​

My wartime service involved being aboard ships traveling around the world. Initially I would go ashore with 4 or 5 others some of whom would finish up drinking too much in bars and getting us into lots of trouble

​

It all culminated for me early in my service when my ship was docked in Liverpool England. It was around midnight and we had missed the last bus, so had to walk the 15 Kilometers back. Some of them were looking to get into mischief to relieve their boredom.

 

We were walking down this typical English suburban street, with low brick walls and the bay windows a few feet from the footpath. One of the walls had been damaged and broken bricks littered the pavement. A couple of the drunken no hopers proceeded to throw the bricks through the bay windows.

​

I did not stop running until I got back to my ship. Sitting in my cabin I made a vow that all my future excursions ashore no matter where in the world, it would be as a loner. For a while I got loads of flack from some of the no hopers, but the compensations far outweighed the negatives.

It changed my life.

 

Previously with a bunch of rowdy individuals, for obvious reasons we were never approached by the locals. Afterwards sitting alone in a café or elsewhere anywhere in the world I would be invited many times back to their homes as outlined in my good people articles.