19th Century
A Bear’s Diary – Part 4
September 19th, 1808, Lisbon. We are in port at last, and I am glad to have my paws on the ground. It was a difficult passage out of the Channel, and we had to tack [more…]
Literature
19th Century
A Bear’s Diary – Part 3
June 12th, 1808. I take up my pen again in London, where Jem and I have arrived after our hasty departure from Cambridge. It is quite understandable that Jem, unpaid by his lordship for more [more…]
Arts
Æthelberht’s RFA Christmas
I know there’s plenty of former Pusser types on GP, and even a few who have sailed under the red duster. They’ll all be familiar with the Christmas routines for their respective outfits. I thought [more…]
19th Century
A Bear’s Diary – Part 2
March 6th, 1807. George is off to Italy, where I am sure he will have a capital time ogling churches and whores, and buying paintings that might be by Salvator Rosa but are probably not. [more…]
19th Century
A Bear’s Diary – Part 1
Cambridge, Novr. 6th, 1805. I did not dance well at the Bonfire Night show on Midsummer Common. Afterwards, Fred said to me, ‘Daisy, me ole dear. Yer knows and I knows yer gettin’ a bit [more…]
20th Century
Murder on Meon Hill
Meon Hill lies in the valley of the River Avon, on the border of Oxfordshire and Warwickshire. It is an outlier of the Cotswolds and, although it reaches only a modest 194m of elevation, it [more…]
Arts
“Yippee Ki Yay, Ya Wee Fanny” – A Polis Sco’lan Christmas Tale
Ah pure cannae be f**ked wi’ Chrishmas. Brengs back a loadae sh*te memries fae when ah wis a wean. Wha hod f**kin’ hee haw cuz ma da spent aw tha dole money oan drenk an [more…]
Biography
The Right Way To Put Out A Fire (Finally)
In March 2013 I was appointed to RFA Fort Austin. Within NATO she is classified as an AFSH, that’s to say a combat stores ship with the necessary facilities on board to embark a helicopter. [more…]
Biography
Still Not The Right Way To Put Out A Fire
You may remember some months back I related a story of my first fire exercise sailing under the Red Duster. I was somewhat unimpressed having come from a different seafaring outfit where these things were [more…]