Time has a way of eroding place names and so it is difficult at times to find
descriptions on the web of say the King George the 5th Docks in Glasgow. I was
there twice aboard the USNS MIZAR T-AGOR 11during 1989. Both times we had gone
in for fuel and limited repair periods. Now to let you know, the unions hold the
power of commerce in Scotland. Forget about shopping anytime after 5pm it just
is not going to happen unless it's for groceries. I was very lucky that I went
ashore early after the ship tied up or I never would have been able to stumble
on my first SLR camera. I found a shop that was selling Russian made Zenith SLR
cameras for the equivalent of $59.00 and I bought one. I needed some cash after
the '89 quake hit in Oakland and I sold the camera to a collector for $400.00.
The camera came in handy because that weekend wild Bill and I hopped a train and
went playing tourists in Edinburg. We spent the day there, we even met a nice
lady from the Borders at the Camera Obscura and took her picture. She was the guide in
the place. When ever we came into the KG5 I went into Glasgow and ate
dinner at the local Pizza Hut. I made acquaintances with a couple of the
lassies there but never had a date with them. I noticed something about
the ladies there. Women here in the US start to let themselves go after
they have their children and start losing their attractiveness; unless
it has changed there since 1989 I did not see that in the Scottish
women. Even pushing baby carriages around they looked just as if they
were going on their first date.
The second time we came in to KG5 Wild Bill and I made a dash down to
London along with another friend. It was a good time. We took a tour all
over the place and even saw the changing of the guard at Buckingham
Palace. Bill and I were heading back to Glasgow that night while the
other fellow decided he would take the train to France. I had lost track
of Bill and saw the play Brigadoon at the Victoria Theatre. When the
play got out I found that I had missed the train so I wound up taking a
bus back to Glasgow instead.
