It started with a very cold early start in Poole. Fortunately it was only a couple of hours until my enrolments were completed and I could hit the road and head east along the M27, towards the places that were home for several years of my Naval career.
Fareham was the first place to greet me and the first to annoy me with its convoluted road system. I avoided the town centre, mainly because I didn't have a clue what lane to be in and ended up heading off to where I really wanted to go purely by default.
I spotted a McD's...I needed to do some work and of course they have free wifi so yet again I was forced to buy a meal. Spookily, this was right opposite the main gate of HMS Collingwood. Not somewhere I was ever based, but knew it well - or thought I did! It was huge! It was huge back in the 80's but even bigger today. Had I joined up as an aircraft engineer now, this would be where I would do my basic training and not the place I was desperate to see again, which was just a mile or so down the road.
From that point on the roads and street names became more familiar. Suddenly there in front of me was the airfield, dotted with small rusted hangars that in my day were clean and hives of activity. I pulled over to take some photos and realised that the estate behind me was where the Field Gun Crew, Training blocks and Wrens Quarters had been.
The next hour was filled with driving around the town. Structurally it hadn't changed much at all. The buildings were modernised, but in the same places as I remembered. The seafront was exactly the same.
I had one very emotional moment when standing on the seafront in the exact spot where Me, Pam and Mo, had stood in Dec 1981 on our first day at HMS Daedalus. We looked out at the Isle of Wight and said "It's just like being on holiday". Was it really 32 years ago??
Having taken photos of various places I headed off to meet my old mate Mo who still lived in the area. She had managed to take the afternoon off, and we were going over to Portsmouth to wander around what is left of the dockyard and places we knew back in the olden days.
It was great being with someone who knew where things were and what they are now. The Gunwharfe sits on what was HMS Vernon. The buildings in the big modern complex would have been accommodation or admin blocks back then. Now they are pubs and restaurants. Weird.
I did all the touristy places, saw the derelict pubs on The Hard, The Victory in the dockyard, The Royal Maritime Club...(Home Club). HMS Nelson, and of course the Gosport Ferry.
We also talked non stop.
It was a lovely afternoon. I had spoken to Mo a few times over the last few years but we hadn't actually met. There were no awkward moments, it was just as it was 30 years ago. Some mates are proper mates, the kind that never change. Mo is one of those. I don't have many I can say that about. We were 17 when we met at Reading Railway station on June 1st 1981. This year we will both be 50. Where did all that time go?
As we said our goodbyes, we hugged and agreed not to wait another 30 years to meet up.
Having taken photos of various places I headed off to meet my old mate Mo who still lived in the area. She had managed to take the afternoon off, and we were going over to Portsmouth to wander around what is left of the dockyard and places we knew back in the olden days.
It was great being with someone who knew where things were and what they are now. The Gunwharfe sits on what was HMS Vernon. The buildings in the big modern complex would have been accommodation or admin blocks back then. Now they are pubs and restaurants. Weird.
I did all the touristy places, saw the derelict pubs on The Hard, The Victory in the dockyard, The Royal Maritime Club...(Home Club). HMS Nelson, and of course the Gosport Ferry.
We also talked non stop.
It was a lovely afternoon. I had spoken to Mo a few times over the last few years but we hadn't actually met. There were no awkward moments, it was just as it was 30 years ago. Some mates are proper mates, the kind that never change. Mo is one of those. I don't have many I can say that about. We were 17 when we met at Reading Railway station on June 1st 1981. This year we will both be 50. Where did all that time go?
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