| Whilst Spartan was building in Barrow. Four of
the crew had the opportunity for a "jolly" on a couple of surface
ships to Norway, Sweden and Denmark. Whacker Payne
was on HMS Nubian, Roy Kamis went on HMS Juno.
And Steve Goodhead (seen here) and Myself were
on HMS Hermione. Spent most of the trip throwing up. On the way
back to the UK we discovered the ship was heading to Scotland and
we wanted to go to Plymouth. So we wangled a Helicopter transfer
to HMS Alacrity which was heading that way. Whilst in Malmo
Sweden, I had bought a huge cuddly dog and as I was boarding the
chopper for the transfer. The Pilot told me to stick the dog in
the co-pilots seat in the front as there wasn't enough room in
the back. We flew over to Alacrity, and as we approached its flight deck, you could see the controller looking towards us
wondering what the hell was sat next to the pilot. A big cuddly
Olde English sheepdog. His face was a picture. Steve Goodhead was
eventually transferred by Chinook as the Wasp didn't have the
lifting capacity for his huge bulk! Another memory from that
trip, took place in Malmo Town Square. It was the University
passing-out day. And all the students had assembled in the square
to celebrate. The square was about the size of two football
pitches and had a fountain in each corner. Somebody decided to
tip a box of Navy Dhobi dust (soap powder) in each one. Result a
wall of foam about 6 feet high coming from each edge of the
square to converge in the middle. It was a day the students will
never forget |
