Jobs to do

So, I'm not really a loner as the previous post might have suggested. I meant to portray the people staying at home, the posh word being "self-isolating". I actually have a very good support network around me, beautiful wife and family etc.

Mothering Sunday came (and went), no cards, no flowers other than those in the garden as we couldn't get to the shops to buy them and the wife said don't bother anyway. I made it up to her by being extra nice and cooking a lovely meal.Here's a pic from last year when we were both in Wrexham, North Wales attending a Falklands Veterans Rememberance.








The next project I have in mind to keep me busy is something that I have been meaning to do for a few years now. When I was an instructor at the Guards Depot in Pirbright, Surrey, I was presented by one platoon I took through training with a hand made pace stick. It's a tool used by Platoon Sergeant drill instructors to measure a soldiers pace, distance when standing at ease and so on.
It's been 39 years since I left the army and I've kept it in an umbrella stand most of the time. Always meaning to do it but never getting around to it. So, this is how it looks now, then I have to remove all the brass, sand it down and revarnish it. Not going to hurry so it will be a week or two.

This next item is a simple drill can, that junior NCO's etc would normally use. Never really understood why as we normally ended up throwing it down on the parade square if a senior rank with a pace stick came up. Hence it's rather battered look. When I left the army I gave it too my dad to use as a walking stick. He was an ex-miner with a gammy leg. He used it for about 10 years before he sadly passed. It's a kind of bamboo like wood, very strong and it has my regimental crest on it. Dad bent it a bit as it's not meant to be used in that way, but hey, it was useful and he was proud to show off his sons stick. A talking point over a pint of beer at the club. I suspect this will take a little lonegr to bring back to good condition but we'll try.


I'll let you know how I get on.