So tell me.. what is your 'random interesting tale. ' .. (2 Viewers)

[Madmag]

In my student days at Glasgow I occasionally saw Billy buying his newspaper in a small shop near the Botanic Gardens. He did his ‘ show’ in one of the student halls of residence I was staying in. Being English and my first year in Glasgow I couldn’t understand a word of it so just laughed along with everyone else!!

 

[EX51SSS]

Nor did I.
I won't be going tomorrow either.

Snap!!! Neither will I

 

[Just smiffy]

When I was six years old Donald Campbell picked me up and sat me in bluebird, 22yrs later I went to work for a bloke (engineering) who had Donald Campbell’s E-type jag that he drove to the lake sitting in his garage.... I promptly sat in it for five minutes.

As far as I know it’s still in that back garden garage...

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[nicholsong]

I was sharing a cottage in Jersey with a Captain while he waited for his wife to sell their house in England.

I was going on holiday to South Africa. He had leave coming up, but no plans when I left.
I took my hosts to dinner in the Harbour Cafe in Cape Town and the Captain and his wife walked in and sat at an adjacent table.

Geoff

 

[mike mcglynn]

My first trip to sea in 1965 I walked into the seamens mission in Montreal and there was a lad playing pool who I went to school with, he had been shipwrecked on his first trip and had been there for two weeks waiting for a company vessel to take him back home .The shipowners those days wouldn't entertain flying anybody home .

 

[PhilG]

Great stuff...

Back in 2003 we had a 2 week racing trip to the US, and on the thursday prior to my flying out, i was back at my home village, for the first time in ages , and seeing a mate's car outside the pub, i stopped off for a quick pint , and a game of pool.

Fly to the US a few days later , and the following weekend, we go to our race, which was being held alongside WSB at Laguna Seca .. my mate was there , working but our paths never crossed, as is often the case at these places, but on the sunday night we hit Monterrey, for a few beers with the team , and end up in a bar with a few pool tables, name on the wall, winner stays on. After 20 mins i gets the call , walk to the table to see my mate racking the balls

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[PhilG]

I watched Chuck Berry as his personal guest from the wings and ended up on stage with him, and Enoch Powell stayed at our house several times during the original In - Out vote

That wins the most random so far.

 

[PhilG]

Wanted to travel around the world on public transport and this was the longest leg. It feels funny now that we went from Brentwood, Essex to Vladivostok by train, each of the many journeys connecting into the next one.

That deserves a thread all of its own.........if you did one and i missed it, point me in the right direction.

 

[veevee]

That deserves a thread all of its own.........if you did one and i missed it, point me in the right direction.

I wrote a daily blog Phil and not sure how interesting a rail journey would be to a MH forum. It was written for a few family and a rail forum who have given us priceless help over a few years. If you're interested in a blow by blow account I'll PM a link to the forum it is published on. I'm not a good writer but thanks for the interest.

Another thought is I could copy a couple of excepts to here, would it come under Continental Travel? ha ha

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[Just smiffy]

Got stuck in a lift with Hannah Gordon and Kate O’mara

 

[rangi]

At Exeter St Davids Rail Station, on my way home on leave, had to wait a few hours to catch the connection.
Heard someone call my name, looked about it was an old School chum, he had just passed out of Dartmouth Naval Collage, he was going the other way, and also had to wait. We retired to the bar!

By the time his train arrived we were well past sober. I went to see him off, there were a few "Matrons" in his compartment, one of them remarked that I should have saluted.

Sooooo! we took it from there.

"Why kint oi cum wiv ee young master?"
"No Jan you must go back to the Estate, Father wants you to look after the Ponies!"
"AW! young master Eric kin oi 'ave me way wiv Widow Blackford?"
"You will have to ask the Duke Jan"

And so on and so on, As the train left and gathered speed I ran along side giving a parody of a salute "Oi be salutin' ee young master! Oi be! Young Master"
Not watching where I was going I ran straight off the end of the platform, landed with hell of a thump.
I got back on the platform. there was an old lady struggling with a suitcase, quite obviously witnessed my "leap" and goings on, I offered to carry her suitcase, She waved her brolly in my face.

"Stay away from me you Idiot" she screamed!

 

[bilM]

Sat beside Clare Grogan on a flight home from Greece she gave me her pudding.

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[Stealaway]

Prince Naseem Ahmed pulled up at the side of me at the traffic lights and goaded me into a race up a half mile hill in Sheffield city centre. He was in his Bentley Sport I was on my motor bike - I thrashed him but he was still smiling.
Marti Caine nearly ran me over with her Roller, I didn't care - she smiled at me! and she was gorgeous.

 

[PhilG]

I wrote a daily blog Phil and not sure how interesting a rail journey would be to a MH forum. It was written for a few family and a rail forum who have given us priceless help over a few years. If you're interested in a blow by blow account I'll PM a link to the forum it is published on. I'm not a good writer but thanks for the interest.

Another thought is I could copy a couple of excepts to here, would it come under Continental Travel? ha ha

Never underestimate the broadness of people's 'interests' (read 'ability to enjoy random sh!t')

If you saw the stuff i watched on You Tube ...

Wilderness Camping.

People starting cold lorries ( and trains)

Domino toppling

Stop Motion Lego builds

Rube Goldberg

Races to Places

i could go on...


But yes a link would be nice.

 

[PhilG]

Sat beside Clare Grogan on a flight home from Greece she gave me her pudding.

If there is anything that can top that , i dont know what it is... random desert from a 70's pop babe.

You win the internet today.

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[Titchdog]

My husband had a dream that disturbed him so much he told me about it. He dreamt that he was in a small wooden airplane and it smashed into moorland surrounded by a drystone wall. He got out and one by one he helped the other four people out. Only the pilot didn’t get out. A few days later I was reading the paper and there was a photograph of a light aircraft that had crashed onto moorland four people got out alive. The photograph of the wreckage had a drystone wall in the background...it had happened the day before...

 

[PhilG]

My husband had a dream that disturbed him so much he told me about it. He dreamt that he was in a small wooden airplane and it smashed into moorland surrounded by a drystone wall. He got out and one by one he helped the other four people out. Only the pilot didn’t get out. A few days later I was reading the paper and there was a photograph of a light aircraft that had crashed onto moorland four people got out alive. The photograph of the wreckage had a drystone wall in the background...it had happened the day before...

Those are the things that spook me....

Was on holiday with the family, in Germany, pre mobile phone days, proper restless night in the trailer tent. Had a dream that vivid, that i remembered it after i woke up, told a few freinds over breakfast that i had a bad night, and that i had woke up screaming , after a factory accident where i worked, where someone , who the dream didnt identify , was killed by what amounted to ball lightning (a phenomenon that was recreated on TV once as an experiment) .. arrived home to find out my brother in law was killed in a lightning strike that same afternoon.

 

[BobtheBass]

If there is anything that can top that , i dont know what it is... random desert from a 70's pop babe.

You win the internet today.

I sat next to the Krankies in the restaurant on a cross channel ferry.......

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[BobtheBass]

And I also have a magic Thermos flask. It keeps hot things hot and cold things cold, but how does it know? I don't tell it anything.

 

[EX51SSS]

If there is anything that can top that , i dont know what it is... random desert from a 70's pop babe.

You win the internet today.

Here's a random dessert from the 70's

 

[haganap]

I once went on a hot air balloon ride with a chap I worked for some 30 years ago... We landed in someones garden who was Earle of somewhere and they were enthralled by me being a mere cor blimey guv type of person that they let me organise a rave in their grounds.... They were friends with Princess Di and good friends at that and were also somehting like 82nd in line to the throne. They had no money but a huge estate and were also keen balloonists, they just loved the little wheeler dealer me.

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[nicholsong]

This thread has mentioned what posters think of as celebrities, but I would not recognise one of them and had hardly heard of most of their names.

I might have shared a lift with lots of famous, to others people, but would not have known.

I did meet the Queen Mother twice at my bosses Chritmas drinks parties - only about 20 of us. My Boss had been CinC of City of London RAFVR squadron when she was whatever the Colonel-in-Chief equivalent is in the RAF. Also he was Air Attache in Washington. And Prince Philip at a Cowes week reception.

I did recognise them Butmost of these others mentioned could pass me in the street without my knowing.

Geoff

 

[BobtheBass]

This thread has mentioned what posters think of as celebrities, but I would not recognise one of them and had hardly heard of most of their names.

I might have shared a lift with lots of famous, to others people, but would not have known.

I did meet the Queen Mother twice at my bosses Chritmas drinks parties - only about 20 of us. My Boss had been CinC of City of London RAFVR squadron when she was whatever the Colonel-in-Chief equivalent is in the RAF. Also he was Air Attache in Washington. And Prince Philip at a Cowes week reception.

I did recognise them Butmost of these others mentioned could pass me in the street without my knowing.

Geoff

Surely you would recognise Wee Jimmy Krankie?

 

[cookie]

Jack Warner (dixon of dock green) bought me a lollipop when I was a small boy.

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[veevee]

@PhilG

Here's the itinerary, see what you think -

Collective journeys by train and plane (or the accidental round the world trip)

For a few years we’d had an idea to make a round the world (RTW) journey without flying, but that takes a great deal of time to plan. So for 2017 we chose another dream to make a shorter Moscow to Vladivostok rail journey without stopping while continuing planning for our RTW epic.
After Brexit and then the Trump election it was obvious the whole world was due to change in ways that no one can fully predict, so by adding trains and planes to the Trans Siberian journey and loosely based on our existing rough idea for the RTW, we brought this mish mash of ideas together and brought it forward a year.
Here is the hastily planned itinerary for our ‘Accidental Round the World Trip’ as at 1 February 2017, all tickets are bought and paid for.



26 February 2017 - at about 23:30 we leave for the railway station for an appointment with a bus into London Liverpool Street. Our Eurostar train from St Pancras International doesn’t leave until 06:50 the following morning but engineering works on the East Anglia line for that weekend have effectively closed the line until possibly after our departure from St Pancras. So spending 3 or 4 hours in the St Pancras Station 24 hour Starbucks looks like our best option. Not an auspicious start to a rail journey but at least we will be warm and comfortable.

27 February 06:50 - train from London St Pancras to Bruxelles Midi by Eurostar through the Channel Tunnel. Now re-scheduled to 06:47

27 February 10:25 - train from Bruxelles Midi to Koln Hbf (Cologne) by German ICE train.



This is a really tight connection of 17 minutes (if both trains are on time) to change station levels, platforms and board the ICE train, but it is the recommended connection by Deutsche Bahn for this journey. Time zone from GMT + 1 hour.

27 February 12:48 - train from Koln Hbf to Berlin Hbf by German ICE train, arrive Berlin at 17:06

Tickets for London to Berlin bought from Deutsche Bahn (DB)

Overnight at Hotel Meininger about 100m from the station main entrance. Hope to enjoy an evening walk to the Brandenburg Gate and the Reichstag, then continue on to eat near to the famous Friedrichstrasse Rail Station.



28 February 09:37 - train from Berlin Hbf to Warszawa Centralna by Polish (not sure of this) Warsaw Express

28 February 15:00 - arrive in Warszawa. Have a 1h 50m lay-over before the next train out. Barcuir very kindly pointed out a supermarket on the top level of Warszawa Station. This is important as the next train an overnight sleeper has no food and drink facilities, we are on-board for 15 ½ hours.

Tickets for Berlin to Warszawa bought from DB

28 February 16:50 - train from Warszawa Centralna to Kyiv Pas, Ukraine. Overnight sleeper in 2 berth compartment



1 March 09:22 - arrive Kyiv Pas. Time zone from GMT + 2 hours

Tickets for Warszawa to Kyiv bought through Polrail

1 March 19:33 - train from Kyiv Pas to Moskva Kievskaia.

Tickets bought from UZ (Ukrainian State Railways)

Overnight sleeper train in shared 4 berth Kupe (2nd Class) compartment. Our friends Rob and Martine are travelling with us from London to Moscow so a pair of friendly faces to share a compartment with. On ordering the tickets have also ticked the box for 2 teas each, although not quite sure what we will get I guess the suspense will mount as we get close to boarding.
Tickets were bought online and a ticket 'voucher' is issued. We can collect our tickets at Kyiv Pas main station by using the voucher details through an automat (maybe) or at the ticket office window No.12 in Hall 4. It's a 10 hour lay-over so plenty of time to get our tickets, have breakfast and visit a couple of places too.



2 March 09:48 - arrive Moskva Kievskaia (Kievsky) Station

Time zone from GMT + 3 hours

We expect to be met by Ruth from Taiwan who has flown in to Moscow so we can travel the Trans Siberian Express (TranSib) together.
All 5 of us are booked into the Ibis hotel about 200m from the station main entrance, it’s a good location with a lot of facilities immediately to hand including one of the famed Moscow Underground stations.

We are in Moscow for 4 days and 3 nights, our must sees are Lenin, the Memorial Museum of Cosmonautics and of course a few of the Underground stations.



5 March 23:45 - train from Moskva Jaroslavskaia to Vladivostok, the Trans Siberian Express.

Tickets bought through Trans Siberian Express

We are booked on Train 002 Rossiya and have again booked a Kupe class (2nd) 4 berth compartment for the 3 of us, Rob and Martine have already moved on to St Petersburg, we’ll see them again when we return to the UK. It’s possible that we will travel all the time / some of the time / or none of the time with a 4th passenger, male or female as our compartment is classed as mixed.
We are taking the longest single train journey in the world – 6 nights and 7 days - and want to experience it in all it’s glory. There will be no breaks from the train at all from end to end. We will take the opportunity to buy food from the Babushkas on the platforms and walk a little too during suitable stops, but that’s all. It feels a little daunting as we could go stir crazy, but we’ll have to wait and see.



6 March 00:00~23:39 - on the train



7 March 00:00~23:59 - on the train



8 March 00:00~23:59 - on the train



9 March 00:00~23:59 - on the train



10 March 00:00~23:59 - still on the train



11 March 23:55 (train / Moskva time) - arrive at Vladivostok (Vladivostok date and time is 12 March 06:55, +12 hours ahead of GMT). We will need to find our ‘land legs’ after 7 days of train movement.

We are booked at a local hotel 500m from the station, we’ll probably walk that as exercise will be needed. We have booked the hotel rooms from the evening before arrival as there are no shower facilities on the train, plus we get breakfast and have somewhere to leave our bags. Hope to see the Russian pacific fleet while we are there and walk a little around the city.



13 March 13:30 - fly Vladivostok to Kaohsiung City, Taiwan via Hong Kong, looking forward to seeing Hong Kong at night on take off.

13 March 20:25 - arrive at Kaohsiung City, visit Taiwan with Ruth as our guide.



18 March am - train from Kaohsiung City to Taipei by high speed train



20 March 13:15 - fly Taipei to Los Angeles (LAX) via Beijing, have to say a sad goodbye to Ruth



20 March 18:00 - arrive in LAX to visit our friend Milton. We appear to have an arrival time 3 hours before we take off from Beijing, the wonders of technology.

We will make a visit to the LA science museum to see the Shuttle Endeavour, we’ll be escorted by Milton whose entire career was in rocket engines, so this could be a very memorable visit.



24 March 22:00 - train from Los Angeles Union Station to New Orleans (NOL) on the Amtrak train the Sunset Limited, 2 days of pure bliss. Now re-scheduled to 20:00

Tickets for LA to NOL bought from Amtrak


Travelling in full service sleeper, 2 berth compartment including all meals.

Milton is travelling north leaving on the same train but it splits and diverts north at San Antonio, Tx (SAS) heading for Chicago, this section of the train is the Texas Eagle, but we travel together for the first 24 hours.



26 March 21:40 - arrive in NOL and make our way to the first hostel we have ever used, looking forward to that.



29 March 07:00 - train from New Orleans to New York City (NYP – New York Penn Station) on the Amtrak train the Crescent.

Tickets for NOL to NYP bought from Amtrak


We really enjoy Greyhound buses but can’t use one for this journey, so we are travelling in Amtrak coach (standard but large individual seats) as the closest we can get with Amtrak.



30 March 13:46 - arrive New York City at NYP.

We may or may not meet up with more friends (Juanita and Bradley) here but are only in the city for about 10 hours so may not.

A visit to the Chrysler Building is our aim, we enjoyed NYC last year and will be pleased to walk around for a few hours again.

30 March 23:25 - fly NYC to London via Lisbon



31 March 17:45 - arrive London Heathrow.

Tube across London to Liverpool Street, commuter train back to Essex, we should have travelled all the way around the world?

 

[PhilG]

This thread has mentioned what posters think of as celebrities, but I would not recognise one of them and had hardly heard of most of their names.

I might have shared a lift with lots of famous, to others people, but would not have known.

I did meet the Queen Mother twice at my bosses Chritmas drinks parties - only about 20 of us. My Boss had been CinC of City of London RAFVR squadron when she was whatever the Colonel-in-Chief equivalent is in the RAF. Also he was Air Attache in Washington. And Prince Philip at a Cowes week reception.

I did recognise them Butmost of these others mentioned could pass me in the street without my knowing.

Geoff

I pride myself on knowing that if i was in a room with the entire cast of Eastenders, Coronation Street, and Emmerdale, i wouldn't even know.

But i agree , 'celebrity' is a subjective tag. I do enjoy spending time with people who are legitimately worthy, but never take pictures , or ask for an autograph.

 

[PhilG]

@PhilG

Here's the itinerary, see what you think -

Collective journeys by train and plane (or the accidental round the world trip)

For a few years we’d had an idea to make a round the world (RTW) journey without flying, but that takes a great deal of time to plan. So for 2017 we chose another dream to make a shorter Moscow to Vladivostok rail journey without stopping while continuing planning for our RTW epic.
After Brexit and then the Trump election it was obvious the whole world was due to change in ways that no one can fully predict, so by adding trains and planes to the Trans Siberian journey and loosely based on our existing rough idea for the RTW, we brought this mish mash of ideas together and brought it forward a year.
Here is the hastily planned itinerary for our ‘Accidental Round the World Trip’ as at 1 February 2017, all tickets are bought and paid for.

That is awesome... if that was on You Tube, i'd be a subscriber.

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[DBK]

I once drove all the way to the south of France so I could have some peace away from my bike mad neighbour. It went well for the first few days then he turned up on the campsite and pitched his tent next to me.

 

[magicsurfbus]

I work part-time at a remote rural spot on a single track lane in the middle of fields. It's not well-known even within the local area.

A few years ago we pulled into the aire at Sarlat-le-Caneda in France, and the only other Brit on the aire came over to say hello. We got chatting and I mentioned where I worked.

"Oh really? I used to be the mole catcher there" he replied.

 

[peterc10]

Got stuck in a lift with Hannah Gordon and Kate O’mara

In your dreams ...........

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