1964

Having spent six months sleeping in a hammock there were certain advantages in returning to Somerset . A comfortable bed , hot shower in the morning and fresh food would be high on my list .

However , after the vibrancy of my experiences in Hong Kong , Malaya , Singapore and Borneo it took a bit of adjusting to soldiering back in UK especially when the new adjutant , Niel Crumbie , announced he was going to make life hell for subalterns .

I had a new sense of freedom as I had bought my first car for the grand sum of £ 220 (six months savings from Borneo ) . It was ;like having that bicycle all over again . No longer those hideous train journeys with trunks and drunks . At long last I could have a regular girlfriend .

In B Company we had a new company commander who came to us from the Essex Regiment I think . He was a nice guy but was really passed it . He had got the MC during the Emergency in Malaya but had been badly shot up in the process and I don't think ever really recovered .

One could  say 1964 was rather a dull year compared to others . I suppose the highlights were : I went to Buckingham Palace and saw the Queen ; Dorothy graduated as a doctor and I got promoted to lieutenant . It was the year I first met Miss Paterson ( Feb ) !

Historical markers would be : Labour came to power in elections that year : things starting to hot up for the Americans in Vietnam ; PLO founded; Khruschev opens Aswan Dam in Egypt but later replaced by Brezhnev ; problems in Rhodesia with Ian Smith and civil rights gaining momentum in America . It was also the  Nelson Mandela was sentenced to life imprisonment.

Meanwhile we uncultured subalterns listened to the Beatles , Cilla Black and Roy Orbison ." That Was The Week That Was" ended.

I went on one long coursee to be trained on anti-tank weapons and mortars .

My social life did improve mainly due to being mobile but that was all to end when in 1965 we deployed to Aden .