ghosts

One of the best tricks we ever paid was on hapless Terry Wiffin. The legendary Bimbo Bailey had pilfered his dad's monk fancy dress outfit and we went out one night by the double bend at Lyminster.

When we heard a car he would walk out in front of it with his hands outstretched. We did this for about an hour when we heard a bike approaching and a scream. Terry had stumbled right into our night's entertainment, a completely innocent victim. The 'ghost' was Bimbo, the rustling was me and my brother Jeff laughing in the bushes.

Later the same evening one car driver must have guessed what we were doing as he drove off road and chased us through the fields. Bimbo chucked the outfit in a field and we hid in Mark Parr's garden for an hour or two.

This appeared in the Evening Argus a few days later!

leysin 1982

(24.7.1982)

Thanks to Margaret Thatcher everyone was unemployed in the early 80s and my brother Jeff and I made the most of this extended holiday to go on extended trips to Europe in both 1981 and 1982. We'd discovered Leysin in 1981 quite by chance and returned in 1982.

Here Jeff is in the back of the van with Fiachra who annually came over to Leysin with his Irish family (his mum and 8 kids!) - his mum spent the summer climbing and the kids ran wild. They were great fun!

I've returned  to Leysin many times, most recently last September. It'll probably appear many times on this blog!

ouch

This is brother Jeff getting tatooed in Southsea back in 1985. He was needlephobic but still had it done. This seemed to be an almost weekly trip with Jeff, my sister and various future in-laws etc getting tatooed all the time. I of course am totally terrified of anything like this so never got a tattoo though I'm told my regular 3 monthly B12 jabs are just as bad!

the rubbish we used to drive!

(5.10.1982)

This was my way of getting around back in 1982 - an Austin Morris JU250 van. You can just make out the identifier plates on the front and yes, it did visit all these countries and regions! The top shot shows it at the top of the Col de Galibier in France. Although it's July that is snow! Me and brother Jeff slept here overnight and it was bloody freezing, in fact fresh snow was falling in the morning when we got up.

Second shot is in more familiar territory, up in the South Downs. Despite its appearance this van rarely let us down and I used it for a couple of years before scrapping it.

merging

This is Amberley on 14 September 1986. This is my brother Jeff who loved all the quarrying equipment and other stuff on display at the Chalk Pits Museum, this was their open day. This is actually off site, next to Amberley station and I managed to capture a slam door unit pass as I took the picture - the cars and semaphore signal also date this shot!