

Strange stuff...

cheers,
Carey

Hi Carey,
The good news is the main library with a massive reference section is only two miles away and the University of Durham Stockton annex is only two and a half miles away so I can indulge as much as I want.
I did my last study course at fifty at the Middlesbrough College and they could not drag me out of the reference library with a tractor for those 26 weeks. I had a table stacked with books full of bits of paper with notes on and the librarians were forbidden to move them. I am a big lad so they took note.
A lot of my reference work can be accessed by computer through the Learn Direct courses I am signed up for and this gives me a lot of information I need. I keep telling my Grandchildren when they ask why I do it, 75 is only half my life span there is plenty to do yet.
My grandchildren all doing or completing college are interested in world events and often comment when we are sat eating and dicussing things. The television goes off and will not go back on until all guests leave unless they especially request something. The children have been encouraged to join in discussion and do so freely.
My Grandson in America 16 next week has his own personal box on this site and is very interested in world war and the history there of. I have not given up hope for the world just yet.
We are what our parents make us and my parents encouraged sport and of course dancing.
We spent many holidays and days out together with our relations as we had transport, all those things were rare at that time so I was probably priveleged in many ways. The main thing we talked, I was told to read all the newspapers and weekly magazines then we would talk about the articles.
The watch word then was children should be seen but not heard so when I visited my friends and started a conversation it was frowned on, I took no notice as was my bent and did it my way. We handed that on to our children and grandchildren, it is paying off now as they move on through life with confidence.
My generation had war hanging over us so we had to take an interest in what was going on around us. Todays young people do not have the same feeling of unease and just want to get on with life, I dont blame them for that and hope they never see what we saw.
Never give up on the young they find their way.
Regards Frank.