"Of course, that boy should never have gone into the navy"

(Comment attributed to my Uncle Jack, who taught history at Eton and Millfield)

Anyway I went ahead because I thought it would instill some practical sense in me, which it did I suppose.

The  first five years were great. "We joined the navy" by John Winton (real name John Pratt - my contemporary)  is an amusing account of the first year or two.  My first Commission, in the frigate HMS Cygnet, took me all over the Mediterranean and West Indies.  (Some pictures to follow).

Then I got married, and made the mistake of choosing the wrong specialization (Aircraft Direction) which condemned me to many years of separation and heartache and troglodyte existence in aircraft carriers, as we covered the rearguard while the British Empire retreated from the Mediterranean and  the Far East.  Like the unfortunate cricket captain, I was not expected to be there when our babies were born, and Anita, alone and without family in UK, had a terrible struggle.

And with the Navy paying the school fees I couldn't  afford to leave.

Eventually,  I saw a way out and was happy to make a bonfire of my uniforms, and with it all the outdated privileges of the "officer caste". (To think, as a Midshipman we wore stiff shirts for dinner every evening!). I was lucky to be accepted  by IBM as a sales trainee, and to be able to start a new journey at the age of 40.

What is left from all those years?  We made several very good friends. There was the excitement of going to new places, above all the wonders of the Mediterranean, including six months living as a family in Malta (on a shoestring!). And I would not have misssed the adrenaline  and sense of common purpose in a carrier during flying operations.

Was Uncle Jack right? Yes, but perhaps for the wrong reasons. Traditional middle-class views of what is an "acceptable" career were already changing, and the days of the British Empire, and with it the role of the Navy, were numbered.

Anyway, without the experience of those years we probably wouldn't be where we are now. As our old German friend Mack said of Mougins :

                                                                    "We are kings here".

Comments

[ducoqalane]

I don't know what other career choices were open to you. I can't see you teaching. Or becoming an Anglican priest. What on earth would you have done with all those Catholic children! And anyway, you were born to wear that uniform. Pictures, please! I don't think any other officer looked as good as you did in it.
Seriously, though, do we really have that much choice in our initial careers? I'm pretty sure that parents' educational choices and class expectations weigh heavily on their children's options even today. And the rare child who reacts against its parents' wishes, is still not really making a free choice.

[Tone]

Thanks for the follow up, - and thanks for a new wonderful word. To really learn, understand and remember new words I know the only way is to use it many times each day - but will that word really fit into my everyday conversation, - at work, at home? And yes, - you guessed right, - for the foreigner the new word was: troglodyte.

Caroline: I definitely support your demand for pictures. Mike is so handsome - even out of uniform today, - and in a uniform he must have been the best looking man in the whole navy!

[Charles]

Troglodyte- according to Wikpedia

"1.A member of a primitive race or tribe of cave-dwellers, a caveman.
2.A person who lives in seclusion, a hermit.
3.A person who lives in a slum, a degraded person like the prehistoric or savage cave-dwellers.
4.One of a group of people who built homes into the faces of cliffs, connected by underground passageways, such as in France or Tunisia.
5.Troglodytes (wren), a genus of small bird.
6.The common chimpanzee, Pan troglodytes, an anthropoid ape.
7.Troglodyte (Dungeons & Dragons), a race of humanoid monsters in the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game."

I like the Common Chimpanzee!

I once again enjoyed your recant. And don't worry Uncle Jack said and did things he shouldn't. Like taking us boys for a ride in his car when he was practically blind!

[Charles]

Just a note of caution. I think it is a quote from the book you gave Mark -Cicero
"I hope I can finish this before I finish"
Don't take too long to write it- we all might miss a bit.
This is not supposed to sound gloomy-just from another impatient son!
Charles