The Falkland Diaries.
Foreword.
I have been keeping diaries since the 5th December
1983 when I first went to the Falkland Islands, when I was 31 years old, to work
on the new airfield in a very remote part of the islands just over a year after
the war there with Argentina.
I retired from work on the 1st
January 2019 after just over 50 years in the construction industry, I stated
work on the 16th April 1968, when I was 15 years old.
I published my first book in 2020, ‘The Lads from the Pleasant ‘B’ Team,’
which is available on this blog with a link to it on Amazon. It is a fact/fiction
account of my time working in the Falklands.
The reason I am putting these diaries on the
blog is because I have been rereading them for info for the second book in a series
of three, ‘From Ice to Sand,’ which I
hope to publish early in 2022. And the truth is in the last book I think I have
sugar coated it a bit the way, we the workers, were treated. Also, for people
to see a day to day account of what at the time was the world’s largest ongoing
construction project. Some
names have been changed. We will start on that first day.
As I wrote these for the first time almost 40 years ago any
up to date comments I make to explain anything I will put in bold italics, like
this.
December
1983.
Monday – 5th December 1983. Day
1. Traveling.
Well this it, we are under way. After
a false start from the 16/11/1983, that was the first date we were given, but it was
cancelled at very short notice.
We left Heathrow at 17/30 today. My wife (then
wife) Mum, Roy (my brother in law) Jean (sister)
Jean (daughter, she was three years old) saw me off, big tear job. I
didn't think it would ever really happen, I suppose now I should really believe
it.
It
is now 21/00 and up until now time has gone very quick, there seems to be a lot
of men going out there. We are on South
African Airways 747, we are on our way to Johannesburg then flying to Cape Town
then two weeks by ship to the Falkland Islands. We have been told it will take
12 to 13 hours to get to Joburg, then two hours on to Cape Town.
They have looked after us very well up
until now, the main meal was great and they kept giving us free bottles of
South African white wine.
4/00 am, just woke up, oh God my head.
Can see daybreak through the window, they have just put the lights on, must
want us to go for a run or something!
Tuesday – 6th December 1983. Day
2. Travelling.
We got to Joburg at 08/00 hours, then on to Cape Town. Coming into Cape Town the plane dropped a few feet, God we all had heart attacks. Went through Cape Town on our way to the ship, it was very hot, about 80, it is summer time here.
The ship is not bad, (MV England) but seems a bit on the old side. Table Mountain was great, I got some photos of it, but I think the film may have been ruined by the X ray machine at the airports, that's what I have been told, lets hope not.
The ship is going up and down at bit, but the weather is not bad. Everyone is getting to know each other, as we are all in the same boat, ha-ha! I meet a chap I worked with in 1970.
This was in the days of apartheid in South Africa. This a photograph of The England above.
Wednesday – 7th December 1983.
Day 3. Travelling.
Had a good night's sleep, think
it may have been the rocking of the ship that got me off. We just had a meeting
with JLB, (this is a joint venture of
three very large construction companies) the top man on here and the captain, to
tell us about the ship, got a film and life boat drill this afternoon.
Just had a game of table tennis with Dave Dier (Dave and I had worked together for a few years and came out together) and Belfast Jim (Dave met him in the bar at the airport before I arrived) he seems alright, he has just come out of the Royal Navy, he is in his mid twenties, a bit younger than Dave, I am 31. Jim is going to drive the 'Beaver Boat’, (this is a recuse boat when work is going on around the jetty head ship). When we were taking off at Heathrow, one of the lads shouted out, "Mummy I want to go home."
Played table tennis at night (again) then had a couple of beers, fed up just wandering around the ship. The lads are saying, "all the way with JLB!”
Thursday – 8th December 1983. Day 4. Travelling.
The sea is getting rougher, bit
by bit. My roommate (my lodger) Gary was ill last night. I have been playing
cards and other board games with Dave and Jim and looking out to sea. Saw the
nurse for the first time today, she is the only female on here.
Found out that Spurs (my team) won in the
EUFA Cup last night, so that's good news. Went for a trip to the ships bridge this
afternoon and found out a few things. Heard that some of the blokes who were
drunk last night had a row in the bar, will try to keep away from that sort of
thing.
Its 16 days until Christmas, I must say it does not seem like that at all, with the sun out and being light in the evenings. The clocks go back 1 hour again tonight, also last night.
Friday – 9th December 1983. Day 5. Travelling.
Saw a film of Spurs beating WBA this morning, (last year in the FA
cup) might go and watch it again later, as there is nothing else to do.
Heard last night that 3 blokes done a
runner at Joburg, they seemed to have had it all planed, they must have had
work there. Came with us for the free trip, might have had the right idea, ha-ha.
Also heard that 40 men over there have jacked and are coming back on our ship. Also,
two men on the last ship had a fight in the bar one night and got sacked when
they got there and were sent back.
Went in a sweep to guess how far the ship had
gone in the last 25 hours, I was 50 miles out, it went for 382 miles. The
clocks go back an hour tonight, again. At this rate we will disappear up our
own backsides.
Saturday – 10/12/1983. Day 6.
Travelling.
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The seas a bit on the rough side today about a force 4. A few of the men have been ill, the safety officer has been sick since we set sail, I have been okay until now. Just been on the deck to hear the football results, Spurs drew, but Liverpool and Arsenal both lost, ha-ha!
Been playing cards for love, going horse
racing tonight, will let you know later how it went. A couple of things I don’t
want to do while I am out here and that is gamble or drink too much.
Sunday – 11/12/1983. Day 7.
Travelling.
The ship phoned the contracts
manager on the Falklands today, he said he knew nothing about 40 men jacking. I
still think they wouldn't tell us even if they had, I wouldn't. Anyway, they
say we will be there next Saturday and start work on Sunday. Not a good day to
start a new job, so we will see for ourselves. Anyway, we have had two weeks
holiday all paid for, so I suppose they will want to get us working as soon as
possible.
I have
booked a phone call to sister Jeans for Christmas day, that’s where the family
will be. Up until now I have put the wife and the children out of my mind as
much as I can. It would crack you up if you kept thinking of them.
I
don't think Joe Williams is standing up to it very well already (he is someone
I know though a friend of a friend, but had never met him before) and its early
days yet, I don't know if he will make it. With saying that now, do any of us know?
I hope I can.
Monday – 12/12/1983. Day 8. Travelling.
Have not shaved for two days and do not intend to
from now on. We had a briefing today about the island and what is to be built
there, God there's a lot to be done in two and a half to three years. We were
also told that until the main camp is built we will be in an eight-man
port-a-cabin near the beach, I just hope I am not in with some of these drunks!
Tuesday – 13/12/1983. Day 9. Travelling.
Clocks go back again tonight. We
have come about 2,300 miles now, will soon be there. It's been a lovely day,
but the sea was rough yesterday so who knows what's next? I have only had one
drink since last Tuesday, I hope to come off the drink all together.
Bill Johns whom we have become friends with (he is from Birmingham, won't hold that against him, ha-ha) asked for extra pie at dinner, the cook piled it on, then sent a waiter to look over him to make sure he ate it, he did, but was near dying at the end.
Wednesday – 14/12/1983. Day 10.
Travelling.
Not a lot happening today, saw
the film, 'First Blood,' this afternoon, it was very good. The sea is very calm, let's hope it is not the
calm before the storm!
It's getting on towards 3,000 miles now. The
nurse is looking more beautiful every time I see her, she now looks like a
beauty queen, ha-ha. She is the only women I have seen for two weeks, this
could be a long seven months!
Had to buy a new pen as I lost the one sister
Jean brought me on the plane coming over, it had nothing to do with all the
wine we were being given!
Felt a bit down today thinking of the family, will have to try and put them out of my mind, which of course will not be easy.
Thursday – 15/12/1983. Day 11. Travelling.
A bit cheesed off today, it is so boring,
can't wait to get there and get working. Heard we can choose who we go in
cabins with, we have got seven up until now. Did hear one of the drunks had a
fight last night and is being sent back when we get there, will have to see if
it's a rumour or not.
Clocks go back one hour tonight for the last time, thank god.
Friday – 16/12/1983. Day 12. Travelling.
Nearly there now, the wind has
got a lot stronger and it’s very cold, and this is summer. Dave and I did a very
silly thing, we went to the back of the ship and was going to walk to the
handrail at the rear of the ship, the wind was so strong I could feel it
lifting me off my feet, we turned and run back.
We should be inside the 150-mile exclusion zone by 21/00, should dock at 07/00 in the morning. I am more than ready to get off of here now.
Saturday – 17/12/1983. Day 13. Travelling.
Should we be worried that we are
landing on the 13th day? Saw the Falklands for the first time at 05/00 hours,
docked at 09/30. Had the contracts manager on the ship at 11/00 to tell us
about the islands etc, didn't like the way he said "watch out for land mines, there may still be some around!" He also said that we would get paid our
overtime if we work more than basic 60 hours a week. In our contract it say's
we would get time off in lieu.
Went
on to island at 14/30, God it is so bleak, not a tree in sight, just the wind
blowing, and boy does it blow. The sun was out but lots of wind.
Found out I am going to be on drain laying, God only knows why I got that as I don't know a thing about pipe laying. I came out as a concrete finisher. The cabin is not bad but the food is rubbish!!!
Sunday – 18/12/1983. Day 14. Day off.
We got our kit today, it's not too bad, also had a briefing about the job. Dave, Bill and I walked about 2 miles to see the penguins (above).
'The Flag', a chap we nicknamed coming down, as he was
getting everyone to sign a US flag he had, got sent home on the ship when we
got here, as he was drunk for the whole two weeks coming down here. He was a
radio operator and had been promising the lads free phone calls home.
We walked down to the Lay Down Area after
went to see the penguins. That is where all the plant (diggers, lorries,
dumpers etc.) are stored. The amount of it is crazy, there is so much, still
there's a lot of work to do. Did not work today, start tomorrow. The wind was a lot stronger today.
Monday – 19/12/1983. Day 15. Hours worked 12.
My ganger is Reg, we worked together ten
years ago when I lived in Derby, we worked on the Eagle Centre there, a very large new shopping centre. He
seems ok. I went down to my knees in a hidden stream this morning and was
soaked all day. The ground up there is really rough and you can understand how
someone could get lost up there as all the landscape looks the same. It rained
all day.
Dave and I are shearing bunk beds at the
left-hand end of the cabin, with the door in the centre, I am on the bottom
bunk. He set his alarm clock for what he thought was 5/30 but it was 4/30, all
the boys were up and dressed when I twigged the time, so everyone was sat
around for an hour, he got called a lot of names. Above, me in a bucket of a machine at The Lay Down Area.
Tuesday – 20/12/1983. Day 16. Hours worked 12.
A very cold and windy day, we
had, rain, snow, sleet, hail stones the lot, and most of it came out of what
almost seemed a clear sky.
Saw some Falkland Islanders today herding sheep, there was six of them on horseback
with ten dogs. Our foreman, George, from Newcastle, he came on the ship before
us, let us go an hour early as we had been so busy.
Breakfast was not bad but dinner was
awful again, the lunch we get on site during the day are two rolls and a out of
date piece of fruit cake in a plastic doggie bag. I never ate corn beef for
over a year after the war, I boycotted it as it came from Argentina. What was
the first thing I had in my rolls? Yes, you have got it!
The jetty head ship where all the cargo
ships are unloaded from and where we eat is called the 'SS Merchant Providence.’ Above.
Wednesday – 21/12/1983. Day 17. Hours worked 12.
Got a present from the wife and kids today, a writing kit and wallet.
Mussels (young Marc) one of our roommates
has got a photo of his girlfriend who is topless in it pinned on the bunk above
him so he can look at her when he lays down. Tonight, Bill and Dave were on his
bunk looking at her, I opened the door to make out he was coming in, they both
had heart attacks and fell all over the place trying to get off his bunk.
Had an idiot put in our gang today, Terry,
he came down here with the first lot, The Pioneers. They call their selves the ‘A Team’ after the TV show, saying they must be the best as they came first. They
call us the ‘B Team’. Hope we don't
have to put up with him for long, he has done all of our heads in today, talking none stop about them coming down here.
Thursday – 22/12/1983. Day 18. Hours worked 9 - Rained off
What a day, rain, rain and more rain! Well with saying that first thing it was great, the sun was shining not a drop of wind, then 09/00 down it came all day, we worked in it until 16/30, we were then let go, absolutely soaked to the skin!
Last night a small boat turned up in our
cove, 'East Cove,' within seconds the army had helicopters with lights shining
down on it and then men on it. Don't know what it was all about, but it was gone
this morning.
In the Land Rover going to work this morning the lads were signing, 'We're off to see the wild west show.' I am not sure what that was all about?
Friday – 23/12/1983. Day 19.
Hours worked 12.
Sounds like Joe Williams is not doing very well. The lads in his cabin said he was crying because he has had no letters. This is not a good place to be and have no contact from home. I had letters and Christmas presents today that has cheered me up.
We think they are putting something in the tea? Wind has been blowing for a change.
Had a busy day, but finished early as its
Saturday and Christmas Eve. ‘Turn Em Over Fred’ jacked today as he kept turning
his lorry over. His boss had a go at him so he jacked. David Antony, one of our
foremen was so drunk this morning from last night that he fell asleep in the
Land Rover were we were working.
Sunday – 25/12/1983. Day 21. Christmas Day. Day off .
Well its Christmas Day, fantastic!!!
Phoned the wife and the kids today, great to hear them all. It was only three
minutes and it went so fast, and the line was not good at all.
Done
my washing in an old cut down 25ltr drum with washing powered and a cut down
broom handle, what a way to spend Christmas day?
The Pot Head in our cabin, Ron, got a
little upset when I moaned at him about it. He is not a bad lad; just don't
know why he has to smoke that stuff all the time.
Jim
Morrison the contract manager brought us all a drink last night, everyone you
saw seemed to be drunk. Been a nice day, apart from the wind that is.
Marc
from our cabin moaned at me for farting at the Christmas dinner table, all our
cabin ate together. We all had party hats on from out of the crackers, and
where we were all sweating the dye came off the hats and on to our foreheads. We
all had, red, blue, yellow etc, bands on our foreheads.
A photo of mine and Dave's 1983 Christmas cards beside our bunks.
Monday – 26/12/1983. Day 22. Boxing Day. Day off.
Been a nice day, I have been walking around in just shorts, waiting for the football results. Fixed little Jim's bunk bed, turned the slats on edge so when he gets on it, it will seem like he is falling through, that is because he is always being a pain.
Joe
Williams is on a real downer, I was talking to him this morning, It wouldn’t surprise
me if he jacked and went on the next ship when it comes in.
The lads are playing a game, 'Connect
Four' again!!! Just heard that Spurs have been beat by Arsenal, I will kill if the lads take the mick any more. Not that
I take these things badly!
Only 405 days to go!!
Tuesday – 27/12/1983. Day 23. Hours worked 12.
One of the lads has gone down with food poisoning, on the bright side we have load of coffins coming next week!!!
Low and
behold a ship came in yesterday, only because the captain died! Another one in
today, the captain was alive this time.
A Jock lad got the sack on Christmas Day for calling Jim Morrison the contracts manager a tosser, then got his head kicked in, in Huggies Bar last night. Hope he had a good Christmas. Our foreman David Antony said about the Jock lad who got sacked. “It’s one thing getting pissed, but it’s another thing getting the sack for telling the truth!!”
Rain on and off all day. Army Chinook helicopter came in with stores (containers) for us today, they had them hanging underneath.
Wednesday – 28/12/ 1983. Day 24.
Hours worked 12.
Been a nice day today. The sun
has been shinning but there has been clouds about. David Antony, one of our foremen
has been sent to a new section, the camp. Up until now it looks like we are
staying here, with George.
Dave
on the bunk above me, I think he is on a bit of a “downer.” I know he is cheesed
off with his job as he is doing very little. Different from us, we are busy all
the time, and now that Reg got rid of Terry, he was driving us all mad, we have
a good little gang again, lets hope it lasts! We are well ahead of our program,
I think that’s why George lets us away early some nights.
Thursday – 29/12/1983. Day 25.
Hours worked 12.
Have heard the beer is running out, and there may not be any for New Year’s Eve. All the drunks will be shaking.
Had a New Year’s card from Mum today and
a fiver. Little Jim has got the runs. Been the windiest day so far today. Got a
new chap in the gang today, wonder for how long?
They have brought out a
twice weekly news sheet, load of rubbish in it. A big cheer went up just now in
the cabin, when we heard on the local radio that the Islander plane is in here
tomorrow, which means we should get mail.
Friday – 30/12/1983. Day26. Hours
worked 12.
We have been working near Two
Sisters mountains today. The wind died down a bit, but not a lot. Heard 8 men
jacked today, there won’t be any left soon. Cargo 2 is coming next week, if it
has everything on it that it is meant to have, well, it will 5 miles long!
Had
a Chinese meal last night, I mean it was rotten, I just left it. The name for
our cabins five-a-side football team is now, ‘The Dick in The Heads’. Who
knows, we might even win it! Mind you I don’t really think so, as I am in goal!
It is 6/30 at night at the end of December and the sun is shining in the cabin
window, I just can’t get used to it!
Saturday – 31/12/1983. Day 27.
Hours worked 10.
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Got the runs! So, has nearly
everyone on the camp. There are blokes running around with bog rolls, it seems
all a person has to do is look at food, and that’s it, run for the bogs! And
the fact is we don’t have any where to got where we are working, we are miles from anywhere. There is now crap behind
every hill or mound we can find. It’s got to be the food.
Heard that George is being moved to the
main camp on Monday. A bloke had an accident yesterday, he had a bad head
injury. A RAF helicopter came and picked him up, it landed just in front of Huggies
Bar, there was dust and bits of things flying everywhere.
Hours worked for December = 125.
Overtime hours = 25.
Happy New Year 1984. Not the
best New Year’s Eve ever. We did in fact have two New Year’s, one at 9 o’clock
which was midnight at home. I felt very home sick and had a lump in my throat
when we sang ‘Auld Lang Syne’ I did think I would cry at one point, that would
not have been a very clever thing to do with all these “hard nuts” here! Just
after nine here everyone went to watch a ‘Blue Film’ I put my head in, but it
was rubbish.
Off to play five-a-side now. Back from
the game, we won and are now in the semi-final to be played on Wednesday
evening. Our team ‘Dick and the Heads’ beat the ‘Far and away Trippers 1-0. I
played in goal, and if I do say it myself, I had a good game. People did say I
was “Man of the Match” just hope I
can do it again. It was 0-0 after full and extra time, it went to penalty’s.
Five each side, I saved 2 and they missed 3, we didn’t score, so after 9 pens
it was still 0-0, my turn, yes it went in.
While playing on the pitch that was just
rock with holes everywhere the wind was blowing a gale and the ball would all
most only go one way. I had to wear googles, knee pads and big orange work
gloves. Everyone who played was cut and torn because of the pitch.
Monday – 02/01/1984. Day 29. Hours worked 12.
Been working about eight miles away today. On the way back, this evening we had thirteen in our Land Rover. Four in the front and nine in the rear. As I am small I had to lay on top of the others.
We were working over by the quarry, they
blasted while we were there, it was some sight. It was a distance away, first
we saw the flash, then dust go in the air and a few seconds later we heard the
bang, sheep were running everywhere.
Dave, Jim and Marc are out on a porch we
had fitted last week, they are fitting a handrail. A bright but windy day.
We were sent to a small camp consisting of 4 port-a-cabins and a shepherd’s hut, to clean and fix them up. The shepherd’s hut really did smell, we refused to go back in there in the end, as it was so bad.
Had a lot of aeroplanes flying over today
for some reason, maybe the Arggies are coming back? We’ll give them a run for
their money! Hasn’t been a bad day, windy as always, but bit by bit I think I
am getting used to it. The food is still not very good. A lot of the lads are
doing a lot of moaning about the job.
Muscles (Marc) just locked me
out of the cabin when I went to the toilet, because I pinged his braces, can’t
take a joke, the big muscly twit.
I heard today that eighteen men are
going on the England next time, so
far? We have got Terry back in our gang, who Reg got rid of, I don’t think anyone wants him.
He is a real mouthy Yorkshire pudding. He is always trying to tell people what
to do, I just tell him to sod off!
We had to dismantle a high-water tank
today, in high wind and rain. It was me who climbed to the top to put the
cranes chains on, I did think at one point I was going to get blown off.
Our five-a-side team got a bye to the
final as the other team refused to play on the pitch again. The lads reckon
they were frightened of us!!!
Thursday – 05/01/1984. Day 32. Hours worked 12.
Just had a row with Jim, would
you believe over six pegs! He kept on to me because he said I left them on our
washing line all night. I threw them at him and told him that if he didn’t
“shut the up, I would shove them up his arse.” God I must not let this place
get to me.
Cargo
2 got here today, boy is it loaded down. Been a bad day, showers all day, but
the winds have been so strong, not a nice at all.
We
were talking to some of the shepherd’s today at Mount Pleasant, they have a real hard life here.
Been a very windy day but not
too cold as the wind is coming from the north. Jim had a shave last night for the
first time in three weeks, with saying that, he had about four hairs hanging
under his chin, he looked like a Nanny
Goat. (Jim has smaller ears than the one above.)
I had a piss with my back to the wind at
work today, in an open field and it went about 15 foot! One of the lads at work
said today that one of the lads in his cabin got a hard on, which seems a rear
thing here as everyone seems to think there is something in the water. Just
heard on the radio that Briton may
drop the 150-mile exclusion zone around the islands.
Saturday – 07/01/1984. Day 34. Hours worked 10.
Been a really hot day, of course
the wind has not stopped blowing, but it has been nice. Some of the lads even
had their shirts off.
I won’t put anything in for washing as I
hear that everything a person puts in, comes back pink. Some gear was being moved on lorry near where we were working today and it nearly turned over because of
the wind. (Photo above.)
Terry the big headed, mouthy pipe layer in
our gang, he’s is the one always trying to give orders was rowing with our
ganger man Reg all day today, I can see them rolling on the floor fighting yet!
My moneys on Reg.
Sunday – 08/01/1984. Day 35. Day
off.
Hack (Barry) is sat on his bunk smoking
his ‘wacky backy’ again. Bill says when he loads his lorry with his machine he
has to bang it with the bucket to wake him up.
Went to the Rowney (Cargo 2) for a drink, got back, sat on my bunk and fell
through. Dave and Bill had taken the slats out. I shall bide my time then pay
them back. Jim was totally pissed, he slept on top of his bunk with his clothes
on.
Played the football final last night
against the ‘Quarrymen’ they won 2-1
after extra time. It was a good game. They scored just before half time. Dave
got one for us in the second half. They are a good team, they had one player
who was with Watford at one point. In
the second half I had a lot of shots to stop, I made one good one only too find
out it went for a corner, which meant it was their third which meant they got a
penalty, but I saved it. Their winning goal came from Watford, which just went under me.
Things are getting bad about Joe Wilson
not getting any post. The lads he eats and works with are taking the ‘micky’
out of him all of the time. It has got to him to the point that he went in the
office and reared up about the post. But of course, it can be the same for all
of us. Bob from the next cabin who comes in our cabin a lot, got pissed this
afternoon and along with three others, had all his hair cut off.
The photo above is of the two teams in the final, I front, left.
Bad day for the weather, hail
stones the size of golf balls! Heard that Jim Morrison (contracts manager) beat
his girlfriend up last night when he was pissed. Issue 2 of the news sheet was
out today.
Travelled to work at the main camp in the
‘Cattle Truck’ today for the first
time (this is two containers with their ends cut off and welled together with a
doorway cut in the middle with a sheet of cloth as a door, with wooden benches
inside. These are on the back of a low-loader lorry) it is one hour’s journey and for
most of that a person is chewing dust! It is awful, a person can feel every bump in the road, and there are lots of them.
A lot of the of the head-cases here, have
had all their hair cut off like skin heads. One has had stripes cut across his
head from ear to ear.
Got six letters today, Bill got none, so I
have been taking the piss out of him. Dave’s wife wants him to go home, says “she
can’t handle it,” hope this does not happen to me.
Heard there is a load of Durex on Cargo 2, a lot of good they
are to us!
Tuesday – 10/01/1984. Day 37. Hours worked 12.
Joe Williams got four letters and two papers yesterday, that should make him feel a bit better. It is not a good feeling at all when others get post here, and you don't.
We had goggles on all day today as the
wind was about 60 mph and the dust was flying everywhere. Myself and Bill just had our nightly ‘slagging each other off’ before we go to sleep, and we are at
opposite end of the cabins. Then we all do a ‘Walton’s’ goodnight.
Reg my ex-ganger has been made up to
‘plant slasher’ this is controlling many machines and lorries, telling them
where to go etc.
On the England coming over every time the ship rocked a bit Bill would
shout, “go to the lifeboats.”
Wednesday – 11/01/1984. Day 38. Hours worked 12.
Yesterday when the wind was
blowing a gale, our foreman George said to me, “this is wild land Bonnie Lad
Tom, but we can stick it,” he then got blown arse over tit.
I was talking to two officer soldiers
today who came over, they think the camp is going to be great. Dr Two Days Off,
has had two days off. He is called that as that’s what he seems to say to
everyone who visits him.
One of the Volvo lorry drivers is now
called ‘Flipper’ as he has kept
flipping his lorry over. Bill gave us a
real slagging at bed time last night. Dave above me call down to me very
loudly, “Jerry (Bill’s foreman) didn’t get a turkey for Christmas, as Bill did
all the gobbling for him!”
Morrison goes next week, Parr Burnham comes tomorrow to take over from him. Bill has still only had one letter from his wife, so has Mick, so they both went on the piss. When they returned Mick said, “We are not in the Falklands at all. We are building a secret air-base in a remote area of Scotland, and they only put us on a ship for eleven days so that we didn’t know where they taking us. Bill said the worrying thing was that he said it when he was sober.
Mussels Mark has totally cracked up as
he now spends most of the evening laying on the top of his wardrobe? Bill and
Mick said “if they don’t get a letter soon they would jump off the Bailey Bridge hand in hand!”
Friday – 13/01/1984. Day 40. Hours worked 12.
Got my own back on Dave and
Bill. For Bill I turned his bed slats on their edge, so when he laid down on
them they went down with a bang, and gave him a heart attack. With Dave, he is
always up late in the morning. So, I stuffed cigarette packets in the toe caps
of his work boots, so when he was rushing, he almost broke his toes.
John the alcoholic got sent home by Dr Two Day. He has been drunk since he was talked into having some whiskey on the England coming over. He had been dry for over two and half years up until then, this is the wrong place to come to for a person with that sort of problem. There’s is a real gale blowing, we have been told from the ship it’s a Force 9.
Erect-a-Com, who will be putting up the accommodation units on the main camp, where on the Benny
Radio, interviewed at Heathrow Airport.
They were saying they think there will be lots of things to do here. Boy, are
they in for a shock.
Saturday – 14/01/1984. Day 41. Hours worked 8.
Been a very cold and windy day,
hail stones and snow on and off all day, and this is the summer? We are now
working on putting the new field canteen up at the base camp, for the next ship
coming in. We will then be eating there instead of the ship. We were lifting
the canteen unit sections off the lorries and into place, I was on top of the
units on the lorry hooking the cranes chains on when there was a large gust of
wind that blew me sideways, it was only the fact that I garbed hold of a chains
that saved me from going over the side.
With the wind, dust and hail stones
blowing most of the time nearly all of us (who are outside) have cut faces and
chapped lips. There is a lot of rumours going around about Morrison But there are rumours here all the time, so who knows
what’s true?
Had a new set of rules put up in
our cabin by Eastham’s. You can’t
drink in the cabins and a list of other things not to be done and a price list
to replace any damages. Along with what they charge in the shop, and what they
paying for things, well the only thing I can say is that, “Dick Turpin had the
decency to cover his face when he robbed people!”
Been a nice day, when a person is out
of the wind, that is. Mick and Marc walked to Hampton today, about 12 miles. They got a lift back with a fitter,
who they said, “not only was he totally pissed, but he was also drinking out of
a bottle of Vodka as he drove.
We have got a meeting over the overtime
this evening. The extra hours we work now, will be taken off us if we lose any
time without a sick note, i.e. bad weather, and there could be a lot of that
here.
Monday – 16/01/1984. Day 43. Hours worked 10.
Been raining all day, it has
just not stopped. The wet weather gear we have just been given is a joke, they
are cagoules, something for a light
shower. The rain goes straight through them, also they are all one size, when you
put the hood up it completely covers a person’s face and they are so long they
come past my knees. Not only can you not work in them, we all look like a load
of penguins waggling around! Just one long body.
The workers meeting regarding the overtime last night was a joke, no order at all. We were
told that the company had spies in there, on of the lads threatened to punch
one of them. What we have asked for has gone to the management.
There is a ganger man here who they call ‘Road Runner’ (as he runs everywhere) he has
had a contract taken out on him, (to kill him) because he reports people if
they do anything wrong.
Dave
and I got hold of a very big brown carrier bag which we have put up at the end
window next to our bunks to stop the flood lights shinning in all night.
Tuesday – 17/01/1984. Day 44. Hours worked 11- ½.
No wind this morning, big
surprise, rained all afternoon, no surprise there. There has been a Nimrod spy plane flying around all of today
and last week, maybe the Argies are
on their way back?
JLB
turned us down flat regarding us wanting the overtime paid at the end of each
month, they said “take it at the end of the contract, or not at all.” We have a
meeting tomorrow night. “There could be trouble at mill lad!”
There has been a navy ship
around here all of today. It was too far out at sea to see what it was, but it
was big. There was also Hercules that
came over very low. Word on the runway is that something is about to happen.
Dave and Bill have been weightlifting down
at the small gym on the ship that has been set up, I wonder how long that will
last?
Paddy Bill who I work with is going home
on Sunday as his wife has had a break down. Made a flask out of a little pop
bottle and covered it with silver foil paper to bring tea over to the cabin for
the evening. Weather warm and windy. I have been nick named “Tommy Tip Out” as that’s what I say I
am going to do when I go to the toilet.
Thursday – 19/01/1984. Day 46. Hours worked 11- ½.
Been a nice day but it was cold
last night, there was even some frost outside this morning. Got eight letters.
A family friend at home, Donna, her Dad is working in Stanley, the wife gave
him my binoculars which he brought out and had them sent over from the capital,
well done Donna’s Dad.
The chaps who are jacking and going on
Sunday have to be in the laundry two hours before the England docks so that the new blokes don’t see them leaving or talk
to them. I would tell them to "piss off."
Been a nice day. Two workers put
in for compassionate leave and were turned down, so they have jacked. Like I
said yesterday it has been confirmed for those who are jacking on Sunday have
to wait two hours below deck in the laundry of the Providence.
Lads
are really fed up with JLB as they
just want everything their way, and if you don’t like it, “well there will be a
ship in soon, get on it.” I can see trouble coming, you can’t treat lads like
this, it’s 1984 for God’s sake! One of the lads going home has taken a lot of
photos of the bad things here and say’s he is going to the newspapers? We’ll
see.
We had been told that there would be a
day trip to Hampton on the Sunday 29th
of February, it has now been brought forward to tomorrow when the England is in. They want as many of us
out of here as possible in case lads get ideas about jacking. I am not going,
sod them.
Oh, my good God, what a night
last night was. It was little Fred’s going away do. We went to the bar downstairs
on the ship. There was about twenty of us, we had a good old sing-song, a good
drink, a good night, pity about Fred going, he was a nice bloke, but his wife
was kicking off about him being here.
Well, the England came and went. Had a drink with Neal the steward who we made friends with coming over here. On the morning we first got here and were passing the island and we were having breakfast he looked out of the window and said, “the last time I saw a place like that a man was saying ‘it’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” Meaning the moon landing.
We saw the ship off, nearly everyone was pissed and there were a few little fights. Everyone from our cabin went to Hampton, apart from myself, Bill and Hack (who was getting wacky-backy off his supplier) the three of us then had dinner on the England, best I have had since? Well the last time we were on it.
One of the foreman Alan, had been taking
photos and left his camera outside the ‘thunder box’ when he went to the toilet.
Flipper, who hates him was nearby and
saw this, he ran over and grabbed it, undone his trousers and took a photo of
his private parts, and said, “get that one done, you bastard!”
Memo – The England docking – 22nd January.
Well, I have already mentioned
this day, but I will give a bit more detail to it. Well, yes what a day it was.
It docked at 13-00 hrs. I had my binoculars trained on the ship as it came in
side-ways on, and spotted a new female nurse, we had a bloke coming down. Pretty
looking thing, she was. When it docked there was a lot of obscenity’s being
shouted at her, she was stood next to the captain who put a pair of ear
defenders on her, to a very big cheer.
There
was lots of shouting, also to the new lads. As I said there was a lot of drunks
(what a surprise for this place) and bits of trouble, too the point that it has
now been said they will not bring the ship in on a none working day again.
Everyone was singing, “We are sailing,” when she set sail.
The
lads from our cabin who went to Hampton
were totally pissed when they back, apart from Marc who doesn’t drink, and was
driving. They had spent the day in the working man’s club there.
Monday – 23/01/1984. Day 50. Hours worked 11- ½.
This must be some sort of
milestone with half a century of days completed? Still here! Very windy this
morning, but it died down this afternoon. Got moved down to the main camp
today, will be working on the foundations of the new canteens and recreation
areas to start with. Started digging for the bases and ring beam on the main
canteen. Ended up doing a lot of the cutting by jack-hammer as the 225-digger
could not touch it because of the amount of rock.
Had
our first meal in the pioneer base camp canteen tonight. Canteen is nice, food
is still rubbish! Erect-a-Com made a start today, putting up the rooms on the
camp. It was not cold at all but they were all dressed for a winter’s day, so
they may be in for a shock when winter does gets here.
Tuesday – 24/01/1984. Day 51, Hours worked 11- ½.
No Page 3!!!
Raining all morning, fine in the
afternoon. Bob Clarke from the next cabin just came in and showed us a clipping
from his local paper that his wife sent him about him going to the Falklands,
we all laughed at it, then Bill and Dave, held him down and Marc wrote on his
forehead in black marker pen, ‘Wally.’
She also sent him a load of Sun
newspapers, but cut out the page 3’s.
Used the thunder box at the main camp for
the first time today. I can only say that is an experience. They are a wooden
box about 1 metre square with a wooden boxing with a hole in the top with a
toilet seat fix on. The whole unit is sited over a hole dug in the ground, when
a person sits on it the wind whistles up your back-side, and when you put the
paper down, if you don’t get the lid down in time, it will fly back up again!
Wednesday – 25/01/1984. Day 52. Hours worked 11- ½.
Been very windy today. It seems
to be stronger each day. Cargo 3
arrived today and hit the Provenance on the
way in and put a massive dent in its side.
Meal
times at the camp are a complete joke. When the food turns up everyone just has
a mad scramble for it, pushing, fighting, shoving, it is like feeding monkeys
at the zoo. In fact, I think the monkeys would be better behaved.
Had
a row with Terry today because of all the orders he give out, I did pick a shovel up, he
knew it was time to bugger off then!
Thursday – 26/01/1984. Day 53. Hours worked 11- ½.
£1,000.
A lad was in a thunder box at the camp today when some lads came along to move it to a new location with him still in it, up it went in the air, hanging off the diggers arm! All you could see was legs hanging out of the bottom.
Bob Clarke has just told us that he has started a rumour that if you go to the office and say you are going to ‘Jack’ they will offer you a £1,000 to stay. That will be the day with these tight bastards here! He also told a new starter that if you go to the port-a-cabin on the far end of the ship and knock on the door you will be given a new coat. It is in fact a toilet. I am starting to think Bob is losing it, or maybe he never had it in the first place?
Friday – 27/01/1984. Day 54. Hours worked 11- ½.
It has been on the warm side
today and low and behold very little wind. I have been made up to concrete
ganger man, it will be as much a trial for them as it is for me. I will get a
pay rise, but don’t know how much yet, but that’s what I am here for, to get as
much tax-free money as I can get.
Took the slats out of Bills bunk last
night, he went straight through it. Little Jim is going to get stitched up
tonight. He is out on the piss, as he is most nights at the moment, he then
comes in and wakes everyone up. Marc has sowed up his trouser legs and the neck
on his jumper, so when he wakes for work in the morning with a hangover he
might have a problem getting dressed for work.
Saturday – 28/01/1984. Day 55. Hours worked 4 – rained off.
Been raining all day, got rained
off at lunch time and came back to the cabin. The hours are going down to 60
hours, (that’s our flat hours) so much for us forcing them to pay the overtime,
they have called our bluff.
When we got rained off today I had to
go to a meeting, I was picked up in a Land Rover. I told one of the lads to
tell Dave and the boys we had gone, but he did not tell them, so they were
stood waiting for us in the rain for a couple of hours.
Above, photo of me at the meeting.
Sunday – 29/01/1984. Day 56. Day off.
Went for a drink on Cargo 3, The Oroara last night, we all
got pissed. When we were asleep Dave got up and went and pissed in Marc’s part
of the cabin, he had to clean it up. He was very drunk, I don’t know what he
was dreaming of to do that?
Rang the wife last night on an impulse,
you are meant to book it 48 hours before, but I told welfare it was my wedding
anniversary and I had forgot so they sorted it for me, only seven months early.
Hack has been on the wacky-backy all
weekend. As he sat down for dinner last night Johnston’s main man who is over
here sat down and talked to him, he said he did not have a clue what he said.
Memo – Dr Two Day.
As I have said before, when you go to him he says, “Okay have two days off.” I have heard a lot of stories about him but to be fair blokes make up so much rubbish a person would not know what to believe. I do know (as I have seen him) he drinks like a fish and smokes like a chimney.
Been raining on and off all day,
got totally soaked. We got a container for our gang for a tea hut at the camp,
it has got a heater, lighting so that’s good to have our own cabin.
One of the lads hurt his leg while playing
football for JLB against the army. He
is going to be off work for three weeks, Dr Two Day has sent home, the lad is
not happy.
Dave’s Grandmother died today.
The skipper of one of one of the tug boats has been sent home because he is diabetic, yet at the medical they said he would be okay, but, yes, Dr Two Day said he should go home. One of our lads broke into the club at Hampton and stole a gun. He’s on his way home!
Tuesday – 31/01/1984. Day 58. Hours worked 10- ½.
Our packed lunches at the camp
today were awful, they were the worst yet. Boiled eggs were black and rotten,
the fruit had gone off and the sandwiches had next to no fillings. We went to
the office and said, “no food no work,” we had another 100 packed lunches
within the hour!
Raining with hail stones all
day. Marc is in our part of the cabin at
the moment having his head shaved? The lads had talked him into it.
Joe Williams Dad has died, he has gone
air bridge, I don’t think he will be back, I am sure someone will want to open
a book and take bets on it.
Overtime = 2- ½.
February 1984.
Wednesday – 01/02/1984. Day 59. Hours worked 10- ½.
Kato (little Jim) who keeps jumping out on Eric, hid under Eric’s bed when he had gone to the toilet tonight. When he came back he sat on the bed and put his hand down to get something and Kato (Kato was a character in the Pink Panther films and would jump out on Peter Sellers) grabbed his hand, Marc shit himself.
The packed lunches were better today, still the same every day but
they have said that will change, lets hope it does soon.
Weather
wise it was not a bad day but the mountains near where we are had a lot of snow
on them this morning.
Thursday – 02/02/1984. Day 60. Hours worked 10- ½.
Done next to nothing at work
today as they can not get any stone for the concrete, the stone we are getting
has no sand in it. They are hoping to get the road up to the new quarry next
week, weather permitting, and then start blasting there.
The
packed lunches were very bad again today and then the dinner was very poor
tonight. Not good at all when people are working and can’t get any decent food.
One of Eastham’s chefs chatted Little Jim up at the bar last night, so the lads
are now taking the piss out of him.
Friday – 03/02/1984. Day 61. Hours worked 10- ½.
Been raining on and off all day. We got some concrete with no sand of course, par for the course! It did not take long to use up the complete amount.
Marc is down in the dumps, George our foreman has got it in for him. The foreman before, Alan, had Marc as his driver, of the Land Rover. Alan has now been sacked, he goes on the next England. George did not like Alan, in fact I think he put the knife in for him. George has put Marc in my gang, and told me, “to work the balls off him.” Of course, I will treat him like the rest of the lads. He can be on the lazy side, but do like him.
Saturday – 04/02/1984. Day 62. Hours worked 8.
Been raining again on and off,
the ground is cut up everywhere with the rain, including the haul roads, which
is just rock and top soil. There could be real problems with these when the
winter arrives.
I went
and talked to George about Marc as the tension between them could be cut with a
knife, or in our case a shovel, ha-ha. He said, “that lad thinks this place is
a holiday camp, when he bucks his ideas up, I will get off his back.” I relayed
this to Marc, and the response I got, is that I think he will buck his ideas up.
One of the mangers asked a lad, who just
happens to be a black belt in karate if he would work on Sunday, he said no.
The manager said, “I can sack you for refusing to work overtime.” The reply that came back was,
“well if that is the case I may as well batter you now and go for a good
reason.” The manager turned and left.
Sunday – 05/02/1984. Day 63. Day off.
Very windy day, raining on and
off. They have said on the ship that the wind is a ‘Force 10’ if that is the case it’s about 55 to 63 miles per hour. You can fill the cabin rocking
from side to side. I think these cabins could turn over if the winds got a lot
stronger. We were told by some army officers who were over here that their
cabins in Stanley are tied down to stop them turning over.
There were some Land Rovers going to
Stanley today but had to turn back because they kept getting bogged down on the
flooded roads/tracks.
Hack seems to be selling his ‘wacky backy’
to most of the camp these days as lads are coming in one after another to buy
it off him. At the moment he is trying to make some weighing scales. I brought
a new pair of jeans and trainers today.
Memo – Silly pastimes.
The lads have come up with this, here are a few below.
1. 1. Bob Clarke – screw spotting and counting,
in the cabins.
2. 2. Hack – who can shut the cabin door the
quietest. He hasn’t told anyone apart from me, so we are doing the judging.
3. 3. Spot the rock – not hard here.
4. 4. Spot the sand in the concrete, very hard here!
5.
5. We have heard there is going to be a camp,
‘Wally of the week’ for the person who makes the biggest cock up of the week.
6. 6. Some of the lads have got their wives to
send them underwear out, one lad Paul, who works with us has now got a set of
stockings and suspenders hanging on the wall next to his bed.
Monday 06/02/1984. Day 64. Hours worked 10- ½.
Jerry the Indian (he looks like a red Indian from the USA, the lads call him Cochise, which he knows and is okay with) he's a walking ganger, tried to jump between Cargo 3 and the Provenance after spending the night drinking on the former and did not make it. He fell about 30-foot into the sea below, the lads threw a rope to him and pulled him out. JLB know about it and want to sack whoever it was. He is not well liked with the lads, but no one is letting on to who it is.
Little Jim was up in front of Parr
Burnham today for taking the lads out joy-ridding on the Beaver Boat on Saturday night. He said he could take a £50 fine or
the sack, he has taken the sack, Mick (who was with him) has jacked over it,
and some other lads are thinking of doing the same.
George our foreman went to Stanley on Sunday and got drunk, he fell in the
sea up to his waist and knocked his two front teeth out. We got some concrete
to pour the base for the water tank today, but only got half the amount to
complete it.
Tuesday 07/02/1984. Day 65. Hours worked 12.
The ‘Wally of the Week’ has started. The first one is going to Roger Vernon. He drove a Land Rover under a land train, (a very large lorry) as it was blocking the road, he didn’t make it and took the roof off the Land Rover.
Little Jim has taken the £50 fine. He
was told that if he took the sack he would be sacked from last Friday, would have to
pay £15 a day for his board and keep plus £475 for his air fare home. I would
have told them to get knotted. It was a really nice day, no wind, just lots of
sun.
Wednesday 08/02/1984. Day 66. Hours worked 11- ½.
Been nice again today, but not as hot as yesterday. Fell out with George again today, with saying that I seem to fall out with him most days. We have fallen out over wet-time, (working in the rain) overalls, tea breaks, concrete, you name it. The odd thing is when we are not rowing we get on okay, there must be a personality clash between us somewhere along the line. I do feel he has a lack of construction knowledge, and lacks in man management skills. I guess that’s what happens when a person works in Africa for many years and have locals working for them who are unable to stick up for themselves. Do it or get sacked!
Been busy again today. Concreted the
remaining half of the water tower base today. The quality of the concrete has
been a lot better today. It looks like we are back on the old work hours of 7am
until 7pm, they didn’t ban the overtime for long, did they? JLB just wrap us around their fingers
here. Everything we do they are one move ahead all the time. With saying that I
can see it blowing up sometime soon as the lads are just fed-up with being
treated like children all the time.
Thursday 09/02/1984. Day 67. Hours worked 11- ½.
Been nice again today, it has been a nice week weather wise, I wonder how long it will last? We had a shock the other week, with JLB saying that we would only get two weeks at home on leave and not four, but word on the runway is now that it will be four weeks, thank god!
Got a letter from the wife saying that it was Joe Williams (my sister works with his wife) step-father who died
and he has not talked to him for over 20 years, also his wife was moaning about
him going home for the funeral. It sounds that he wants to stay at home,
but she said for him to come back?
The generator has just gone off,
I am now writing this in the dark, it often happens at weekends, it must be higher
demands. The weather has broken and it was windy and on the cold side today,
lights are back on.
Got to work this Sunday as we are behind
with the mess-hall. I don’t have a problem with working extra hours but the
fact we may end up not getting paid, is not good. The thing is before we came
they said it’s a 60-hour week with a little overtime, to be paid for with time
off in-lieu. With the program they have here, well that was never going to
work, they are just taking the piss.
I have lost a pair of
brand-new gloves and balaclava, they went from off my bed when I went to the toilet. If I find the thieving bastard they will not be
able to ware the gloves as they will have no fingers to put in them!
Saturday 11/02/1984. Day 69. Hours worked 8- ½.
Hasn’t been a bad day, a bit
windy but not too bad. On the radio, the BBC World Service, and we have been told
on the news at home, was the lads who jacked, complaining about the food, the
way we are living the job and overtime etc. Don’t know if it will do any good, JLB are meant to be having a meeting
regarding it all.
Flipper
is getting 20p off everyone to send a telegram to his MP over how we are being treated here. Things look like they are hotting
up. Flipper has just come in to see if anyone is going to Stanley to send it, none of us are going. I personally think he’s a
bit of a ‘Red’ and will stir things up a lot then jack and leave us all to it!
Sunday 12/02/1984. Day 70. Hours worked 8.
The boys have all just beat
Muscles up, as no-one can do it on their own they got him on the floor and
jumped all over him. He is now killing each of them one-by-one, oh, let the
children play!
Been
working this morning until 12/30. I turned my ankle at work this morning. Dr
Death's (this is Two Day’s new name the lads have given him) mate bandaged it for me. He gave me some pain killers, I can still feel it but it is a bit better now.
Been a
really nice day, lets hope it last's. We are having a post office set up here at
the base camp as it’s a real problem how it is on the ship. A person has to
queue down a very narrow corridor, there are just too many men here now. Of
course, it will be in a container.
Memo – Muscles and Kato.
Little Jim is always calling him names and doing bad things to him, so Marc beats him up. Jim has started acting like Kato out of the Pink Panther films. He hides in all sort of places and jumps out on him. A little while ago Marc went to the toilet, Jim hid in his wardrobe with a length of rubber hose, so when he went into the wardrobe he would jump out on him. But he was a long time and Jim got cramp and fell out on the floor just as Marc returned, who then beat him. The next morning Marc woke Jim up who jumped from under the covers with the hose pipe and started beating him. They were sword fighting in here the other night with broom handles, it always ends up with Marc winning. They are a pair of nutters!!!
Monday – 13/02/1984. Day 71. Hours worked 11- ½.
Marc
could be going on the England next week, sacked. He has been shovelling the
cement out of a ton bag at the batcher without any PPE at all. The wind blows
there all the time and the dust goes in the eyes, mouth, noise, ears, they get
totally covered in it. He has now refused to do it anymore, so George wants him
sacked. We have a safety officer, he should be sorting this out? If everyone has their safety helmet on, he's happy.
Been a nice day on and off but the wind has got up now and the cabin is rocking from side to side again.
Tuesday – 14/02/1984. Day 72. Hours worked 11- ½.
Stick the overtime!!!
We have heard that the unions at
home have blocked the ships coming out here until we get what we want, i.e. the
overtime sorted. Things are hotting up now, the airfield lads refused to work
overtime last night, so us at the camp refused to work tonight. All us gangers and
charge-hands got called in the office over it. Our section manager Arran Jones
came to the meeting and it all got very heated. The up-shot is that we have
been told if we do not work overtime we would all get a written warning each
time, then after 2 warnings the next time we would be sacked. So, we will have to wait
and see what happens. Apart from all that, it’s been a nice day!
Wednesday – 15/02/1984. Day 73. Hours worked 10- ½.
Been a nice day again today,
can’t believe I am getting a tan. Bill, Marc and Dave are planning to do
something wicked to Jim and Mick when they come in pissed tonight as they both
kicked the hell out of Marc when they came in last night.
No more has been said about us not working the
overtime, but word on the runway is that our manager Jones, got a bollocking
for warning us that we would end up getting sacked and upsetting all the lads.
He’s another one of ‘The African Mafia.’
Bill just tried out hanging Bob, from the next
cabin, when he just came in, as that is what he is going to do when the lads
get back tonight, he nearly killed him.
We have one girlie mag between the lot
of us in here, it is looking the worst for ware.
Thursday – 16/02/1984. Day 74. Hours worked 10- ½.
I went to a management meeting
tonight, it was for all supervisors, on how to treat the lads and keep them
happy. Davy Jaws (he is called that because he has no teeth at all), got drunk
and had a go at the managers. He called them a load of conmen and said “they
won’t give us anything as long as they have got a hole in their arse.”
Bill said to me “make sure you wake me
up in good time in the mornings, as I am a nightmare to wake up.” So now I just
hit him (over the duvet) with the rubber hose from my washing bucket. Been
another nice day but the wind did get up this afternoon.
Friday – 17/02/1984.Day 75. Hours worked – Rained off.
Been raining all day, didn’t get
any work done at all, left at 2/30 and been in the cabin since. I was going to
say, "came home," but I can’t call this place home! Davy Jaws worked out in it all
day, he was soaked to the skin, maybe trying to make up for what he said to the
boss’s last night.
Got my photos back today, some of them
are very good. Got another big parcel of papers from Mum yesterday, good old
Mum.
Regarding the rain and losing the day, well
that’s how it will be, that will be deducted from our overtime, if we have a
dreadful winter we could end up working lots of extra hours for nothing,
thieving bastards, JLB.
Hack, Jim and Mick have just been smoking
wacky backy in a pipe that Hack made out of a small plastic pop bottle, a pen and
a small tube. I just went around to see them, Jim’s face is bright red and he
is staring into space with a big grin on his face, he is totally out of his head.
Sunday – 19/02/1984. Day 77. Day off.
Shaved the beard off I had grown today as I had my hair cut last night and realised what a mess the beard was. It looks like Marc could still be going home, if he does not take a written warning on his contract for refusing to work on the cement. He is sticking to his guns and has said he will not take it.
Big Joey one of the lads on the batcher
was totally pissed last (again) night in the bar and went up to Arran Jones and
said, “Mr Jones, I think you are a real shithouse and a c - - -.” Jones said, “why?”
He said because you walk around the site, won’t talk to any of the men, you are
the cause of a lot of the trouble here.” Jones walked out. Joey may be going on
a boat trip sooner than he thought!
Memo – The A Team.
The ‘A’ Team as the call themselves were the first ones to come, on the first ship. On the whole they are not bad lads, they are the ones who first had their heads shaved. But when they all get together in Huggies Bar, well just watch out. One night everyone who walked into Huggies had the shirt ripped off their backs by a group of them
They call us the ‘B’ Team as they say they were chosen to come
out first. People from each group are always winding each other up, overall it
is good natured. See Huggies on a Sunday morning, beer and cans all over the
floor. One on them craped on the step of Eastham’s
kitchen door step. So, they put a notice up saying, “The crap has been
inspected, parcelled up and is now ready for collection!”
Monday – 20/02/1984. Day 78. Hours worked 10- ½.
We had a folk night on Saturday and it ended with a load of fighting, I have written about it in the next memo. There was eight called to the office on the ship today and sacked, and we have been told there will be more tomorrow. I don’t like to see anyone lose their job, but some of these are just real idiots, I won’t be sorry to see some of them go.
There
is some other bad news, and that is Marc has been sacked, for not taking the
written warning. Now his reason for not taking it is, he refused to do a job
that is unsafe, not shovelling the cement in that wind. He said if he had been
given the correct PPE (personal protective equipment) goggles, masks, overalls
and decent gloves he would have done it. I had a word with George and he said,
“the gear is on the next cargo ship, and the other lads are doing the work.”
The other lads are all moaning and have hankies around their mouths, but don’t
want to lose their jobs. The only PPE here is safety helmets!
Weather has not been too bad,
cold this morning but warmed up this afternoon. We haven’t been that busy, just
steady.
Tuesday – 21/02/1984. Day 79. Hours worked 10- ½
Well, Marc can have his job back if he takes a final written warning and apologise to George for swearing at him. Which again he refused to do. I do think George never liked him. Marc has made a mistake because he told the safety officer that he was going to take JLB to court at home because of the reasons he had been let go. The safety officer went to the office and obviously told them they were on sticky ground. Marc was called up and told he was being let go inside the three months’ probation period, for being unsuitable. They are a bunch of tosser's. I will be sorry to see Marc go, he was a nice lad.
James
Falconer (one of the top men) was on the radio tonight, ‘Calling the Falklands,’ saying how good it
was here and how well they look after the men. He is in ‘cloud cuckoo land!’
Marc’s mum had heard how bad the food was here and everyone was running to the toilet, so she sent him a bottle of what he calls “shit stopper!” Got some things made for our container today, a coat rack and an extra bench.
Wednesday – 22/02/1984. Day 80. Hours worked 10- ½.
The England is in next week,
who knows how many might be going on that. We heard that the head office in the
UK sent a telex here on Monday
saying, “that anyone who causes any trouble or does not do as they are told,
must go.” It looks like they are having a good old clear out before the ‘B’
Teams three-month probation is up in just over a week.
Had a bit of a fall out with Dave and
Paul in may gang, as they went in when it was raining and did not come out
after it had stopped, but we have smoothed things out now. I’ve been a bit down
to day, well the technical term is, “bloody pissed off!” I would just love to
be at home with the wife and kids right now. What we do to earn bloody money.
Thursday – 23/02/1984. Day 81. Hours worked 10- ½.
Jon the odd steel erector who
got sacked, went today, went up to Arran Jones this morning and said, “Jones
you’re a c - - - “then punched him in the face and spat at him. Jones is just
not liked here at all. We had words about the overtime the other week but I
have had little to do with him apart from that, but I have to say him comes
across as ignorant and arrogant.
Talking about arrogant people, I have
just had words with the chap in the mail room. I went in there tonight and he
said I had no post. I was just writing moaning letter home as there has been
little post for a while when Mick came in the cabin and had just been to the
post room and had got me five letters and a roll of newspaper. I flew up there
and had a go at him, he said, “oh, it must have been in the wrong box.” Tosser!
Marc also went today, he nicked a flag
out of the canteen and got us all to sign it for him and took it with him. Not
too bad a day.
Friday 24/02/1984. Day 82. Hours worked 10- ½
Then there was 6. The rest of us
out of cabin ‘C6’ went for a drink last night, I don’t do mid-week as a rule.
Of course, the chat got around to Marc, and the truth be known that's why we went
out, to have a beer for him. We all agreed that today we were all a bit down
because of his leaving. Apart from myself and Dave we have only known each
other for three-months and we had all become good friends. When we all said
goodbye to him as we left for work yesterday morning we all had lumps in our
throats, it was emotional. He gave us a little thing each to remember him by.
He was a good lad!!
Been moved on to benching manholes
today. As they have to be ready for next Wednesday when the England arrives. So that a block of rooms
and toilets can be opened for the new intake.
Hack has just taken Mick for a driving
lesson in his lorry, as he wants to get made up to driving one, it’s more
money. The ship with the lads on left
Stanley today with Marc and the Folk night boxing team. Been a nice day
again today.
Saturday 25/02/1984. Day 83. Hours worked 8.
Got to work tomorrow, Sunday. We were not going too but these manholes have to be benched. We have been told that if we don’t we will be in breach of our contracts by not working some overtime.
Don’t know how the other lads will take it when word gets around as we have banned it now. I hope they all understand that we have no choice in the matter, what would they do? I just hope they sort the overtime thing out soon as it is getting me down.
It has been raining on and off all day,
it is now pouring down.
Sunday 26/02/1984. Day 84. Hours worked 8.
Well have been working this
morning, we didn’t start until 8/30 and we were done by 12/30. I suppose word
will get around soon. Vince (the black lad in my gang) said he got some stick about it
in the top bar last night. He was called a ‘black leg,’ he said, “I have got two of them
man!”
The lads have just got back from the bar
and are pissing it up in Hack and Mick’s area. Hack is out of wacky backy until
the England gets here next week.
Yesterday
morning there was an unbelievable sun rise. The whole sky was alight with all
different colours, I have never seen anything like it.
Memo – The folk night.
Well, what can I say? What a ball’s up. We were all packed into the hold bar on the Providence. Nearly everyone got pissed. You could not hear the folk group at all, with all the noise. The group was made up of four men and two women. They came over from Stanley where they work for the government there.
The first chap who was on, stopped singing and
said, “I am sorry if I am fucking interrupting you.” Later on, when another
chap, a Scotsman was about to sing he said, “now I like this song, so if you
don’t all shut the fuck up, I will come around and stick the heed on each and
every one of you.”
Near
the end a large fight broke out at the rear of the hold, nearly everyone seemed
to be at it. I picked up an over turned chair and took photos of them. One
Irishman who to be fair is a big mouth and has caused trouble before got a good
kicking and was unconscious. I believe he is still in hospital. Fair play, the
band tired to out sing the fighters, we do have a load of wankers here.
Monday 27/02/1984. 85. Off sick.
Been in bed all day doctor say’s
I have colic, I thought that was what babies got? I had such a bad stomach ache
last night. It started just after dinner yesterday evening. I was in a lot of
pain, then I felt sick and went dizzy.
We are all moving down to the main camp
tomorrow apart from Little Jim who has been given a cabin on the ship, as he works there. We will
be the first ones living down there, just one corridor is ready. It is two in a
room (in our con-trick it says we will get a single room) it will free up these
cabins for the new in take later this week. We are going to have a breakfast
room up there for the mornings, but will have to come down here at night (7
miles on the bus) for dinner.
The boys finished the manholes today, and
said “nothing was said about us working yesterday.” I am not going to dinner
tonight as I still do not feel great. Bill is going to bring me soup in his
flask and Hack is going to bring tea in his. Nice of them to look after me.
There has been both sun and rain today.
Tuesday 28/02/1984. Day 86. Hours worked 10- ½.
Moved down to the main camp today, we were given the afternoon off to do it. There was only one wardrobe in each room, so we got hold of a load of Land Rovers and went back to the base camp cabins and got more wardrobes so that everyone has one each. The room down here is a lot better with just two to a room, I am in with Dave.
We only had one armchair in the room,
working on the camp I knew which container they were in so I went and got
another. We couldn’t open our window as there was no handle on it. We were the
first down here, so next door has no handle now!
Felt a bit better today. One of the lads from the quarry found two hand grenades yesterday and took them into his foreman’s office with one in each and said, “what do you want me to do with these?” The answer was, “I don’t care, just get the fuck out of here with them!”
Wednesday 29/02/1984. Day 87. Hours worked 10- ½.
I got Paul and Peter in my gang made up to
concrete finishers (that’s what Dave and I came out here as) they are pleased
about that as it is extra money, they are good lads.
I lent Hack £50, I got it out with my bank
card as he does not have one. He didn’t say what it was for as he knows I am not
happy about him and the dope but I am sure that’s what it is for with the ship
coming in soon.
I made a sign for the new room tonight with
the fancy writing I do, it says:
Thought for the day.
If the South Atlantic is the
Arsehole of the world.
We are 4,000 miles up it.
The arsehole welcomes you.
Hours worked for February = 264- ½.
Overtime hours = 24- ½.
March.
Thursday 01/03/1984. Day 88. Hours worked 10- ½.
Another month gone, only 11 to go, wow, it seems to have been a lifetime away all ready! Very windy with the odd bit of rain, not much.
The England came in at 7/30 this morning but it anchored 100 yards from the Providence. At that time the sea was a
force 12, and the ship dragged its anchor, so they pulled it up and left the
cove and went back out to sea. It had another go at 14/00 hours but it was
still too rough so it is going to have another go tomorrow morning. Hack will
be going mad, no dope.
I fell out with our new foreman David Antony today. He is part of the ‘Africa Mafia’ as they call them. Loads of the management who have worked together for Johnson in Africa. I hope I can get on better with him in the future. I heard there is mail in, hope so, we haven’t had any for over a week now.
Friday 02/03/1984. Day 89. Hours worked 10- ½.
Joe Williams came back today and the wife had
passed loads of things on to him for me which is great.
You can tell all the new lads as they all
walking around with their ID tags on, which we do not do anymore. There was a
new intake of 280 men, we are now queuing for everything. Been a nice day
again. We had bus tours on our site this afternoon with all the new chaps
looking around. They are probably wondering what they have let their selves in
for?
Saturday 03/03/1984. Day 90. Hours worked 8.
It has been overcast and cloudy
al day, not too cold but there was some rain later in the day. We got some new
wet-weather gear today that seems a lot better than the last load of rubbish
they gave us. Got a letter from the wife where she said she, “has been banging
away with the workmen all day,” hope she has got that wrong!
Had
a new chap start in our gang today, Dick. He is a Welshman, but we won’t hold
that against him, ha-ha. He does seem okay.
David Antony has a thing about seeing him
for anything we need and not asking anyone else from the office. He seems a
real control freak. Just made a new aerial for my radio with a coat hanger and
some tying wire. Can now got Benny Radio very well and the BBC World Service,
not bad. Spurs won today.
Sunday 04//03/1984. Day 91. Day off.
Been raining on and off all day
and the wind is getting very strong again. Brought myself a Falkland Island
sweatshirt today, and one each for the children Paul and Julie and I have
ordered toy penguins each for Claire and Jean. We have had two women arrive on the
last ship to work for Eastham’s.
I had a drink with Joe Williams last
night. He was well pissed when I met him, God knows why he came back, he really
hates it here, he is now lower than when he went. He said his wife did not want
him to come back, so why did he?
Memo – King Rat.
King Rat is a Scotsman. I think he has
totally cracked up, he is a very big lad. He is called King Rat because he says
the D6 (machine) he drives is a big rat. He came into the folk night with a
piece of string with a dog collar on it and walked up on to the stage as the
group was playing, making out he had a dog on it. He also threw a dead goose
onto the stage while the group were playing.
He hates the ‘A’ Team (he came out with us) and has often tried to fight any of them who wants a go, but none will, I think he wants to get a medivac.
Also, at the folk night an Erect-a-Com lad had his birthday. They had a birthday cake made for him, they sang him Happy Birthday, then put it on his head.
Monday 05/03/1984. Day 92. Hours worked 10- ½
Been a very windy day, with a little rain. Mum sent me an element so we can make tea in the room, good old Mum. David Antony is upsetting so many people here at the camp. He is always having a go at someone, “do this, don’t do this!” He has got such a bad attitude, the last foreman was like that, he has just replaced him and he is now on the ship going home!
We
have had a new chap start at the camp, he is telling everyone he is a ‘walking
ganger, that’s one step up from a ganger, just short of a foreman. Yes, he is
getting the piss taken out of him. A load of post arrived here which had been
damaged by water somehow, I didn’t have any. Three months completed today.
Tuesday 06/03/1984. Day 93. Hours worked 10- ½.
After dinner tonight Kim Benjamin one of
the top men here came up to me and asked “is everything going well?” Not
knowing what he was on about I said, “yes.” He then waved someone over who
almost put a microphone up my nose and started asking me loads of questions
like, “How do you like the Falklands, how long have you been here, what is the
food like, what’s the camp like, when do you go home? The only thing I moaned
about was the food. It seems he was from the BBC, who knows, I might be a star!
Wednesday 07/03/1984. Day 94. Hours worked 10- ½.
Been a nice day, but a bit on
the windy side. James Falconer another of the top men, introduced me to one of
Butlers personnel directors today. He asked me the same sort of questions that the
BBC did.
A
new land train (low-loader lorry) driver turned it over today and is now in hospital
in Stanley. He has got back injuries, but not sure what exactly what, I am sure
we will find out at some point. Heard there was some fight with the new blokes,
but again that’s all I know at the moment.
Had
a full out with Dave and Richard (JCB driver) in my gang. This was because they
were digging bases to be concreted and they dug them far too deep. I just told
them about it, but it didn’t go down very well, so it ended up in an argument.
It’s not hard to concentrate on what you have to do, is it?
Thursday 08/03/1984. Day 95. Hours worked 10- ½.
Been very windy. Cargo 5 got here today, but it was far too windy for it to come in, so it had to sit outside of the cove all-day.
Have
managed to get a kettle for our container at work. I have managed to get other
items as well, out of open containers. Got another heater, an extra strip
light, that I wired in, some real cups, not paper ones, and a few other little
things that will make it a bit more homily for us all.
When the DJ in the morning on Benny Radio
gives out the names of who is flying on the islander plane that day, he says
the local’s names, then if there are any of us going he will say and "4 others," or 5 depending how many are going, but not our names.
We had the first truck mixer lorry come down to the camp today. The concrete was so stiff it would not come out of the drum, we had to wet it up.
No Overtime!!!
Been a nice day, next to no wind
until the afternoon, then it got up a bit. This bloody overtime thing has come
up again. We were asked to work on Sunday, our gang said “yes” as others have
worked. The next thing we know the chippy gang came over and started giving us
stick over us working. I told our lads not to work as no job is worth all the
trouble we are getting over this. I have had row’s on and off all day over it
with lads and management. If it carries on much longer I might just sod off
home as I didn’t come here for this. David Antony is a real tosser over it, I
believe he is always bragging to the other managers that he can get the lads to
work, he’s just a tosser.
Saturday 10/03/1984. Day 97. Hours worked 8.
Been a lovely day nice and hot with little
wind. I was given a Land Rover to go and sort a little problem out. I took Paul with me, it wasn’t far off knocking off time, so we sorted the job and then had
a drive around in the sunshine.
Sunday 11/03/1984. Day 98. Day off.
Lovely morning, the sun is
shinning brightly. February and March have been really nice here. Looks like
Jim the storeman has been sacked, because he can’t get on with David Antony and
has refused to be moved to another gang. I got hold of Arran Jones Land Rover
this afternoon and a few of us went for a drive to the quarry and then we went
up Mount Pleasant where there is a cross to commemorate the servicemen that
died there. Took a load of photos then this evening I climbed up the
85-foot-high water tower that will service the camp, there is a great view from
up there, took more photos from up there.
Joe Williams is in hospital. He fell
over as he was going to the gym, the lads say he is putting it on. He has hurt
his leg. One of the lads in his cabin says he is just trying to get a medivac. Why did he come back?
Memo – Should I stay, or should I
go?
Home or Away?
There could be a song tile there! The Clash 1982. You might think it is early days to be asking this? A few lads have bit the dust already. Since I have been here I have found out a lot about myself. In the body I am okay, up until now. In the mind, well. There are times I can do this standing on my head, then there are other times when I feel very low.
The
overtime ban is not helping at all. If we had worked today we would have got a
lot of stick no doubt, some of the lads would have been okay, but there are
some real tosser’s here. I do miss the family, a person is just so far away
here, two weeks to get home! I am missing them more than ever at the moment.
The England is in next week and for two pins I would get on it. But there are
lots of things we want to do with the money, so I will try and hang in there.
Our problem regarding the overtime, is that in the concrete gang we just don’t
know when we are going to finish, and you can’t just walk away from it.
“Calling the Falklands” has just been on the radio. It had a few on out senior managers on saying how good it was here, and the lads who said different were just moaners. What a load of rubbish. But they are the ones whose voices can be heard when they go on the radio.
Tuesday 13/03/1984. Day 100. Hours worked 10- ½.
Been a nice sunny day, a nice
change from yesterday. David Antony has been really nice to everyone today, to
the point a person could be sick. Steve Smith the manager went to Kim Benjamin
about him, upsetting all the lads. I heard Benjamin had a word with him. Have been told
he said, “you are not in Africa now David.” So now he is trying to get back in
everyone’s good books. That might take a bit of doing.
Paul
in our gang had a letter from his wife telling him that people at home are saying how bad things are here and that she was going to ring our head office and give
them a “bollocking” she has also wrote to the Sun newspaper. She was also
trying to get an overdraft to rewire the house and got refused, so she went to
the bank with a blown light bulb and told the manager she would poke it up his
nose. She got the overdraft. She sounds some girl her.
100
days up, must be some kind of landmark, mustn’t it?
Wednesday 14/03/1984. Day 101. Hours worked 10- ½.
Quit a nice day. Concreted a floor slab in the main canteen, the first one. All the floors in these areas are power floated, so that could end up with some long nights. We have got a new section manager on the camp, Pat O’Leary he seems alright, but I do know he is part of the Africa Mafia. Some of the lads that came two weeks ago have jacked and go on the Uganda from Stanley later this week.
Going down to dinner tonight we passed the
four women that Eastham’s have here now, all the lads were cheering and waving
to them.
Neil
Thompson, from welfare was on “Calling the Falklands” tonight. He said, “there
is not a lot to do at the moment, but there are 150 women on their way out, and
for the married men there will be in-door sports.” Not sure what to make of
that statement.
I think Dave has had a bad letter from his
wife last night, he didn’t talk nearly all night after he read it.
Thursday 15/03/1984. Day 102. Hours worked 10- ½.
Had mail every night this week from Tuesday and that has cheered me up no end. My sister Linda works in a handicapped school and she told them about me and one of the young girls Katie has started writing to me and has told me about the other children in her class and school. I must say it brought a lump to my throat. God, we don’t realise are lucky we are at times.
The
wife has said how much she and the children are missing me, I feel exactly the
same, roll on my leave, I can’t wait. Weather been good again today, nice and
sunny. There was a lovely sun set tonight as we came back from dinner, and I
didn’t have my camera on me.
Friday 16/03/1984. Day 103. Hours worked 10- ½.
Been a really nice day again today, lots of sun and next to no wind. Been really busy concreting the floor slabs, we have almost finished the kitchen area. The concrete has been coming from the production area batching plant. It is good concrete, apart from the 20mm stone in it.
Hack
has just come in our room, smoking a very large joint, as usual. He wants me to
write him a poem for his room using calligraphy (fancy writing), as he like the one I did for our room. He wrote it down for me, I read it and could
not understand it to start with. So, I read it again, and still can’t
understand it!
Saturday 17/03/1984. Day 104. Hours worked 9.
Again, been a really nice day. We poured two quite big floor slabs and had to work over to finish them. Butch the concrete ganger from our small batching plant here at the camp and his lads came and helped us which made things a bit easier.
Brian and Dean the chippies made us a small
coffee table for our room, after Eastham’s cleaners took the one back I nicked
out of a container. They said, "they are for managers rooms only," tosser’s! We
need one now that we have the element and are supplying most of our corridor
with tea and coffee of an evening. Going to a St Patricks day party in the
drying room at the end of our corridor shortly.
Sunday 18/03/1984. Day 105. Day off.
Nice day again today, very hot. Went to the St Patricks day party last night. Well, I didn’t stay long, I didn’t think much of it. Everyone was just stood around talking they could have done that in the bar, no music or anything.
Henry
a foreman electrician turned his Land Rover over on April Ridge last night, it
caved the floor and one side in, he was lucky he didn’t get killed. As it
happened he did not get hurt at all, or so he is telling everyone. There was a
load of lads who were in ‘Huggies Bar’
late last night and they missed the last bus back up here to the camp, so they
used one the bus’s that was parked up at the ship to get back the seven miles
to here. Apparently, they did a lot of damage to it, no doubt that won’t be the
last we have heard of that!
Memo. Erect-a-Com.
Well they all come Hull in the East Riding of Yorkshire. A lot of lads just don’t like them at all. They have nearly all worked together in the past, so a lot of them were mates already, they seem to be on the piss all the time. I am told they have crates of beers in their cabins every night. It seems like they came out here with the idea of taking the job over!
They
have said they are “sworn enemies of the ‘A’ Team." They have tried to takeover
‘Huggies Bar’ a few Saturday nights
now and there have been a few scuffles and small fights I believe. Last
Saturday night they got hold of an Erect-a-Com flag, tied it to a 21-foot
scaffold tube and fixed it to one end of the bar before they all went in. I can
see it exploding one night.
Each
Saturday night they turn up at the bars dressed differently. The first one was
to turn up with all their hair cut off like the ‘A’ Team. Next, they all turned
up in wellington boots, safety helmets, goggles and ear defenders. They turned
up one night with their clothes inside out and another in Long John pants and
vests with a big ‘S’ on their chests like Superman.
When
they get to the bar, they sing the Hull RFC official song. ‘Old Faithfull’. If a person
is unlucky enough to get the last bus back to the camp with them, it is
absolute bedlam. It turns out it was them who cut up peoples gear on the
washings lines the other week, tosser’s. They really think they are something special!
Monday 19/03/1984. Day 106. Hours
worked 11- ½.
Been a nice sunny day but it is
windy and getting colder. On the radio tonight they kept saying, “there will be
a ‘casualty exercise’ in Stanley tonight.” Not sure what it is all about or
what they are expecting, but it really doesn’t sound good at all.
Henry the Sparks who turned the Land
Rover over went on leave today. Before he went, he and the chap who was with
him got fined £100 each to pay for the repairs. I heard it went on its side,
(seems he had been drinking) they then got another Land Rover and tried to
right the one that had gone over, that ended up doing more damage. Also, one of
the lads in it is meant to have broken his arm.
Tuesday 20/03/1984. Day 107. Hours worked 10- ½.
Time is going a bit faster at the moment and I
seem to have settled a bit better, I think it is because we are very busy most
of the time. I still get the homesickness thing, thinking about the family. There seems to have been a lot of post in today, but I didn’t get any, that
always does my head in!
Wednesday 21/03/1984. Day 108. Hours worked 10- ½
One whole pound???
A very nice morning but it
turned after lunch and is blowing a gale now. Dust was blowing through the air
vent in our room. We have covered them up with newspaper, but of course we
won’t get any fresh air now.
The
folk group is back this Saturday night, but it a £1 a ticket because of the
trouble last time. They are saying the money will go into a raffle. The lads
are all moaning about it as Eastham’s charge over the top for beer and
cigarettes and that extra money is meant to pay for entertainment, and the only
entertainment we get is videos. There is nothing to do here at all.
Thursday 22/03/1984. Day
109. Hours worked 12.
Been a nice day, but the
concrete was soaking wet when we got it. One of the floor slabs was so wet we
had to stay until 7 o’clock to finish it. It wasn’t great as it was just not
drying.
God
walking down our corridor there seems to be wacky backy smoke coming out of
most rooms, the air is thick with it. A person could get high just going to
their room. Hack must be doing a good tread.
Dave
has got a cold, and I think I have got it now. I got a big Easter egg from the
wife and kids. It had been smashed in the post, but still it was great anyway.
Friday 23/03/1984.Day 110. Hours
worked 10- ½.
Been an overcast day and started raining this evening. When we went down to the ship for dinner, there was massive flashes in the sky out to sea, must have been lightening, but nothing like I have ever seen at home. My cold has got worst, I feel really rotten. Maybe the Argies have put something in the water? That's the trouble in a place like this. We are all living, working, eating, showering, you name it, together. So, one person gets something and it goes through all of us. Went for a joyride with Paul after work, we went up to the airfield to see how its going there, it’s seems to be moving on well.
Saturday 24/03/1984. Day 111. Hours worked 8.
There
is a party next door, Dusty and Pete’s room. Hack and Mick have gone in there,
so they will all be out of their brains. Don’t know what to make of Dave these
days? At work he alright, but back here he is a real bore. Spurs won 4-2 today,
so that has cheered me up.
Sunday 25/03/1984. Day 112. Day off.
Bill rang his wife last night and she is not
good. There’s a local chap who Bill has had a lot of problems with over the
years and he has now moved in next to them, and he has given her a hard time.
Bill got pissed and now wants to pay someone to kill him!
Memo – King Rat – Again!
On the side of his D6 machine, he has painted,
“Beware of the dog!!!” He says he is going to take it home with him, and does
not care what they say at Heathrow! He hasn’t put in for any leave yet. He has
just said that, “When the England is in
and he wants to go, him and the dog will just get on it.”
It’s a real worry, because none of the
lads seem to know if he is winding everyone up, or has really lost it. The size
of him, a person would not want to fall out with him regarding it.
Monday 26/03/1984. Day 113. Hours worked 17.
Concreted the floor of the bakery today and it rained and snowed on and off all day. Like the rest it was a power floated finish. We went down to the ship for dinner at 6/30 and got back at 7/30. In that time, it had poured with rain again, the floor slab was flooded. So, the first thing we had to do was to sweep the water off the slab. We got it finished at 10/00, then as we were coming away, yes, it poured down again!
We have a lad in our gang, Wayne. He is
from the west country. Let’s say he is not the brightest spark in the firework
factory, but he has got a heart of gold, and I really like him. He was telling
me tonight, he just got a ‘Dear John’ from his girlfriend. She has gone back to
her husband?
Tuesday 27/03/1984. Day 114. Hours worked 10- ½.
Been cold all day with rain and snow at times. It sounds as if some of the lads have been sacked for fighting over at Hampton. It sounds as if it’s two of them. There is a local woman who comes over here for food sometimes with her husband. The lads call her Chinny as she has a very large one. It seems some of the lads go over there and get her husband drunk in the club while the others take turns to go to their house and give her one. Well this time he caught them and the fight started. He came over here to complain yesterday.
I have put my order in for a birthday
cake for Dave for next week, it doesn’t cost anything, one of the bakers does
it, I gave him a drink.
Wednesday 28/03/1984. Day 115. Hours worked 10- ½.
Been cold today and the wind is getting a real bite in it now. I would say winter is really on the way now, just around the corner.
Had
a clear the air talk with Pat O’Leary and David Antony, as I think our gang is
getting the piss taken out of us. The work we are being given, and Eric the
‘walking ganger’ seeming to get the pick of all the work and us getting left
with all the crap. We won’t be putting up with that.
The
lad in the next room to us has been saying his young room mate does nothing
apart from talking about blood thirsty films. He has seen the ‘Taxes chainsaw
massacre’ 12 times. I said, “he had better start sleeping with one eye open!”
Thursday 29/03/1984. Day 116. Hours worked 10- ½.
Another cold, wet and rotten day. Our gang got some new water-proofs today. They are an all-in-one-suit, with a hood. They seem okay, and I think we will need them now that the weather is turning.
Drove the Land Rover down to the ship to pick
up some gear we needed with Dave and Dick. It was raining and the roads with a
lot of mud on them were very greasy. We were behind a tipper lorry and there
was one coming the other way. I over took the one on our side, I knew I could
make it okay, but when we went back in front of the lorry the back end of the
Land Rover went around a bit, well the other two screamed, I couldn’t stop
laughing which they were not happy with.
Got hold on a splash-back mirror unit out of one of the containers. We are not meant to have them yet as there are not enough to go around for each room. I have screwed and glued it to the wall, so let the bloody cleaners take that back, if they can?
I thought winter had arrived,
but fooled again, it has been a really nice day. Tomorrow the clocks go back
one hour, we will be on JLB time. As
of Monday, the site hours are changing. We be starting at 7/30 until 6/00, but
until the next ship gets in we will be finishing at 5/30?
The concrete hasn’t been coming very
regular at all from the new batching plant. Every morning this week we have had
late starts as they seem to have always run out of something, water, cement,
stone, you name it.
Think I have got everything sorted out
for Dave birthday party tomorrow night (his birthday is on Monday) up until now
he has not found out, lets hope everything is okay with the cake.
Saturday 31/03/1984. Day 118. Hours worked 8.
Been a nice sunny day, a bit on the windy side. We didn’t have much on so I walked over to our block to use the toilet. On the way back, I bumped into Dick who was on he way there. One of the drying rooms is being used as a video room, some of Eastham’s lads had a blue film on, so Dick and I popped in there. Pat O’Leary came in and caught us, we had only been in there a minute. He called us out, didn’t say anything Dick but gave me a right old bollocking.
One more pay slip today, when you add up
all this going in the bank, it makes it worthwhile. And Spurs won again today,
so that makes the day go a lot better.
Hours worked for March = 282- ½.
Overtime hours = 12- ½.
April.
Sunday 01/04/1984. Day119. Day off.
Cargo 6 arrived yesterday. I shaved my beard off again yesterday and had all of my hair cut today. Dave’s surprise party was good. We had it in Bob and Richards room across the corridor from us. We got it all set up in there, with all the lads waiting (12 in all) I went back to our room for him, he was reading a paper, I said “Bob wanted to see him in his room,” he said no, “he wasn’t going out.” So, Bob went and got him saying, “he had some new dirty mags.” He came across and we all sang Happy Birthday to him.
It
went really well, other lads from down the corridor popped in at times. Dave
got really drunk and woke up in the drying room at 5/30 this morning.
The photo above is all of us at Dave's party.
Memo – Hours changed.
There has been a “right old cock up” over the hours changing. They changed our work hours and the clocks, we are now an hour in front of the rest of the island, we are now on JLB time. We now start at 7/30 until 6/00. The problem is, it is light at 6/30 in the morning and dark before 5/00 in the evening. They have just totally buggered it up.
Monday – 02/04/1984. Day 120. Hours worked 10.
Richard across the corridor facing us has had an anonymous letter (he didn’t tell us who it was from, ha-ha) saying “his wife is having an affair.” She lost a baby at Christmas, this is all he needs. Will he go home?
We
did some screeding (sand and cement) today. The idiot RE Dave said he didn’t
like the mix and made us rip it all up. He also made comments about the finish,
so our gang are not talking to him. That sounds like "kids’ stuff," but sod him.
He a rude and not a very pleasant person.
We were in the mail room tonight getting
post, it was really packed. The chap who was handing it out got on a chair and
shouted, “If you have your post, fuck off out.”
Wet and windy today. The wife has said
in a letter that Dave’s wife has told him in a letter, “to come home as for the
money they are saving, it’s not worth it!” That’s why he is so grumpy!
Tuesday – 03/04/1984. Day 121. Hours
worked 16.
It has been a nice day until this evening. We worked until 10/00pm power floating a slab, the wind really got up. I was interviewed again today, Yank’s this time. The chap was from the ‘New York Times.’
Eric the so-called
walking ganger fell at the weekend when he was pissed and is now on crutches. I
am told he has had one crutch nicked, "not guilty, your Worship."
Eastham’s have given Bill a new lodger
in his room as he was on his own, he’s not happy. Dick has shown us a clipping his
wife has sent him. JLB have a
campaign in Wales for workers, and targeting people on the dole.
Wednesday – 04/04/1984. Day 122.
Hours worked 10.
Been a cold windy day, rain on and off all day. We did not concrete because of the weather, it was too cold. Our gang was put on putting furniture into the new rooms that have just been finished, and erecting bunk beds. I was in fact nice to be in the warm a bit. Paul did really well, he smashed two very big lights and then just before we finished he set a fire alarm off!
Dave and I had a parcel sent by our wives, we knew it was coming. Cakes, sweets and another thing to share out. It was smashed to pieces, it could not have got that that bad by accident.
There is a rumour doing the rounds that one of the lads got really pissed last Saturday and woke up the next morning in bed with a bloke and a sore arse? I am getting to a point where there is very little I would disbelieve here now.
I went to Stanley today on the Islander plane for a visit, a day off in lieu
of the overtime hours I have worked. I really enjoyed the flight. He did
not fly very high so we got a really good view of everything, and flew along
the runway coming back.
I must say I did not think a lot of Stanley, it is just like a small seaside
town. But I did get to ring home, it cost £15 but to was really good to talk to
the family.
There was a lot of the ‘A’ Team waiting
to get on the plane when we got off, the pilot knew they were coming and they had given
him stick in the past, so he told us to watch the take-off, which we did. He
went along the runway then at the end he went straight up in the air like a
rocket. I think a few changes of underpants may have been needed! Weather was
nice all day, but it is pouring down now.
Friday – 06/04/1984. Day 124.
Hours worked 10.
Weather has been alright all day but has turned very cold tonight. Dave stood in for me yesterday while I was off. He wants to be a ganger so I fixed it for him. By the sound of it he did not have a good day. It sounds as if the problem was really the rain they had here on and off all day. They didn’t cover a concrete slab in time and it sounds as if a lot of it got washed away. The lads have been giving him a lot of stick over it.
Joe Williams has only had one letter
since he has been back and is really down. He was until yesterday, still in an
eight-man cabin down at the beach camp. I believe the lads in his cabin have
been taking the piss out of him about it, cruel sods. It is horrible not
getting post.
Saturday – 07/04/1984. Day 125. Hours worked 10.
Dave,
Paul and myself tried to get on a bus to go to dinner and the bus was packed,
so we waved down a passing Land Rover which stopped for us. We all jumped in
the back and the driver was Dave the RE who we were not talking to. He said,
“come on concrete gang, get in, I don’t mind giving you a lift, even if you are
not talking to me.” As we were getting out he said, “the fact I have given you
a lift, does it mean you will be talking to me on Monday?” I said, “I very much
doubt it.”
Sunday – 08/04/1984. Day 126. Day off.
It’s been a nice sunny day, a bit on the windy side. Bob, Bill and Richard came banging on our door at 10/30 last night. Dave was asleep and I was just getting in bed. I opened the door and the three of them were totally pissed and wanted to come in, I wouldn’t let them. They ended up going next door with Pete and Dusty and had a party there until the early hours.
It
seems quite a few of the lads are working today. We were not asked, thank God
after last time.
Memo – Pissheads.
Yes, we have a fair few pissheads here. Well to be fair there is nothing else to do here half the time. We have one lad down our corridor, Keith. Every weekend he gets totally pissed and every Sunday he drinks all day. Last weekend he was so drunk he collapsed in the corridor and it took four lads to carry him back to his room.
When he was living at the beach camp he was
walking between the cabins with a fishing rod over his shoulder looking to go
fishing at 3/00am in the morning and ended up walking into all of the cabins,
waking everyone up.
Monday – 09/04/1984. Day 127.
Hours worked 10- ½.
Been a cloudy day, but not too bad. Well what a weekend. I went out on the drink with Mick down to the ship yesterday and woke up in the afternoon in Viv and Ian the engineer’s cabin at the base camp, with the three of them dancing on the roof.
Ian
the storeman has been caught nicking a bus and joyriding. He is up in front of
Kim Benjamin soon. Also, up in front of him is ‘Eric the walking ganger’ it
seems he showed his arse in the ships bar and I think he was fighting also.
Tim
our sections engineer was also fighting with one of the RE’s, it seems the RE
broke his fist by punching a wall. Alec Smith the airfields section manger was
pissed on Saturday night and tried to drive to Stanley and got bogged down and had too wait until Monday to get
towed out. Pete and Dusty next door to us have had their heads shaved down to
the bone when they were pissed.
Tuesday – 10/04/1984. Day 128. Hours worked 11- ½.
We have had a real shock today, the hospital in Stanley burned down last night. Six women, a man and a new born baby died. This has really shocked everyone. We heard it on the local radio. The army tried to help. There was a solider on the radio, you could tell he was almost crying. He was with a young female nurse who kept returning to get people out, they tried to stop her, then she didn’t come out.
Overcast showery day. We were a bit late
finishing the concrete tonight so we went down to the ship in our work clothes.
Bob saw us and thought we had a Land Rover to go back to work with. So, we
played along with him, so he waited for us. He was not happy when he found out
he had to go on the bus.
Wednesday – 11/04/1984. Day 129. Hours worked 10.
JLB have started a fund for the hospital fire and are sending port-a-cabins over there to help the patients who have no where to sleep. Terry the walking ganger has had some bad news today, he’s nine-year-old son was knocked down by a hit and run driver.
Someone has put a hole in the base of
one of the showers, I did not see it and flooded the floor. Someone has been
nicking jumpers and other work gear out of our drying room. Water has been off
again today, again. It has been off a lot latterly. Bright and sunny at times,
but on the windy side, cold at times.
Thursday – 12/04/1984. Day 130. Hours worked 10.
Showery overcast this morning, but it did brighten up this afternoon, but that bloody wind got up to make it feel very cold. The canteen is nearly finished now and in what will be the staff canteen later on is going to be a bar until the recreation hall is finished.
They held a competition to name the new
bar. Our gang put in some entry’s. 'The
Sheep Shager’s Arms' – ‘The
Written Warning’ – ‘The Arthur Daley’ – The Dog It Inn’. Got a feeling we will
not be winning!
The England is in next week which means that
Hack will be short of wacky backy. I wonder what he will come up with next week
to get on the ship?
Friday – 13/04/1984. Day 131. Hours
worked 10.
A bright, cold windy day. There is a forecast for a rough night, we will see. One of the ‘Boat People’ the ‘Upside Down Man’ he has been sacked. It seems that he had drugged some lads and rapped them, word went around about that the other week. I was not sure if to believe it, but there you go!
I heard that John the alcoholic who went
home was in the video room one night and Dr Death came in and he was drinking
some pop but one of the lads had a can of beer near him. The doc went out, then
came back on his hands and knees in the dark to see if he was drinking it!
Saturday – 14/04/1984. Day 132. Hours worked 10.
A very cold and windy morning then in the afternoon it snowed for a couple of hours but turned to rain later.
This afternoon because of the weather, we
were moving furniture into the new rooms again. I was given a padlock key for a
container that had desks and bedside cabinets for the staff block, so we took
some for us and some of the lads in our corridor.
Eastham’s got the soft toy penguin’s in
that I had ordered weeks ago only to find out that they had sold them all.
Words were spoken about that!
Sunday – 15/04/1984. Day 133. Day off.
It has been snowing all night, and it has settled. It is really cold, wind blowing from the south. In the new canteen at breakfast this morning, every time someone came in the snow was blowing all over the place, we moved tables.
Some idiots lit a fire in the Erect-a-Com
corridor late last night, early this morning. One of the lads found it going to
the toilet and put it out. God there are some real nutters here.
Richard and Bob came over for a “wine and cheese” evening last night. We got cheese and crackers out of the canteen and wine (beer really) didn’t have too much to drink, it was just a nice evening, sitting and chatting.
Memo – Dillon the Villain.
Dylan the Villain!
Dillon the Villain is a short
fat Scotsman about 45 years old, he’s an
Eastham’s cleaner. He is now bald after having all his hair cut off the
other week.
He is a nice likeable chap, but he can
be a total nutter. He took Pete and Dusty’s door off it’s hinges and stood it
in the doorway, when they came back and touched it, it fell in. He has a length
of hose pipe and opens people’s doors about five in the morning and blows in
like a bugle.
Last Sunday him and his mates all got
drunk and he cut their hair, it was a right mess and they all had to have it
all cut off later.
Monday – 16/04/1984. Day 134.
Hours worked 10.
What a rotten cold day, been snowing and raining on and off all day. The weather is so changeable here, there is no problem to get all four seasons in one day.
Little Jim seems to have gone to pieces
these days, he is on the wacky backy a lot of the time. He is up here from the
ship tonight and he is in Hacks room spaced out of his mind. He is unconscious
on Hacks bed and the lads have painted glasses and X’s on his face. He was
telling me that last month he had £300 subs. I mean he has a young family at
home.
We heard someone had been letting off
fire extinguishers, he has now been caught and has been sacked. Bloody good
job.
Tuesday – 17/04/1984. Day 135. Hours worked 10.
Been another rotten cold day, rain, snow, hailstones the lot. The floor slab we were to concrete this morning was frozen. The RE came and looked at it and said, “not to pour it.” David Antony came along and said, “do it,” I said, “we shouldn’t do it,” but he wouldn’t have it. It ended up in a real mess, it would not surprise me if the RE’s say it will have to come out!
Tonight, we had a drink in the new bar
here at the camp which in time will be the staff canteen. JLB put £200 over the bar for the lads, it lasted 50 minutes, I am
surprised it lasted that long. We had our first hot meal in the new lad’s
canteen tonight. All in all, and by Eastham’s
standards, it was passable.
Wednesday – 18/04/1984. Day 136. Hours worked 11.
Been an overcast day and very windy day, but nothing falling out of the sky, which is a bonus here at the moment. The England was in today, it docked at 6/00 am this morning and left at 15/00 hundred hours. That means George Connors and brain damaged Terry will be back off leave.
Ian the storeman who got sacked for nicking
the bus went on the ship. He got pissed last night in the new bar and on a wall,
he chalked, “I only wanted to be a bus driver!!! Good luck lads.” They
repainted the wall this morning, the cost of which is coming out of his money,
along with his fare home.
Thursday – 19/04/1984. Day 137. Hours worked 10.
A wet windy, cold and overcast day. Hack and a few others got busted for drugs today. He has got to go to court on the 30th April. They had army and RAF police here to pick them up. Cargo 7 came in today.
We got a new lad in our gang today, Kevin, off
the new ship, the lads are calling them the "April
Fools." He said one of the lads on the ship got locked in his cabin as he
was always pissed. He had fallen down some stairs, and had a row with one of the
ships crew then set his bed on fire.
A tipper lorry driver went yesterday as he had
a row with one of the ganger man and he punched him in the face. After he got
sacked he chased him with a knife, the lads got hold of him and he was locked
up until he was put on the ship.
Friday – 20/04/1984. Day 138.
Hours worked 10.
Wet and windy all day. We have been erecting bunk beds today as it would have been too wet to power float the floor slabs. As it is the Easter weekend we have no chance of any post until Tuesday. It might be Good Friday but we have been told we have to work, for no extra payment. We have been told we have to work Monday also, but word on the runway is that the lads are going to refuse. This could be interesting.
One of the 'April Fools' couldn’t get the digger he had been told he would get
before he came out. He has refused to work, he has been told he will go on the
ship in May and in the mean time he has to pay £7.50p a day for bed and board.
It seems George and Jerry (Huggie) spent the whole trip coming back at the bar on the England, pissed the whole journey. Huggie put £300 over the bar and said, “tell me when it’s gone!” I met the new foreman for the RAF camp today, he’s a Geordie, name is Ernie. When we meet he said, “are you a Londoner?” I said, “yes.” He said, “I have never met a Londoner with any brains in my life,” then turned and walked away. Looks like him and me will get on just fine!!!!
Saturday – 21/04/1984. Day 139. Hours worked 10.
Been a bright but very cold day, got cloudy in the afternoon but the rain kept off. We have been told officially that we have to work bank holiday Monday or we will lose 10 hours for the day. All our section at the camp have said "no." There is a meeting tomorrow morning of the whole workforce to see if we are all staying off.
Regarding the 'April Fools' intake, one of the lads said, “I think they have scraped
the bottom of the barrel with this lot.” His mate replied, “they have scraped
so hard that they have gone through the bottom and have now got the shit on the
ground below!!!"
Sunday – 22/04/1984. Day 140. Day off.
Been an overcast day but only a
small amount of rain. We had a meeting about working tomorrow and we have also
formed a new workers committee. The chap who is going to be the chairman seems
okay and seems to know what he is on about. There is one chap Stoney who has
also joined the committee which I am not sure about as he has always come
across as a bit of an idiot.
There was a birthday party in the drying
room at the end of our corridor last night for Stoney. It went on until about 3
am this morning, they were singing and roaring all night, a right pain. On the
cake they had for him was loads of sweet roses which they took off and had
stuck to their foreheads.
Memo – Wayne Sleep.
Wayne Gammon is the dumper driver for our gang, we call him Wayne von Gammon, because he is like the Red Barron the way he fly’s around on the dumper. He is from the west country and is very large, dare I say fat? And most of his body is covered in tattoos.
We also call him Wayne Sleep as he can fall
to sleep anywhere. If he is on the dumper and has to wait at all, he is asleep.
He was in a forklift once doing a job with us and when we were ready for him to
move we had to throw stones at the glass window to wake him up. We were having
lunch in our container last week when he fell asleep and fell off the bench.
He told me that he can hardy read or
write but he seems to nearly always have his head in a war book. He was in the
army before coming out here. His girlfriend blew him out because her sailor
husband had come home, but now she has started writing to him again. I have got
to say I really like him, and he does come out with things that do make me
laugh.
Monday – 23/04/1984. Day 141. Day off.
I went for a drink last night with Dave
in the new bar, not The Written Warning as we wanted but The Gull and Penguin. Erect-a-Com boys
came in the bar and were singing and going mad altogether. As the night went on
a load of JLB lads including Dave got together and tried to out sing them. Both
groups were roaring shouting at each other,
there was the odd scuffle but a bigger surprise was that it did not end up
in a massive brawl.
Tuesday – 24/04/1984. Day 142. Hours worked 10.
JLB opened the canteen for lunch yesterday and unfortunately also the bar. We all went in there, and well, got really drunk. Two things, the first there is just nothing to do when a person is not working (very poor excuse I know) and second, I think there was a fair bit of tension in the air over not working and the overtime.
They
reckon over 90% of the lads did not work yesterday, so that is “one-up for us”
and “two-up” is that Benjamin has called a meeting with the new committee for
Thursday. “Three-up to us” really, as they opened the canteen and bar, I wish
they had kept the latter closed!!!
One of the tipper lorry drivers fell off his lorry last night and has been flown to Stanley with head injuries, no more news on him yet.
Wednesday – 25/04/1984. Day 143. Hours worked 10.
Got my leave confirmed today, going in
June well I hope so as many of the lads have had theirs changed at the last
minute. I went down to welfare to find out about it for me and Dave as he wants
to go in June also. When I got back to the room I told him they had changed his
to July, he was on the way down there when I told him I was winding him up, he
wasn’t happy! Got a letter from the wife saying she had got the flowers I had
sent her and was pleased.
Thursday – 26/04/1984. Day 144. Hours worked 10.
God what a day! For a start some of our lads were off for the day in Stanley so we had some of the April Fools in the gang for the day to help out as we had so much on, I have to say they were not great, not sure if they had concreted before.
In the middle of the day I got a large lump of wet concrete in my eye. I went to the hospital and they cleaned it up. It was pouring down in the afternoon, we built another shelter which got blown away in the gale. We managed to finish the slab but my eye was really hurting, so I went back to the doc’s after we had finished and was kept there until 2200 hours having drops put in the eye every half an hour.
Friday – 27/04/1984. Day 145.
Hours worked – off sick.
The new committee had a meeting with JLB but they are not letting on what
happened. Sid the chairman said it went well but they will tell us all about it
at the meeting on Sunday. Paul and George in my gang have had their leave
changed from July to June, they have gone mad and are at welfare now trying to
get it changed back.
A pair of the above goggles would have helped, if we had any here!
Saturday – 28/04/1984. Day 146. Hours worked 10- ½.
Sid the committee chairman went back to his room during the day to get something and found an Eastham’s chap had all his committee notes out and was copying them. He has gone mad about that so have all the lads.
Last week when the April Fools got here, Pat the London crane driver on the camp who
had a room to himself went in after work and there was a chap in there
with his cases, Pat chucked him out. I don’t think that will be the last Pat
will hear of that. No water again tonight.
Sunday – 29/04/1984. Day 147. Day off.
Been to the meeting this morning, nothing new. JLB are hanging in regarding the overtime, but I think we may get it in the end as they really need us to work more than the 60 hours each week. Sid did say he did catch someone going through his books. He reported it to management who said they knew nothing about it???
Pete
and Dusty next door are totally pissed and are banging their feet on the floor
in time with the loud marching music they have on. The Stanley clocks went back an hour last night so we are now all on
the same time again.
Eric the walking ganger was at the
football match we have just been to (Lads 3 Bosses 1) and he was totally
pissed. He was shouting and roaring like a mad man. When the Lads scored their
first goal someone threw a toilet roll on to the pitch. Been a sunny bright but
cold day.
Memo – 5 months down!
Sundays are the worst with nothing to do,
it can be very tempting to go to the bar, I have done it a few times but want
to keep away from that, keep it to Saturday nights. If the overtime thing was
sorted I think we would be working most Sundays. On a Sunday afternoon there
are a lot of blokes wandering around pissed, mind you a person could see that
most nights here.
Six weeks tomorrow and I am out of this
place for eight weeks, I can’t wait. Looking forward to seeing the family again,
so much.
The photo above is what a person could do on a Sunday, if they did not work!
Monday – 30/04/1984. Day 148. Hours worked 17.
Dick from my gang has gone on to be a Volvo lorry driver, it is more money and let’s be fair he won’t have to put up with the hard work, weather and all the other crap we have to put up with every day, so good luck to him. I moved young Kevin on to another gang as first he is not a concreter and secondly, he struggles with the hardness of the work. I got two new lads to replace them, Phil and Con.
No bloody
water again tonight. All the lads are going mad, this is beyond a joke, it is a
very basic thing to have water. Lads are talking about stopping work if it
carries on, having no water.
He’s not back yet, but we heard on the radio that Hack and Ian got a £100 fine each in court and that they have both been sacked. Mick is having a “whip round” of his friends to help with the fines. A bright and sunny day but cold, it is freezing outside now.
Hours worked for April = 249- ½.
Overtime hours = 9- ½.
May.
Tuesday – 01/05/1984. Day 149. Hours worked 10- ½.
Been a very wet and cold and rotten day, hail stones like golf balls at times this morning, then driving rain all afternoon. It took all morning to get just 20 metres of concrete. By the time we got it in it was pissing down, the slab was ruined. We covered it up and will try to power float it in the morning.
Hack got the sack officerly today for his
drug pushing. They said he is sacked from today but if he works until the England gets here he will not have to pay
for his bed and board but his money will stop when he gets on the ship and they
will take his fare home out of his overtime. He went to welfare and said he
wants paying until he gets home and another month for notice. They said they
will come back to him. I’ll be really surprised if these tight bastards give
him that.
We got hot water for a short while
tonight, I managed to get a shower and I had to flush a load of toilets before the
water went off again. Start of another month.
Wednesday – 02/05/1984. Day 150. Hours worked 10- ½.
Have heard of lads have their suitcases opened while at work, nosey bastards! Hack reckons that in the con-trick it now says, “smoke the wacky backy, get the sacky, sacky.”
When the lads were in the video room on
Sunday there was a chap who was drunk and laying on a bench near the door. Every
time someone open the door it hit his head, he would rub his head until it
happened again. Been a bright sunny but cold day.
Thursday – 03/05/1985. Day 151. Hours worked 10- ½.
We had a very heavy snow storm this morning for about an hour or so, the wind was really blowing as well. It turned to rain later on.
Little Jim who Dave and I sat with on the plane coming
over and works on the ship has almost lost it. He is on the wacky backy most of
the time and drinking a lot. I saw him on Sunday and he didn’t know who I was.
For lad of 22 he now looks about 40. He was telling me that one night he was
smoking wacky backy he went to sleep in his cabin and the next he remembers he
was woke up by one of the lads and it was lunch time at work the next day, and
he hadn’t remembered a thing.
The photo above is of one of the foreman on a very "pleasant day!!!"
Friday – 04/05/1984. Day 152.
Hours worked 10- ½.
It started drizzling this morning, then this afternoon it poured down with very heavy rain and we were pouring concrete to a floor slab, we got soaked to skin, but got away an hour early.
I have been trying hard to get Dave a
ganger’s job. It is what he want’s and to tell the truth I would be happy to
get rid of him, as he is down a lot these days; if you say anything he gets very rattled, and bearing in mind we are living together and working together, so we
can get on each other’s nerves. I have just been to the toilet and left this open,
I think he must have read it as he snapped something at me then stormed out.
So, he won’t be talking to me for a day or two.
The England is on its way back and is
making good time I believe. Bill went to phone his wife at 0400am (09/00am at
home) on the new phones that have just been installed. He said there was a
massive queue, that time in the morning. It’s £1.50p a minute.
Saturday – 05/05/1984. Day 153. Hours worked 8.
Just been to see Hack and Mick, he managed to hold on to some of his dope and they are both stoned out of their brains. He got a letter saying he has to pay his own fare home.
Bob Clarke went to Stanley for two days
and picked up a bird and got his leg-over, now he thinks he has got the pox!
Been pissing down all day, just has not stopped.
When Pete and Dusty got pissed last
Sunday they smashed their new bedside cabinet up and threw it into the corridor.
Then Pete took a piece back in and beat the shit out of Dusty with it because
he wouldn’t get out of bed, they have totally lost it those two, that’s if they
ever had it in the first place? Dillon the Villon has told Bob that 60% of the
army lads in Stanley have got the pox!
Sunday – 06/05/1984. 154. Day off.
Been snowing overnight and again this morning. Went for a walk after breakfast to take some photos of the mountains covered in snow. Oh, my good god, I walked along the haul roads and boy, are they breaking up, they are inches deep in mud, it will take a lot of work to keep them open during the winter months.
I
went for a few beers last night but did not stay long. Dave got in at 2/30 this
morning, I don’t know where he had been as he is not talking to me at the
moment, but he looked awful this morning.
Young
Kevin who was in our gang has jacked as he had eight letters from his wife
asking him to come home. He really should not have come out here as he is just
not grown up. But to be fair he was trying to make things better for his
family, so he has tried, you have got to give him that.
There
was loud banging in the corridor just now, 11/30 am, I went out and one of the
plumbers is stood (swaying) in the corridor in just his underpants with a can
of red (beer) in his hand, kicking a door in.
Memo – Then there was 5!
Well Hack is going next week, so that’s five us left who were all in the same cabin at the base camp back in December last year. It is a shame to see the lads go, but I suppose that’s life.
There
are differently lads cracking up here. George Lile the RE is sat out in the corridor
playing his guitar, with a can of beer beside him. As we all pasted him we
threw him some money.
On
the Benny Radio there is a girl who is always making mistakes and cock up and
gets things wrong, and does come out with some rubbish, and swears on air which
she gets told off about it. But it is funny listening to her.
A
lot of the cakes etc that the lads won’t eat out of the doggie bags are being
collected by some of the lads who go to Stanley and they give them to the
children at the school.
Monday – 07/05/1984. Day 155.
Hours worked 10.
It’s a Bank Holiday at home, but no such thing here for us. It snowed all last night and most of this morning, but is raining now, and getting very cold.
Terry
the walking ganger found four blokes letting off fire extinguishers late on
Saturday night. He told them to stop as you can get sacked for that and all our
lives depend on them, they beat him up. They were April Fools and he did not
know them but he saw them at dinner and reported them, so they all had to go to
the office this morning in front of Eric Sant the personnel manager and bugger
me one of the blokes beat Terry up in the office and put him in hospital.
Ray
across the corridor from us was taken to hospital in Stanley on Saturday with appendix. He had worked on Easter Monday,
his roommate said, “God pays debts without money!”
Tuesday – 08/05/1984. Day 156. Hours worked 10.
It was snowing this morning for a while, it then brightened up but was freezing all day. Found out today that the next corridor to us is being turned into a women’s only corridor next week, that should be fun!
The
chap who beat Terry up is getting sent home air bridge today. Last night Terry
was making a phone call, he turned around and the chap was stood behind him. A chap had a heart attack and was air lifted
to Stanley by helicopter today. He was meant to be on light duties by the
orders of Dr Death. Eric the new mouthy foreman, didn’t believe him as he
didn’t have a note and put him shovelling concrete, he collapsed. Talking of concrete,
we are not getting any at the moment because the stone they are getting is not
up too PSA standards.
Bob thinks he has got crabs as his balls won’t
stop itching, that might teach him?
Wednesday – 09/05/1984. Day 157. Hours worked 10.
Snowed last night and most of the morning, then it was on and off, but bloody freezing. Right, this thing about the women on the next ship moving into the next corridor to us. Their toilets etc are not ready, so they are going to shut our end off which means we will lose our showers, toilets, drying room and most important our ‘fire exit.' I have now seen David Antony and Pat O’Leary about it, and that hasn’t seemed to have done any good. If they block it off I am going to see Kim Benjamin about it.
The chap who beat Terry up went home
today, but not before he told him, “I will kill you some day.” What lovely
chaps they are sending for us to work with!!!
Thursday – 10/05/1984. Day 158. Hours worked 10.
It hasn’t snowed today, but boy has it been cold, the wind just seems so cutting here when it comes from the south. With saying that when the wind dropped it did warm up a bit after lunch.
Oh boy, have we had fun and games over
blocking off our end of the corridor. This morning the chippie told me he had
been told to block it off, I asked him to hang fire. I went to see O’Leary and
asked to get Eric Sant over here. He and Pat come over and I explained
everything to him and he totally agreed (I don’t think Pat was happy) he said
that if their shower block etc is not ready they will put them in another
corridor.
So, there are problems with the women
before they get here. Not their fault at all, its all these mad blokes we have
here that will cause the agro.
Friday – 11/05/1984. Day 159.
Hours worked 10.
Hasn’t been too bad a day. Rain on and off and cold later in the day and the wind got up and made it feel a lot colder.
Bob Clarke across the corridor is like a
lot the lads here and that is that when the ship (The England) is on the way
back here from Cape Town he gets very
low and one could almost call it a depression, they think of jacking and going
home. It is known here as “ship fever.” Once it has gone they are fine, until
its on the way back, then it starts again, and gets worst the nearer it gets.
So,
Bob is like that at the moment and so is my roommate Dave. Bob has really gone
off the head this time, he has gone out and got drunk almost every night of
late. Last night he was really off the head, coming down the corridor late at
night, he was falling and thumping into everything in the corridor. Rich his
roommate said he was falling all over the place when he got in. Hack and Mick
have hardly worked at all this week, just wandering around stoned all the time.
Mick wants to be careful or he will get sacked also. I have told him but I
don’t think it has sunk in, I will try again. I like Mick and I know he needs the
money.
Saturday – 12/05/1984. Day 160. Hours worked 10.
VD!!!
Been an overcast day, not so cold as of late. Most of the lads who are going on leave on Monday have been wandering around pissed all day.
Because we have had no concrete (PSA
won’t pass the stone) my gang has been back on the furniture, putting it into
the new units. When we were taking desks into the units three of them fell
apart before we got to the rooms!!!
With the women on the way, JLB put a notice up last week saying,
“If anyone caught VD they would have to pay for treatment and that their
con-tick would be terminated.” They think of everything, ha-ha!!!
Sunday – 13/05/1984. Day 161. Day off.
The sun was shining this morning, but it is now mid afternoon and it is pouring down. Went out with the lads who are going tomorrow last night, and had a ‘carry out’ to Hack and Micks room. I was taking photos of everyone. Hack had a flag which we all signed for him as he goes tomorrow.
Went to the workers meeting this morning. Overtime is still banned, but there is a fair few who want a one-day stoppage. There is going to be a vote on it next Sunday.
Bill has been totally pissed all day as
he goes on leave tomorrow. In the early hours of the morning (Monday) he was
knocking on everyone door trying to get in and hug them and tell them, how much
he loves them.
Memo – Eric - the walking ganger.
Well he is the one who when he
first got here went around telling everyone, “I am the walking ganger.” He had
the piss taken out of him something rotten for that. One night in the bar the
lads sang to him, “I am the walking ganger, oh I am the walking ganger.” It
didn’t go down very well.
He is about forty, short and fat, he
comes from up north somewhere but I am not sure where? I have as little to do
with him as possible. Whenever he is not working he seems to be drunk. Twice
now he has shown his bear arse in the bar. He threw his dinner on the floor in
the canteen last night and shouted, “I ain’t eating this shit anymore!”
Yesterday afternoon someone got him up
against a wall by the neck in the corridor and I believe gave him a good
talking too. Once when he was having the piss taken out of him in the canteen
he stood up and shouted, “fuck off!” Kim Benjamin was sat behind him.
Monday – 14/05/1894. Day 162. Hours worked 10.
Last night at dinner I asked Bob a Scottish chef for an omelette, he said, “what kind?” I said an egg one. We are always winding each other up. So, after a little while he brought out an omelette with a boiled egg cooked in the middle!
We saw Bill before he went on leave
today and he does not remember a thing about trying to get in everyone’s room.
Kevin who was in our gang went today, but someone hit him in the face with a
beer can on Saturday night, he has had to have five stitches. It seems there
were a fair few fights over the weekend, and there are a few of the fighters now
going for an unplanned curse to Cape
Town!”
The England came in and went quickly. Been snowing a lot today and got deep. David
Antony told me off for letting the lads have a snow ball fight. Anyway, the
snow will be a nice welcome for the new intake, ha-ha! Saw some of the women
who moved into the next corridor, Bob Clarke said after seeing them, “Tom you
should have let them block it off after all."
Tuesday – 15/05/1984. Day 163. Hours worked 10.
What a day? Weather wise that is. With the wind blowing and the temperature below freezing and blizzard this afternoon.
Oh,
the fun has started with the women being in the next corridor. We had blokes
running up and down the corridors until about 1/30 this morning kicking and
banging at their doors. They had to have a guard put out there in the end to
stop it. I reported it this morning and there will be a fire door put between
us and them now, so they can only open it from their side, thank God.
Yesterday
morning a steel erector was an hour late for work, when he got there his
section manager, Jon Maxwell sacked him with an hour to get on The England. Also, an hour or so before
the ship went two chippies who came on the last ship went to Pat O’Leary and
said, “we are jacking,” Pat said, “you are cutting it very fine.” One said,
“for your sake we had better make it.” Pat said, “if you put it like that, jump
in my Land Rover and I’ll take you down there!”
The next time we see The England,
I will be on it!
Wednesday – 16/05/1984. Day 164. Hours worked 10.
Pat O’Leary said to me today that they had sorted the problem about lads keeping us awake running down the corridors, they were going to give us ear defenders to sleep in! He’s so funny.
Not much snow today, but the wind has been
blowing the laying snow around. I saw the letter Dave Dier had started to his
wife when he went out, it said. “To my darling wife, it’s your good-looking
handsome husband again. The thing is he really believes it, I have seen him
telling himself in the mirror when he does his hair before he goes out!
The chap who had the heart attack is going air bridge in the next few days, he is in hospital in Stanley at the moment. Got a new foreman today to replace David Antony, he’s another Geordie. Heard a lad broke his back today, I don’t know anymore than that, even if it is true or not.
One of Eastham’s lads came to me today to get a container moved around to
the new shop as they have been dropped off so far away. I got it sorted for
them and when it was complete he went in it and gave us all bags of sweets
each. He said that there was 4- ½ ton of sweets in it. That’s a lot of sweets.
Thursday – 17/05/1984. Day 165. Hours worked 11.
Been a really rotten day, snow all morning, rain all afternoon. Still no concrete, it is nearly two weeks now since we had a pour. Fell out with Terry the walking ganger today. I think he is near to cracking up, he is running around everywhere and losing the head over the slightest thing. He is like a coiled spring, which could uncoil!
There’s a woman now, who is over all the
cleaners. She is short, on the fat side and of course Scottish. I was talking
to her today and told her our room had not been cleaned for weeks. In her words
she said, “I will give the cleaner a good fucking!” I think she did as our
cleaner, a lazy drunk chap was here at 6/00 tonight cleaning our room. She had
said to him, “When that little hole (his arse) at the bottom of your back is
full of sweat your working hard, until then you are doing fuck all.” Don’t
worry about her size, you wouldn’t want to mess with her!
Friday – 18/05/1984. Day 166.
Hours worked 10.
Got Phil and Con in my gang made up to concrete finishers yesterday. They seem good lads and are good at their job so it is good to be able to get them some extra money, tax free of course. Been a very wet day, but a bit warmer than of late.
Got some concrete today for the first
time in two weeks, but only 20 metres.
Terry is running around more and more. I had a fall out with him, yet again as
he told another gang to put all their tools in our container/canteen without
asking me. We could not get in when we finished, so I chucked them all out!
In a corridor near us that has had no
carpet fitted for some reason, Ken the chippie has put notes hanging from each
light saying things like. “Go on, put some carpet down,” and “just a little
bit, please,” and “go on, we won’t tell anyone.”
Dave hit a concrete lorry with the dumper he
was driving this afternoon. Dusty next door saw him do it, then tonight when we
got back from dinner we had a notice on our door with a big red ‘L’ on it then
under that it said, “If you can’t drive, PARK IT!!”
Saturday – 19/05/1984. Day 167. Hours worked 10.
It has been raining none stop all day today and still is this evening. I have been told the airfield has almost come to a standstill as its underwater there. We concreted our first floor slab for over two weeks today, but the stone is rubbish for finishing.
I don’t feel well at the moment, I have
had a lot of headaches since I have been here, so have a lot of other lads.
Dusty and Pete were pissed again last night. Dusty was sick in their wash hand
basin and wouldn’t clean it up. So, Pete threw him out the window and wouldn’t
let him in until he promised to clean it up. They are totally around the bend
them two.
Pat O’Leary asked me about the lads’
feelings about the overtime and what I thought they would settle for? He said
he asked me as I don’t beat about the bush and speak my mind. I think there’s
something in the air. The way the weather is turning something has got to give
sooner or later.
Sunday – 20/05/1984. Day 168. Day off.
Looks a fine day at the moment, of course none of us are working, ha-ha. Just heard that a director from the UK came out on Friday to stay and push the job on. Because Bob Clarke is on the piss most nights and comes back drunk and wakes everyone up, the lads are really fed up with him. So, the other night when he said he was having an early night, a few of them waited till he was asleep and then along with his roommate Rich, they went in there and had a party, almost pouring drink down his throat.
Done
a little job for Bob the engineer and the new foreman Mick today and that was
to set up one of the new drying rooms as a bar. We laid carpet (nicked off
Erect-a-com), got coffee tables and easy chairs. They and a few others are
taking David Antony back there as a surprise before he goes on leave, air
bridge tomorrow.
Memo – Erect-a-Com, again!
They went quiet for a while as things seemed to be getting out of hand, and word was on the runway that they got a warning. But over the last couple of days it seemed to have kicked off again. They all turned up in the bar with white polo neck jumpers on along with white Long Johns with underpants over them with a large ‘E’ on their chests like Superman. They were all singing, then the JLB lot tried to out sing them, with David Antony who was totally pissed. Then to the tune of “London Bridge is falling down,” Erect-a-Com sang “Arthur Daley (Antony’s nickname) con’s his men, con’s his men.” It was in fact very funny and clever.
Tonight, they are sat outside the glass wall in the canteen in the dark in the pouring rain at tables and chairs with flood lights around them in wet suites eating dinner. I was going to say they must be mad, but then I think we all are, for just being here!
Monday – 21/05/1984. Day 169.
Hours worked 10- ½.
It was freezing all morning, then turned a bit milder this afternoon, but that brought the rain, again. After I complained about the room not being cleaned to the new housekeeper Kathy, I came in tonight then went out again as I thought I had come into the wrong room. The whole room had been changed around. I have got to say it now looks brand new!
Bob Clarke has just come in the room dressed
as Rocky (from the film) in a tracksuit he has just brought from Eastham’s shop. He had white socks
around his hands, he was bouncing up and down like a boxer making noises. He
has now gone down the women’s corridor posing. The technical term is, he is a
lunatic. Been on the busy side today, we screeded the cold store floor at the
rear of the kitchen.
Tuesday – 22.05/1984. Day 170. Hours worked 10- ½.
Hasn’t been a bad day, drizzle after lunch but it is pouring down now. On the BBC world service tonight, it said that the blokes who jacked from here in February have been given a settlement from JLB to keep it out of court. I also heard that JLB was going to make us an offer at the next meeting regarding the overtime, but that could be rumour-control. But a workers meeting has been arranged for 07/30 on Thursday morning, it’s one thing not working overtime but of course this is not working? Management won’t like that.
One
of the ‘Maypoles’ (the nickname for
those off the ship in May) working on the airfield has totally lost it. He has
said he saw seagulls wearing Wellington boats. And thinks one of them are going
to beat him up as he choked on cheese roll he gave him. And the worry about all
that is that he has just arrived!
Wednesday – 23/05/1984. Day 171. Hours worked 10.
Hasn’t been a bad day, overcast and drizzle but the heavy rain has kept away, for a change. This may be rumour-control but it is going around that there has been a lot of trouble on the last England leaving here, which of course a lot of our mates are on. One chap is meant to have had fight and got thrown threw a plat glass window and had to have 40 stiches, and the captain put out an announcement that if things did not clam down he would turn around and leave everyone on the island. Do I believe it? Part of me says its total made up rubbish. Then again, in the time I have been here now, is there anything I would not believe? This is the modern version of the old wild west in the USA.
I heard on the site radio this afternoon (I
was earwigging) that Benjamin wanted O’Leary to be in his office at 5/30 pm
today and expect to be there for some time. Is this anything to do with tomorrows
meeting I ask myself?
Bob, across the corridor is really pissing his
roommate Rich off with him coming in every night drunk. Apart from anything
else, how much is it costing him? He has a young family. I have asked family
and friends to send me postcards which I have on the wall. Rich has just posted
me one under the door.
Thursday – 24/05/1984. Day 172. Hours worked 10.
Been an overcast and drizzly day, but no real rain. The workers meeting went ahead this morning at 7/30. I and my gang did not go. We talked about it and the fact that it was in the firm’s time meant we would break our con-trick, which would not be good. Anyway, the blokes who went got a verbal warning and the committee members got a written warning for setting it up in companies time. Mick the charge-hand chippie on our section went to the meeting and got arsy with me because we didn’t go, then didn’t talk to us for the rest of the day. Late in the afternoon and he came and asked me to move all our gear for the morning so that they could get on, I told him to, “fuck off!” I did do it later.
The
water we are getting now is only half treated as the demand is so great, it is
dark brown, this happened before. We will all die!!! Not too worry there are
plenty more on the dole at home to bring out in our place!
Our piss head cleaner Hughie has been sacked, he told Kathy he would hit her. He came down our corridor with a petition and asked me to sign it, I told him to, “fuck off,” as well as others did. It seems that when he told Kathy he would hit her, she said “don’t be silly, I have shit bigger things than you.” They are both about 5-foot tall. I do like her, a girl after my own heart, there’s no messing about.
Friday – 25/05/1984. Day 173. Hours worked 10.
Been an overcast day with a little rain, but not much. We have had a good week of concrete but now it has stopped again, so we have been making up beds again today.
The head of the TGWU (union) at home
has said he wants to come out here to see if things are as bad as people going
home say they are, this was just on the radio. Well it’s a bit late now he
should have come out when things were bad.
Word on the runway is that the ‘Process Area’ were they crush the stone and batch the concrete etc have done their own deal over the overtime, tosser’s! I know the fitters and welders have been working overtime of late. Along with this and the warnings given out yesterday they are splitting us up over the overtime. I think we are nearly done. All because we couldn’t stick together!
Saturday – 26/05/1984. Day 174. Hours worked 10.
Been raining on and off all day. No concrete yet again today. Something I had forgot to write about, but it has happened so much of late and that is the cutlery (knifes, forks and spoons) in the canteen, they are rotten just have not been cleaned correctly.
Heard another chap fell between the
ships last night. That is three now, it won’t stop until someone is sacked or
killed. Mind you, me and the lads did it the night Terry went down, it saves a
long walk. But I wouldn’t do it again.
Only 11 more ‘Doggie Bags’ bags until I
go on leave. I can’t wait, I am more than ready to get out of here and away for
eight weeks. The ‘Folk’ night has been cancelled because of illness, or they
just don’t want to come back to this “mad house” again, after the last time.
Sunday – 27/05/1984. Day 175. Day off.
Oh well, another Saturday night has come and gone in the lunatic asylum. Of course, with this place it was just mad. But first things first, outside of the temporary bar here at the camp, a container has been set up as a toilet, we concreted the floor in it. The urinals keep over flowing. JLB in their wisdom got a lad with a CP9 (a drill driven by compressed air from a compressor) to drill a series of holes in the concrete floor for the piss to run away. The problem is it is now almost forming a lake of piss near the back door of the kitchen, and it stinks!
Late last night or in the early hours of
this morning someone nicked a ‘Big Boss’ forklift. These are very large trucks
for moving containers. They tried to lift a port-a-cabin at the base camp which
was full of lads sleeping. Sound as if someone upset someone.
Someone
smashed the video up in the video room last night, great the only entertainment
we have here, tosser! There was a party at the other end of our corridor last
night that ended up in a punch up. I haven’t seen him yet, but Rich told me
that Bob got a thumping last night. Watch this space!
Memo – Big (Power) Bill.
Big (Power) Bill is one of the ‘Boat People’ he is the one who turned over the land train when he first got here. He is very big in all ways, tall and overweight. He is has long grey hair and a large beard of the same colour and is in his mid-60’s.
He is drunk very often and when he is like
that he goes around all the tables roaring and shouting at people and is always
sticking his two fingers (V) in the air and is always telling people to “fuck
off.” And shouting, “power, power, power!” He doesn’t seem to like anyone who came
out before him. Come to that I am not sure if in fact he likes anyone.
Last
night in the bar he went up to a table full of the ‘A’ Team and started calling
them wankers etc. Tricky Dickie one of their lads got on the table and showed
him his arse. Big Bill said, “oh that’s horrible.”
One
night when Erect-a-Com were singing in the bar he started roaring and shouting
at them, calling them wankers etc. The lads got in a huddle then came back
singing the Clive Dunn song, Grandad.
“Grandad, Grandad with love you, that’s
what we all think of you, Grandad, Grandad.” This brought a roar of
laughter from everyone in the bar apart from Power Bill who gave them a V sign
and a fuck off.
Monday – 28/05/1984 Day 176.
Hours worked 10.
Been a bright sunny day but very cold. It would seem that there was a lot of trouble on the last England going back to Cape Town and 11 lads going on leave have been sacked? Some blokes got the sack here today for fighting at the weekend, now we have got to go on the ship with them. I went to welfare about it and like always they don’t give toss about us. “Just keep out of their way,” he said.
One thing that Eastham’s do is hold back on
the post. If they get a couple of sacks in they will hand out one lot then keep
a sack for the next day. Derby Reg was pissed last night and we saw him trying
to get into the women’s block. So, me, Rich and Dave garb hold of him (he is a
big lump) and got him back to his room. He would have been sacked if he was
caught. While he was being a idiot last night, I do like Reg and of course I
have known him a long time.
Tuesday – 29/05/1984. Day 177. Hours worked 10.
A Welsh chap down at the base camp run
into some of the girl’s cabin with no trousers or pants on, one of the girls
chased him with a pair of scissors, he soon disappeared. Another bloke went
into the canteen down there with a naked blow up doll and food in her bits and
started to eat it out. There were women there at the time. The same chap has
been going into cabins at night shouting and singing. Yes, another nutter who
will be on our ship.
Wednesday – 30/05/1984. Day 178.
Hours worked 10.
He put his lorry in the fitter’s yard
for a service. And to be fair to him, he was told it would be ready by such a
day. He went back that day and it had been moved and had the keys in it.
Thinking the service was complete he jumped in and started the engine. There
was no oil in the engine, it cessed the engine up.
One of the tipper lorry drivers, was
driving down the haul road when one of his wheels came off. When he got out and
looked he saw out of the six nuts he should have had there was only two, on
each wheel. The others had been nicked. This is happening a lot along with nuts
on Land Rovers and spare tyres. There are hardly no spare parts here, so people
are nicking all the parts. This is along with loads of other gear that is being
nicked.
The England is on its way back here, thank God, I can’t wait to get out of here
for eight weeks. Have heard now that only on lad got sacked on the last ship.
But have heard today that six have been sacked for fighting last Saturday
night. Yes, Bob did get a beating at the party he was at and the room got
smashed up, but the lads whose room it is paid Eastham’s lads to replace the furniture so they did not get in
trouble.
Thursday – 31/05/1984. Day 179. Hours worked 10.
WAKE UP!!!
It started raining about 6/00pm
last night and has not stopped since, it has now been pouring down for the past 12
hours. I overslept this morning (06/35) and so did the five lads I wake up, had
it of been before the last England went
it would have meant nine would have overslept. God, I sleep in and half the job
is late for work!
Another day without concrete, and that
was because the tosser foreman at the batching plant gave our truck loads away.
Pat O’Leary went mad stormed over to the batching plant, and had a right old row. When he
came out he slammed the door which broke the hinges and the door fell off! That
is funny.
Only seven more doggie bags to go!
Hours worked for May = 262.
Overtime hours = 2.
June.
Friday – 01/06/1984. Day 180. Hours worked 10.
Think the weather is taking a turn for the worst. Not only has it not stopped raining for almost two days now and the rain at times has been like, well the only way I can describe it is, they are like ‘ice bullets’! The wind got up at one point in the night and ripped half the roof off some of the newer corridors with lads asleep in them. It sounded a right mess. I heard the wind but knew nothing about the roof until this morning.
Donald Hazel one of the section
managers had a load of RSJ steel beams dropped on his Land Rover, it flattened it.
He was not in it. A lot of lads are saying mores the pity, he is not liked very
much. One of the security lads has been sacked as it seems he was the one who
started the punch up in the room that got smashed up. They were making a lot of
noise and he stormed in there and started pushing people. Another nutter on our
ship, the number keeps going up.
No mail yet again today. It
won’t be long until Monday and then the last week of working for eight weeks.
We were told that there is a mock invasion going on in Stanley and that is why the post is held up?
Saturday – 02/06/1984. Day 181. Hours worked 10.
The weather has been really rotten today, very cold and windy. Started sorting everything for going home last night. As we will be given new rooms when we get back, anything we are not taking with us goes in storage in a container.
One of the lads said Eastham’s cleaners had been through his
wardrobe. He left a note on its door which said, “If any of you thieving
bastards go into my wardrobe again, I will cut your balls off.” He has been
sacked.
The roads and paths around the camp,
canteen and bar are really cutting up with all the rain. If a person has their
good clothes on it is just a total mess. The haul roads are becoming very, very
bad!
Sunday – 03/06/1984. Day 182. Day off.
It
looks like quite a few lads are working today. We have lost out regarding the
overtime because of some hot heads couldn’t wait. I am certain they were about
to give it to us.
In the Pleasant
Time, the local newspaper here, it says that the England is making good progress and all being well will be here next
Monday. I can’t wait, let me on it! All the lads who are getting on it are also
getting their things together. I took down all the postcards and family photos
I had on the wall.
Went for a few beers last night, only a few. I
then went in the video room next to the bar to watch a war film. One would have
thought the war was going on in the bar next door. There shouting, roaring and
singing, we could hardly hear the film.
Polly who ran his truck mixer lorry with no oil in it was sat having dinner last night when four fitters came in and presented him with a piece of wood with a dip-stick fixed to it and written on it was, “Dip-stick of the year.” He got up and made a speech.
The photo above is Paul and I, on our Sunday walk, taken by Bob. It looks cold and blowy
Memo – Overtime.
Well the overtime issue ended up as a real joke. There are loads of lads working today, Sunday. I will when I get back, when it’s offered of course, JLB have won, again! It’s all gone wrong since they had that meeting in working hours, they played into their hands. There were some blokes who wanted an all-out strike. It was that, that spilt us, a lot of lads would not put their job on the line with the amount of time we had now put in here, and I was one of them. I was not going to have spent this time here and away from family to throw it all away.
We
had JLB on the run up until that point. With the weather turning the way it has
and the problem getting stone for the concrete they would have had no choice in
the end as they would really have a lot of time to make up. They had already
given in a small amount in so much that their had said they would pay us the
overtime after 12 months instead of the end of the con-trick.
As
I said before, the haul roads are breaking up badly. Most of them are a sea of
mud and pot holes. With there being so many small hills here a lot of the
lorries are having problems getting up them. Had we just kept on with the
overtime ban, JLB would have cracked, I know it. I am totally gutted! I thought
Sid the chairman was okay to start with but not now. He was telling us what he
wanted and not what most of the men wanted. We had a vote to stop worked and we
said no. He wasn’t happy about that. I will be surprised if the committee is
still going by time we get back off leave.
Monday 04/06/1984. Day 183. Hours
worked 10.
Yesterday a chap went into the shop and said to the man behind the counter, “have you got any pipes?” The chap replied “no.” The first bloke got a knife out and started waving it at him and swearing. Yes, his on our ship. More fights at the weekend, one bloke nutted the barman in ‘Huggies Bar’ and punched another, he’s in court today.
Rich
went into our drying room late last night and the lights were off, he turned
them on and there was a man and a woman in the corner, at it. The woman said,
“hoy, we came in here for privacy.” Rich said, “I came in for my sweatshirt!”
JLB are getting worried about the stone
for the concrete, all the stone they are getting at the moment has a lot of
clay in it, which the PSA will not pass to use.
'Huggies Bar’ and the hospital are being moved up here soon. 105 lads got moved up here from the basecamp on Saturday and Eastham’s just haven’t got the staff here to cope. On Sunday evenings dinner finishes at 6/00, there was still a queue out of the door at 7/00!
Tuesday 05/06/1984. Day 184. Hours worked 10- ½.
A mild day, all in all, a bit of rain but not much. Have got to work this Saturday. We had been told we would be having it off to get clearance forms signed and to sort other issues but we have now been told the forms have been done away with. We were never going to get a paid day off. But let’s be fair JLB have not let us down, more dirty tricks that is!
The toilets outside The Gull
& Penguin got smashed up last night. When I say smashed up, I mean
destroyed. Nothing could be used again. We were in there looking at it, this
morning when one the security guards came in and said, “I think they done that
on purpose!”
Found out that the chap who done the head
butting at the weekend was on court bail in the UK. God, it’s a joke what checking have they done on these people?
Heard another fighter went air bridge today.
I can’t have Dave Dier in my gang when we get
back. Half the time he thinks he is in charge, telling people what to do. And
he has got really lazy, doesn’t seem to want to do anything half the time, and
it’s not just me, I have had other lads say it to me.
Wednesday 06/06/1984. Day 185. Hours worked 10- ½.
It has been a nice day weather wise, but oh my good god it hasn’t been good in any other way. First off, I had a row with Mick the concrete lorry driver. Then we had trouble getting any concrete because they would only give us the one lorry. Then I had two rows with Mick the chippie, then the concrete batcher broke down, so we had to put a stop end in the floor slab we were pouring under cover in the recreation hall. Then all the electrics went off, we had no lights inside. We had to power float the floor slab in the dark with one torch.
Just as I thought, Sid has quit as
chairman to the committee, I think that will be the beginning of the end of
that. I have had it mentioned to me a few times over the past months about
going on it. No way do I want that hassle.
Two blokes were found asleep on the
floor in the toilets outside The Gull & Penguin at 3/00 am this morning
(they were repaired yesterday) they must have been very drunk as again the
floor was full of piss. Latest rumour going around is that The England is a day late, I refuse to believe it!
One of the toilets in ‘S’ block was smashed up yesterday.
Pat O’Leary told me that we should get
a single room when we get back from leave, I will believe it when I see it. He
is not looking well at all these days. It is all the pressure Kim Benjamin is
putting him under to have rooms ready in the camp for all the people they keep
sending over from the UK.
Thursday 07/06/1984. Day 186. Hours worked 10.
Been a very overcast and rainy sort of day. At long last we have finished the floor slab in the recreation hall. It has taken a long time because there were so many times we could not get any concrete. As I have said many times, the stone is rubbish. That is because the quarry was set out in the wrong place, they have now found a new location. Will that be any good? Talking about rubbish, the bread and rolls have been very poor of late, they have just got too many people to cater for.
I have had a sore throat since last night, I went to the Doc’s and got some pills. There is something going around as a lot of the lads are feeling very run down. I think half the problem is that Eastham’s boil the hell out of all the food, we get no Vietnams. I have noticed that if a person cuts their self it takes a lot longer too heal than it would at home.
Friday 08/06/1984. Day 187. Hours worked 10.
The weather hasn’t been too bad today. Overcast all day with a bit of rain. It is almost mid-winter here; the days are very short at the moment. Some mornings it can be nearly 10/00am before it’s really light that it’s almost dark at 3/00 pm.
Got some Spurs programmes tonight from
home and also got a few days old newspaper from out of the shop, I will look
forward to having a good old read. Little things please little minds!
Eric the walking ganger is going home
air bridge on Monday. I don’t know too much about it but he seems to have been
bleeding internally from his backside. It happened a while ago then stopped, it
started again and has got worst. He is going to have an operation when he gets
to the UK.
Bob Clarke, our local head-case, was
acting the fool up at the quarry today. He fell over and he has now had 12
stiches in his hand and 4 in his chin. He is now going in and out of rooms
posing with the bandages.
Some idiot is trying to do us all in. He put
the chlorine tap on full in the water, but the camps plumber came across it.
Also, someone (could be the same person) is going around turning on stop-cocks
that should be closed, and turning off stop-cocks that should be on. You just
couldn’t make up what idiots we have here.
Got most of my washing done, and The England is on time. So, all is good, lets hope it stays like that as we know how the weather can change in a blink of an eye in these parts of the world.
Saturday 09/06/1984. Day 188. Hours worked 10.
Kym the gay Eastham’s guy who works in the kitchen got a punch in the face from one of the bakers yesterday. Don’t know why yet?
Been
a nice day, not very warm, but nice and bright. I didn’t feel at all well this
morning so I worked until about 11/00am and went to bed for a couple of hours.
I then went and watched some videos in the afternoon.
It seems a lot of blokes got their notices today, so they will be coming home with us, just got to keep out of their way. Eric the walking ganger is now coming home with us on Monday, and not by air bridge after all. That does cost a lot of money. And let’s be fair, he is only bleeding from the inside?
Sent
my last letter to the wife today and ordered a red rose for her also, they
should get home before me, fingers crossed. Rich is going mad, he put his
washing in 11 days ago and has not had it back yet, and he goes with us on
Monday.
Sunday 10/06/1984. Day 189. Day off.
Last day in this hole for eight weeks, thank God! Rang home this morning, it’s always good to talk to the family. Went to the workers committee meeting this morning, only a handful of lads turned up. With lads going on leave and others giving it up there are only two left on the committee now, they are looking for new members.
One
bloke was sacked at 5/00 pm last night. He had leant his radio to a chap then
found out he had sold it, so he gave him a beating, and of course got sacked
for it. We all went out last night and ended up in the new staff bar that has
just opened. Mick Moony our foreman kept pouring whiskey in my beer from a
bottle he had, boy was I pissed. I was up early this morning and woke everyone
up. I punched the top bunk above me to wake Dave up and broke one of the wooden
slates.
Monday 11/06/1984. Day 190. Travelling.
Here we are, at sea again, on our way home, thank God. It has been a very cold windy day with a fair bit of snow. The England got in and out alright. There are a lot of jackers and sackers on board, I hope there’s no trouble, well not for me anyway.
That sodding little Hughie the cleaner is on here, if
anyone could cause trouble I reckon he could. He was totally pissed when he got
on the ship, along with many others I may add. Some of the crew were telling us
that there was a lot of trouble on the last ship going home, and there were
blokes sacked. They got into Cape Town a couple of days early so they let the
lads go into the town and there was a lot of trouble, so if we are early we will
be waiting out at sea, great!
Some of the drunks on the deck when we
left West Cove started singing, “JLB can
kiss my arse, I am going home on leave at last.”
Rich
and I have cabins at the front of the ship on ‘B’ deck, on opposite side of the
corridor from each other, while Dave and Bob are up on ‘A’ deck. A person can
fill the ship moving around a lot more down here.
One
of the sackers smashed up the only phone which is for us. Apparently, he has
been saying that if he has problems with anyone he will throw them over the
side, what a tosser!
As always Eastham lads have the best
cabins, up on deck ‘A’. Considering they are subbies and don’t even work for
the main contractor they get the best of everything. That’s because they run
the accommodation, shops, food etc, so they have first choice. They run the job
how it suits them, it’s a joke, and they get away with it.
As we were pulling away for the Providence we saw a few lads who had just come back, they were getting some stick from us who were going on leave.
Tuesday 12/06/1984. Day 191. Travelling.
It has been quite nice and not as cold as yesterday. With saying that there is next to no heating on the ship, in fact last night it was really bloody freezing. Clocks went forward one-hour last night, that’s a good sign we are on our way home. I got cornered by the JLB man on board to put the videos on this afternoon, which I did but it’s a pain in the arse, I said I would not be doing it again. Anyway, that’s what he gets paid for, I am on leave, ha-ha.
We had a few beers last night but there was a very tense atmosphere at the bar with jackers and sackers getting drunk, we didn’t want to say the wrong thing. I must say things seem to be a bit better today. But some of us who are going on leave have been talking and we now feel as if we are winding down a bit from being in that fucking place for over six months, I think we are totally fatigued.
Wednesday 13/06/1984. Day 192. Travelling.
Back into the old routine of being back at sea for two weeks, not a sodding thing to do. It’s like being back on the island, all JLB put on is beer and videos. It’s really odd as while it been over six months since I was on here it now feels as if I have hardly been away. It is better being there as you do have work that of course passes the time, here a person does not have that. Been trying work on my writing but laying on the bunk is not easy, practically with the rocking of the ship.
Had
been doing the video again, (putting them on) but have stopped that now as you
don’t get the choice of what to put on, the JLB
man just gives you it, and I have to say, he’s a right tosser.
The
ship has changed since we were last on it. The gym has been moved and extra
fire breaks have been installed. Hope we don’t need the latter, but have been
told by the crew that they have been used twice of late. Couldn’t hear the
video last night as all the jackers were singing at the bar. Some of them were
picking fights. I will be totally surprised if it does not kick off before we
dock.
Thursday 14/06/1984. Day 193. Travelling.
Some really bad news, we have lost a chap over board, it looks like he jumped in the night. He is the baker who got sacked. He was the one who punched Kym. It seems he tried to kill himself on the island, why was he not air bridged? The seas are so cold here, survival time would have been very short. When he was found missing we turned back to look for him, which has to be done by maritime law.
Rich
and I were having a beer at the bar last night when one of the jackers came up
to us and started to have a go. Saying we were wankers for not jacking and
putting up with all the crap we get on the island from JLB. I told him to, “fuck off,” yeah, I have had better ideas over
the years. After he told me “he would find me and throw me over the side,” Rich
and I got the hell out of there. There is two ways to look at what he said.
Firstly, he is right about putting up with the crap we get, but we would lose a
lot of money now. Secondly, did he pick on us because he has got the hump with
himself because it didn’t work out for him?
Friday 15/06/1984. Day 194.
Travelling.
The question is now, what in hells name was the chap who killed himself doing on the ship? A ship crossing a very large ocean must be one of the easiest places for a person with suicidal tendencies to carry it out. It turns out he did have a history of these tendencies. JLB should have air bridged him home. Foreman and managers go home on leave this way so that they can get them back early, but not a person like him?
There
is a very sombre feeling around the ship at the moment because of what has
happened. I went on a visit to the bridge today, done it last time but it is
something to do. The captain came on the radio this afternoon to thank everyone
who had helped in the search for that poor chap.
Weather
not bad but still on the cold side.
Been a nice day. The sea not so rough today, but there again we are getting further north, to the sunshine all the time now. Clocks went forward again last night. Have not heard any more about the chap who went over the side, he has never been found.
Word
on the top deck is, (not the runway anymore) Cape Town on Saturday, Heathrow on
Sunday, I can’t wait. Heard a rumour that they can’t get everyone on the
flights for Saturday and that 16 will be held over in Cape Town until Monday. Let’s hope that’s what it is, just a rumour
as I will go around the twist if I am left on here and sackers and jackers go
home first. Mind you it is the sort of thing JLB would do if they thought the
others would cause trouble. With my name starting with a W, I have fallen for
that sort of thing the whole of my life!
Been
doing a bit of telly watching today, nothing great on, but it helps break the
boredom.
Sunday 17/06/1984. Day 196. Travelling.
Yet again it has been a clam day, overcast but not bad. Mind you it is now 1/00am and it is getting a bit rough. Been watching videos all day again as there is nothing else to do, but most of the films they have are rubbish and we have seen most of them coming out here.
Shortwave,
one of the lads, not sure how he got that name is now putting the videos on,
not sure how but he is managing to make a right mess of it. Haven’t long left
the bar and there seems to be a few rows brewing there. So, who knows what we
might find out in the morning? Little Tommy the big mouth blaster and big Reg from Derby, were at it as I left.
The
clocks go forward one hour again tonight. When the chap says it on the radio he
says, “clocks will be advanced by one hour tonight, that means go forward.” I
know we have some thicko’s here, but I would have thought even some of them can
work that one out?
Monday 18/06/1984. Day 197.
Travelling.
At the moment it is 5/30pm and with have hit a storm. It hasn’t been good all day but it has been getting rougher and it is about a force 8 at the moment and they are expecting it to get worst, the ship is getting thrown around a fair bit, more in the last half hour or so.
They
have been on the ships radio telling us what to do and what not to do. It is
very hard walking at the moment, there are lads falling all over the place,
myself include. I know a lot of the lads are seasick and are not eating, thank
god I haven’t got that problem, yet!
We passed ‘Tristen de Cunha’ the islands in mid-Atlantic, they are
volcanic islands. The ‘Queen Mary Peak’ volcano erupted on the 10th
October 1961. I remember this from when I was at school, I was just turned nine
at the time. The entire population of 264 people sailed in open boats to nearby
uninhabited ‘Nightingale Island’,
which we also saw today. They were picked up a couple of days later, then came
to Briton as the islands are British, many
of them went back in 1963. Would you believe learning about it all those years
ago, that I would sail 3 or 4 miles past it about 23 years later. Got some good
photos (I hope) and one could see the laver runs down the volcano.
The
ships shop will not be open after Wednesday for stock-taking.
Tuesday 19/06/1984. Day 198. Travelling.
It is about the same time the following evening. The storm has got a lot worst, we have now been in it for the passed 48 hours. A lot of lads could not sleep last night, I did. The ship is being thrown around a lot now, they said this morning it was now a force 10, I think it has gone up from that now.
They have closed the weather-side of the
ship down, as they said it too dangerous. Even with the large windows down,
water is still getting in. I shouldn’t laugh but it’s funny when we are having
meals as there is crashing and banging all the time with things falling off
tables etc. Mind you, we might end up with nothing to eat off at this rate?
We were traveling at a speed of 14 knots
but we have know gone down to 12, but they say we are going with the storm, you
wouldn’t want to be going against it!
Last night when I was asleep I woke
about 2/00am and with the cabin being so dark I did not know what was happening
as I was stood up in the bunk. I then realised how far side wards the ship had
gone, then slowly we started going backwards, I was then nearly standing on my head.
The crew said this morning we were close to turning turtle, turning over!
Wednesday 20/06/1984. Day199. Travelling.
Well we are still in the storm but not as bad now. I did the night-shift last night as Bob calls it. And that is if you sleep in the day (through boredom) then can’t sleep at night so you just wander around the ship all night, there’s a lot of lads who do it. The storm was very bad at lunch today, there was a lot of crashing coming from the kitchen. Not a lot of lads have been eating while this has been on, as think it goes down one way then back up. Pleased too say I haven’t had that problem. The crew said at its height the storm was a force 11.
While I was on the night-shift I was
shown a Space Invader machine by Bob
where you didn’t have to pay, so I spent a while on there, it’s one way of
passing the time. At 4/00am I was watching TV with Shortwave and a few others.
He said he could get some rolls but they would be £1 each. I didn’t have any as
I know he nicked them out of the kitchen, but the other lads did.
During the storm those of us on ‘B’ Deck
had to put our dead-lights (a metal plate) over our port holes as they said the
portholes could have been blown in. A lot of the large windows and window
frames on the weather side of the ship have been damaged.
Thursday 21/06/1984. Day 200. Travelling.
We came through the storm at midday yesterday. It ended up a nice day after that, sun was out as well. As I had no sleep on Tuesday night, I purposely stayed awake all day yesterday (Wednesday) then at 8/00 pm last night went to bed and went straight to sleep and slept until 7/00 this morning.
They
had a raffle last night and I won a big bag of mixed sweets. The funny thing is
I was sat next to Dave who pulled it out, and all the lads were shouting, “fix,
fix.” Bob won a watch but he doesn’t like it so the cheeky bugger is trying to
get them to change it, but they won’t. So now he is trying to sell it. He’s
some boy he is.
Rich
and I were talking to the chap who started the row in the bar last week and he
didn’t remember a thing about it as he was so drunk, or so he says?
200 days up today!
Friday 22/06/1984. Day 201. Travelling.
Been a really nice clam day, sun shining and only a small amount of wind. Not bad for almost mid-winter, a nice change from the past few days. Today is the day we should have docked in Cape Town. We now have to wait until Saturday all because the last ship went on the rampage in the town, we are at this moment just sitting many miles off shore, can’t even see land. We will fly on Saturday morning from here to Joburg, then have a six hour wait there for the connecting fight to London. I am not looking forward to that at all.
The
bar got broke into in the middle of the first night we were on the ship. Who ever
done it never got caught but word on the top deck is that it was little Hughie
the cleaner as he has always got a can of beer before the bar opens and they
will not sell carry-outs, and they always pull the ring-pull on the can when a person buys the
beer.
Saturday 23/06/1984. Day 202. Travelling.
I first saw Cape Town at 04/00am this morning, we docked at 06/00am. We flew to Joburg via George where we stopped to refuel. It looked beautiful as we flew over it. But as we fly and see many lovely places with lots of land, I am very aware that the country has apartheid and many are going without!
We
had a seven hour wait at Joburg for
our plane home. To be fair JLB put a
very good meal on for us at the airport. We were in fact given an area just for
us were there was any amount of food a person could eat. The group I was in was
the first to land there but the last to the meal. We had to change terminals
and our party leader Dick Turner got us lost, at one point we nearly left the
airport.
Even with it being mid-winter it was very
hot in Cape Town but raining when we
got to Johannesburg. One of the
jackers on our plane was nicking gear off the duty-free trolley and selling
them to the lads. After the 7 hours wait at the airport we got to on the plane
then we were held up on there for almost an hour. Two lads on our fight got
totally pissed but didn’t cause any trouble. I did hear that one of our lads
got locked up in Joburg, but don’t
know if there is any truth in it.
Couldn’t sleep on the plane at all, very little again on Friday night so I am looking forward to my own bed. When we were coming into Heathrow the Captain said, “if you are visiting, welcome to England, we hope you have a nice stay. And if you are returning from working in the Falkland Islands, welcome home lads.” This brought on a big cheer.
Home at last! Landed at Heathrow at 7/50 this morning but didn’t get out until almost 9/00am. The family were all there, even my sister Linda was there who does not live near by anymore. I came British Airways this time. We stopped in Harare, Zimbabwe to refuel, but didn’t get off the plane. That is apart from sacker who stood outside the plane smoking as we had been told we could not smoke while we were on the ground. One of the stewardess gave him a right telling off.
Duty free wise I was well over the top,
like the rest of the lads, with cigarettes and tobacco and gifts I was worried
but I went through customs okay. As I said it was a very long night with out
any sleep. I think I went off for a short while but not much.
Flew over where Mum lives in Bedfont
coming in which made me feel at home. Its good to be back, lets hope the next
month goes slowly.
Terry the walking ganger told me on
Saturday night that he was getting made up to a section foreman when we
returned.
Memo – JLB.
It is a real sickener about the chap who killed himself. I keep thinking of him, I must have seen him at some point, but I can’t remember him. Like I said before he should have gone air bridge, I feel he has really been let down, he must have been in a bad way, mentally.
There are over a thousand men and women
there now and they reckon it will be over two thousand before its finished.
There is no entertainment there, beer and videos, and JLB don’t give two fucks. The recreation hall is well behind
schedule for being finished. Mainly because of us not getting concrete, and
let’s be fair when there was concrete they said it was more important to go to
other areas, don’t worry about getting the camp finished! It was only when the PSA would not pass the stone for their
work that we got it.
When
the rec hall is finished it is going to be too small for the amount of people
it will have to cater for, we are told there will be a snooker room? I hate to say it but, JLB don’t give a toss about the lads. And “if you don’t like it,
there’s a ship on its way back here!”
Monday 25/06/1984. Day 204. On
leave until Tuesday 24/07/1984. Day 231.
Memo – Good blokes.
Everyone, including me, has said about all the tosser’s on the job, and there are a lot, but there are a lot of "good blokes" here as well. Funny how we go on about the bad ones, so here are a few words about the "good ones!"
Peter
the Gosse in the next room to us lost his wallet two days before we came on
leave. It had a lot of money in it along with his cheque book, bankcards, and keys. I
really thought it was gone. A black lad, Vince found it and brought it back to
him. Can’t be bad for a load of cut-throats as some of the press at home call
us. Peter took him out for a drink.
If
anyone has to go home (not jackers or sackers) for bad reasons at home or
health we have a collection for them. Loads of lads help other lads out in
loads of ways. All in all, I would say that 95% of the lads are really good
blokes, so forget what the press says, that really upsets the family.
Memo – JLB.
Reading through this dairy (as I just have) it would make a person wonder how JLB think at times? They have done a lot of things against the workforce just to be on top. Going back to the overtime issue, when the argument was at its height we had the Stanley hospital fire. Being such a small place, we were all totally shocked by it. 80 to 90% of the lads had said they would work one Sunday and the money to be donated to the fund, and taken out of the next months money. That would have been a lot of money. The fed-back from the section mangers was, “if they paid it once, we would say, why can’t they pay it every month?” As I have said many times, they are just tosser’s!!!
Memo – Leave.
Well that’s the leave over. It did seem to go on the slow side but now it is over, well, it does seem to have gone fast. Over all the weather was good, a few overcast and rainy days but over all it was good. Lovely to have been at home with the family and do real things again.
It did take a little while to get back into
the old routine and sometimes I felt a bit left out. The family have all their
own things to talk about, which of course I have not been involved with. I
tiered not to go no about the Falklands,
the main reason was because I was trying to forget about it for a while.
We
had a week away at Mum’s caravan just outside Clacton-on-Sea. It was really nice and while we have been there
before it made a nice change. Just going out for a meal and having a drink with
people who are not acting like lunatics was great.
The last week was a bit of a downer, as
I got the re-joining papers nearly two weeks before going back. I then had to
get ready, shopping etc. Son Paul and I have made up a lot of music tapes to
take back which is good. All in all, it was very good, but its time to go back
now and complete the remaining months.
Overtime hours = 1.
July.
Tuesday 24/07/1984. Day 231. Travelling.
Well on our way again! It was an overcast day. Tears from the wife and family at the airport. Daughter Jean sister Jean and Roy took me to the Heathrow. We sat and watched videos this lunch time waiting for Jean and Roy to pick us up, a nice relaxed way to finish the leave.
The flight was delayed over an hour
before taking off, got off at 8/45pm in the end. It was boiling on the plane to
start with, as we just sat on the runway. We flew in a 747, British Airways again, and refuelled at Nairobi Kenya.
Met all the lads at the bar in Heathrow, everyone seemed very pissed
off with going back. Not good leaving home again. Of course, unlike last time
we know what we have to look forward to now.
Wednesday 25/07/1984. Day 232. Travelling.
We arrived in Joburg about 10/00am this morning, and to say it was bloody cold is an understatement. We then flew on to Cape Town where it was red hot, I can put up with that for winter. There are a lot of new blokes on here a lot more then we all thought. And nineteen females, I am told about 260 of us in all.
Same bus trip from the airport to the
docks then on to the ship. All the lads found they were sharing cabins, apart
from me, I have one on my own, ha-ha. There are times in life when having a
surname at the end of the alphabet comes in handy.
When the ship was leaving the docks there
was a prostitute who had just came off the ship, the lads were throwing her
money and she was flashing her bits!
Thursday 26/07/1984. Day 233. Travelling.
It is on the warm side today and the sea is okay, but I have heard a few of the lads have been seasick. There’s a chap on here, I am told he is going to be a section manager, he has his wife and very young child with him. Poor little sod, the baby that is, he shouldn’t be here, he has done nothing but cry up until now.
Went
for a drink last night with the lads as we were al feeling a bit down with
coming back, we did have a bit too much. I had a real shock this morning when I
woke, with the cabin being so dark I didn’t have a clue where I was until I put
the light on and found out I was not at home! The wife and children made a tape
recording for me, which I had not heard until I played it this morning, that
was a bit of a choker!
Friday 27/07/1984. Day 234. Travelling.
Clocks went back an hour last night, so that’s another hour to kill. The seas are still clam, but an overcast day. Been playing table tennis most of the day, as again there is still very little else to do. I stayed up late last night watching a film so that I could sleep.
Pat
the crane driver who went on leave in May has come back with us. He went on the
sick for a month, he told them he had the shits. After he missed his boat they
wanted him to return air bridge, so he went sick again. They asked him to
resign, but he wouldn’t. He told them he wanted to come back and was looking
forward to it, (at this point I said, “liar, liar, pants on fire”) but every
time he thought of flying he got the shits. Well he got an extra month out of
it.
Saturday 28/07/1984. Day 235. Travelling.
Been a nice sunny day and the sea is still nice and clam. I have finished the Jimi Hendrix book that I brought. I really enjoyed it, but oh didn’t he throw his life away? So talented and died at 27 years old. I saw him in his last gig in August 1970 at the Isle of Wight. The book helped pass a little bit of time, as once again this is so boring. Dee next door at home brought me some puzzle books which she gave me the morning before I came away, I will have a go at them later.
Rich came down to my cabin for a chat earlier
which was nice to talk on our own, he is fed up like me. We have had a life
boat drill and then we had a meeting with the Captain. That all wasted another
couple of hours.
Sunday 29/07/1984. Day 236 Travelling.
The sea is getting a bit rougher
but its still not too bad. Because the last ship went into a storm and was in
it almost all of the way we are staying north as long as possible to avoided the
weather, so far so good.
They
had a race meeting in the main bar last night, which was good fun, as I do not
gamble I did not have a bet. A race meeting is carried out with a sheet laid
out with six lanes numbered 1 to 6 then 1 to 18 marked out. A person bets on a horse
(which is a wooden cut out) in a lane. One dice is rolled to see which horse
moves, then it is rolled again for how many places it moves.
One of the lads who came out with us
last year was on the plane at Heathrow and got up and told the crew he was
getting off! That’s why we were delayed. Did he do the right thing?
Well we have been at sea about six days
now and once again I just can’t wait to get off the ship. I just want to get
there and put my time in as fast as I can. It’s early days yet but I have been
wondering about doing another tour, after this one? I don’t want to as I really
miss the family, but with saying all of that, the money is there. Rich, Dave
and Bob have said there is no way they are coming back. I will just have to
wait and see.
Monday 30/7/1984. Day 237 Travelling.
The sea has become a lot choppier today, we must have turned south. Yesterday afternoon we were out on the deck sunbathing. Also played bingo yesterday, didn’t win anything. For the first time since I have been back on here I also had a long video watch.
Just heard that it looks like we will
have to share rooms when we get back, no single room again, that has cheesed me
off. It’s okay to be in with someone at times, then you just want your own
time. A roommate in the wardrobe would be ideal, just get them out when you
want company, then lock them away again!
Rich
and I have put our names down to share, as he does not want to go in with Bob
again and I don’t want to be in with Dave.
Tuesday 31/7/1984. Day 238 Travelling.
We went to the disco last night, and one of the gay lads from the ship asked Dave for a dance, he was not happy at all. Bob was dancing with one of the women and I took a photo of them which did not go down well at all, he had a right go at me. It was only meant as a joke but he put me right about that. Still we had a good night and all ended up friends again.
Bob was saying he had a fall out with
some new blokes at the bar the other night and thought they were looking for
him, so he ripped his name off his cabin’s door.
The sea was choppy again today and it was overcast and feeling colder. I sat out on the deck later on in the afternoon and you could feel it then.
Hours worked for July = 0.
August.
Wednesday 01/08/1984. Day 239 Travelling.
We have run into another storm, but its not as bad as the one we had going home, not yet anyway. This time we are going up and down from front to back, not like from side to side like it was last time. Didn’t play bingo yesterday as I had a rotten headache all day, had to go and get some pills off the nurse in the end.
Been
sleeping better this trip as I have made sure I haven’t slept in the day. It’s
not easy at times and I know a lot of the lads are on the “night-shift” again.
The shop on here is bloody expensive, I haven’t used it much in the past but I lost
a comb I paid 9p for at home, so I went and got a replacement the same kind,
30p! Also got a sub today, as the money I came back with has almost
gone.
Thursday 02/08/1984. Day 240 Travelling.
The storm has come and gone, still a bit on the choppy side but the sun has been out and it was warm for a while. Malcolm one of the lorry drivers is down on ‘D’ deck which is below the water line, has had water leaking in his cabin, he said he had an inch of water on the floor. Does not surprise me as this ship is an old ‘rust bucket.’
Dew,
one of the Stevedores who works on the jetty ship has been doing a lot of
drinking and mouthing off, he has been sacked, or so the word on the “top deck”
says. His mate Mick was doing the same on our flight going home.
Rick
and Bob were saying today that they ended up going to Mark the chain boys (a
chain boy or girl is a person who helps the setting out-engineer) birthday
party last night and got hammered and ended up sniffing ether, which blew their
brains, they must be mad.
Friday 03/08/1984. Day 241 Travelling.
Again, the sun has been shining, but the sea has been a bit choppier, in fact on the rough side at times. Rich is worried about his wife, he thinks she may have been seeing someone else but is not sure, but of course he cannot get it out of his mind. I feel really sorry for him. He is a really nice bloke, he has been drinking a lot since we got back on here, because of that.
Dew
the Stevedore got a written warning about his drinking, “if he is seen drinking
again on this trip he will be sacked. It seems he made a right arse of himself
a few nights ago. He had a row with some of the crew late at night and was
roaring and shouting at them, the captain got involved in the end. Not good!
Saturday 04/08/1984. Day 242 Travelling.
A nice day up until now, not as rough as it was yesterday afternoon. We have been told there is an anticyclone up ahead, looks like we will be in for some really windy weather. Also heard they have had some really bad weather on the islands since we have been gone. A lot of the water pipes have been frozen and there has been no water for long periods. Oh, what a surprise, no water, so what’s new? Apparently there have been heavy snow falls on and off and at one point the airfield closed down (work wise) for a couple of days because of the snow.
I have seen very little of Dave Dier of
late, that is since he found out we would not be sharing a room. He seemed okay
to start with, then it was like he has been avoiding me, he doesn’t eat we us anymore.
He is in another of his moods, which he has many of. I just hope we are not
working together.
Sunday 05/08/1984. Day 243
Travelling.
Arrived in San Carlos Water which is north east in the islands at 2/30 pm and bunkered to the fuel tanker the Scottish Eagle which is moored there. While we were there, there were also two navy ships in, one of which had a helicopter land on it.
Had lists go up today of who we are rooming with,
I am in a room with Rich, but a lot of people did not get who they had asked
for. I am also down for working on Pat O’Leary or Arran Jones or Adam Wright’s
section, lets make your mind up? Out of the three I hope it is Pat’s section.
The
weather has really turned, it has been snowing on and off all day and is now
very cold. Saw in the Pleasant Times that
there was a fire in ‘C’ block our old corridor, no one was hurt, but it looks
like it was started on purpose. Also, idiots have been letting off fire extinguishers
again.
Memo – Customs.
When we went on leave I took a few things over the top through customs than I should have and was really worried about getting caught. It seems a few of our lads have been stopped and they have been asked, “were have you come from sir?” When they replay the Falklands, they are told to carry on.
To be fair apart from cigarettes and
drink there is nothing to take home from here. Customs would know that if they
stopped people they would find these sort of things but let us carry on. Some
lads who worked in Poland a few years ago said they were so cheap there that
the lads who went home more regularly than us would fill suitcases up with
booze, fags etc to sell at home. There was one flight going into Newcastle airport.
When it landed the plane got diverted and they all went into a big hanger where
they all had things taken off them, they got fined and had ‘International Smuggler’ stamped on their passports.
Monday 06/08/1894. Day 244. Travelling.
Well we are still at sea. We were meant to have docked at ‘West Cove’ at 08/00 am this morning but it was too windy. We have moved off shore, it is very cold and is snowing heavy now. Not bad for August?
We have been told that while Doctor Death
was on leave they had a new doctor to replace him who had a heart attack and
died. Until Doc D gets back an army doctor from Stanley is here now and they
reckon the sick list has gone right down, he does not mess about.
Things
seem to be moving fast with Bob and the woman he has been seeing of late, Sally
an Eastham’s cleaner. He is so silly in my opinion, if his wife finds out that
could be the end of his marriage.
Had a few beers last night and ended up
having a row with a new chap who pushed into me at the bar, tosser.
Tuesday 07/08/1984. Day 245.
Travelling.
We got in today and I am really pig sick to be here, I mean it really hit me when I got off the bus at the camp. Still there is one up side, and that is I had 29 letters waiting.
I am cheesed off, I pushed for a ganger’s job
for Dave Dier and he got the one, and the section I wanted. Mind you where he
will be working I am told they are getting no concrete and where I am going
there will be lots. But I am Arran Jones section, which I am not happy about.
Rich
and I haven’t even got a key for our room. All that was in the room was the
bunk beds, I was not happy. So, Rich and I spent the afternoon going around
nicking furniture, not a good start to our return, but we have everything we
need now. Bob and Mick have just come into the room drinking beer, guess how
they are going to get through the next six months?
Wednesday 08/08/1984. Day 246. Hours worked 10.
Well back to work today for the first time in eight weeks. I have ended up on the Tank Farm with Pat O’Leary after all. Its looks like Dave won’t be made up to ganger, not for the time being, and guess what, yes, I have got him back with me.
Pat
took me for a drive in his Land Rover around the project this morning which was
good, it has really moved on since I was last here.
God was it is cold down at the Tank Farm which is
at the start of the seas entrance to West Cove at Mare Harbour. It is
right on the sea I suppose the fuel tankers will more there to unload into the
fuel tanks we will be building, then pumped by pipe lines to the airfield which
is seven miles in land. God the wind
down there is more cutting than other places here. We have been lucky to have
missed a lot of the winter, a lot of the lads who have been here all that time
really seemed to have aged a lot.
It’s
one thing being down there in the cold and snow, but with not a lot to do, that
has really pissed me off.
Thursday 09/08/1984. Day 247. Hours worked 10.
Another rotten day, high winds and snow, my face is red-raw and my lips are all cut up because of the wind. We have been told that they reckon this is the worst winter they have had here for forty-five years.
Got settled in a bit more today and got my first concrete for eight weeks, don’t get too excited Tom, ha, ha!
As we are not far from the ship we have been going
there for lunch, the food is a lot better there than the camp (that doesn’t
take a lot of doing with the crap they serve up there) and the doggie bags. But
it has stopped now as Eric Sant (office manager) came around as we were eating
and said that as we were not working on the ship we had to have doggie bags on
site. That’s the ship workers the tosser’s, complaining. They are the only ones
here that have things their way, along with Eastham’s that is. That has got to
be because they control the unloading of the ships and if they are late and go
into demurrage (a charge payable if the cargo ships are late unloading) it can
cost a lot of money.
The wind is blowing a gale down our corridor when the main door is opened, we have put an old coat at the foot of our door as the gap at the bottom is so large I could limbo under it! No, post today.
Friday 10/08/1984. Day 248. Hours worked 11.
I have contacted a chap I worked with in the
late 60’s and early 1970’s, Ted Duran. He is a Ukrainian who came over after
WWII and married and settled down in Grimsby. Some lads here worked with him in
Poland, I got his address and have been writing to his wife Shirley. Ted and I
worked together on a few jobs, he was my ganger. I spent a few weekends at his
home with his family when we were working around the country.
Shirley said when he came back from
Poland he was crippled, can’t walk without aid, and has a problem standing up and
can’t even hold a pen. He was with the company for 28 years and they just let
him go, didn’t look after him at. That’s what a person gets for working hard in
this industry. All the lads who know him have said how sorry they are for him.
We will find out how sorry they are when I go around for a collection for him!
Saturday 11/08/1984. Day 249. Hours worked 10.
No snow today but still bloody
freezing in the wind and had driving rain on and off. Fell out with the prick
of an engineer we have got here, he’s a real toffee-nosed git. Got to work
tomorrow which I wasn’t expecting, but then again now this over time thing is
over I have now got the chance to get some more tax-free money, that’s if we
don’t lose it because of the bloody weather.
I have now done eight months, six to go.
Before I went on leave I thought I had cracked it, but I am still not sure if I
will make it or not.
Sunday 12/08/1984. Day 250. Hours worked 10.
Been a milder day than of late, but still cold in the wind down at Mare Harbour. I took David Antony’s Land Rover down to the steel reinforcement yard this afternoon to pick some steel up we needed. The windscreen was totally covered in mad, there was no water in the water bottle, I had to hang my head out of the driver’s door window to see. The door kept opening as I was going along and wouldn’t shut, then the roof rack fell off.
David
had said that as soon as we had got our work finished we could go. When we had
finished he had disappeared so I found the keys for the other Land Rover in the
office and took that, we met him when we were nearly at the camp. He wasn’t a
happy bunny. I think he had buggered off so we would have to wait for him,
ha-ha!
Memo – David Antony.
His nickname is Author Daley, the conman from the TV series ‘The Minder.’ And that’s what he is, a real conman. He just tries to con everyone. He just can’t be straight with a person; every time he wants something he makes out he is doing good for you or doing you a favour.
He has had the piss taken out of him about trips to Stanley. When the overtime ban was on and he wanted us to work on a Sunday, he tried by saying he would sort us out a trip to Stanley and he would get JLB to pay for it. We did go, but I ended up sorting it for my gang and we all had to pay ourselves. He does in fact come across alright at times, but he will then just spoil it by pulling a fast one. He is part of the African Mafia as they are called, and to be fair they are all a little bit like him.
The next one is that there is a meeting
at the end of this week and they are going to confirm that the overtime is
going to be paid a month in arears. I don’t believe that, not with everything
that has happened regarding the overtime, why would they pay it now when they have
won? I really shouldn’t listen to these rumours, as there has been so much shit
going around in the past, but there is not much else to do.
Rich
rang his wife yesterday and she thinks she is pregnant, but won’t know until
later this week. The new bar opened in the recreation hall last Thursday, we
had a few beers. Its lot better than the other animal house. You now get a
glass and are able to sit down.
Tuesday 14/08/1984. Day 252. Hours worked 10.
She is very upset about me coming back,
she was really having a go at me. She knows it will really cost us a lot of
money if I pack it in know. It is really hard as we are so far from home,
letters once a week, if we are lucky and a costly phone call once a month. I
really hate this place and miss the family so much, but I am trying to make
things better for us, buy the house etc. But I am the bad guy! That’s my rant!
Wednesday 15/08/1984. Day 253. Hours worked 10.
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Been a very mild day today, in fact quite warm at times. Well it looks like we will be paid our overtime after thirteen months now, so have we won in some ways, that’s what a lot of lads are saying, but I don’t really think so. We lost a lot of possible overtime with ban. The con-trick we may get offered is six months, with a 10% pay rise, which for me is about an extra £100 per month, not much, not great, but no more than I would expect from these tight bastards! I am not expecting the wife to agree to me coming back anyway.
Rich has got a bad cold, he says it’s
the flu, but I am not sure about that, he is dying in bed. David Antony can’t
get any gear for our site, as everyone tells him there are more important
sections that need the gear. He has been out all-day trying to get gear and
even nicking it. Mind you he got us a small cooker for our container which is
really good. I got hold of some food and we had a fry up this morning, which
was really good.
Thursday 16/08/1984. Day 254. Hours worked 10.
We had a very heavy frost over night and it was really cold this morning, but it warmed up later, but got really clod again later on. The wife sent me an anniversary present which is a Spurs shirt, which I am really pleased with, I will be posing up and down the corridor with it. We have been married 12 years this coming Sunday the 19th.
It looks like Bob and Sally are getting serious,
he’s a bloody fool. I don’t know what his marriage is like? But he just can’t
keep it in his trousers, surely, he could go without a woman for these months?
Mind you I wish the wife was out here, got to put her out of my mind, again.
Stewart
the foreman down the ship has sorted a lot of things for me, but it has not
been all one-way as I had to get a road-roller and a machine down to the Lay
Down Area as he looks after that also. That was to level and roll a new area
for storage and to set a crane up for him. Had a pint tonight and brought a
telephone card to ring the wife on Sunday.
Saturday 18/08/1984. Day 256. Hours worked 10.
Been
doing a lot more wheeling and dealing again and got hold of a fair bit of gear,
it’s not easy, just trying to get the job done. Rich has been off again today,
now he has the shits as well as the flu.
Sunday 19/08/1984. Day 257. Hours worked 8.
Had a bad dream on Friday night. A chap came up to me with some papers in his hand and said, “I have got your results, you have got three weeks to live.” Even while I was asleep I felt the shock. I then started coughing up blood, there was loads everywhere, then I brought a lung up, then a kidney and then my heart came out. I was laying on the floor with people looking over me, I then woke up sweating, with Rich snoring away on the buck above me. “Friday nights dream, Saturday told, sure to come true however old.” Yeah, I could do without that happening.
Worked today but was told by David Antony I could only book the hours we worked. Can you believe this day and age we are getting flat time for a Sunday? One of Erect-a-Com lads put a beer mug in one of his work-mates face last night, he had to have 26 stiches.
When I was on leave, Gary the plumber, who has gone
now, pissed on one of Erect-a-Com’s lads when he was drunk one Sunday evening. Also,
while I was away someone broke into the post office and nicked over £900 in
cash, stamps and other goods.
Our wedding anniversary, 12 years today, it
would have been nice to have been at home for it.
Memo – Opening night at the ‘New Gull & Penguin.’
I
then had to tow the concrete pump down to the Tank Farm for our concrete pour on the first half of the first fuel tank
base, the tow bar snapped! When I did get back to site I got a bollocking off
Ken the safety officer as two of my lads were on top of a portacabin while it
was be lifted in the air by a crane.
Saw
the bloke tonight who got the glass in his face, it was Peter the carpet
fitter. I passed him going into the canteen. I couldn’t see it that well, but
there was a lot of dry blood on it, it looked a real mess.
Tuesday – 21/08/1984. Day 259. Hours worked 14.
Concreted the first half of the first tank base today, a 100-metre concrete pour. It was raining to start with, then cloudy, but of course windy. We were driving home at about 7/30 this evening in the Land Rover with Dick the engineer driving. We had O’Leary driving behind us and he was trying to get past us. As a rule, Dick drives very slowly but we were all winding him up about beating Pat back to the camp. All went well until we got to the top of April Ridge when Pat tried to get past us. Well Dick just went mad and we were all over the road and us in the back of the Rover were being thrown all over the place. We then hit a big mud-puddle, the lights went out and he couldn’t see out of the windscreen, he then started driving with his head out of the side window and drove at the same speed, we won. Nearly got killed, but we won!
Wednesday – 22/08/1984. Day 260. Hours worked 10.
Rain on and off all day. David Antony and Dave Dier went off in the Land Rover, when they got back they were both covered from head to toe in mud. They had a flat tyre and it sounds as if it was in the middle of one of the big muddy areas on the haul road, we had a good laugh at them. Carl and I then went down the ship in it and half way there the wheel they had put on, came off, they hadn’t tightened the nuts up enough!
A Volvo tipper lorry today got a load of concrete to take to the power station. By time he got there the vibration of the lorry had turned it into a very big solid lump. When the driver tried to tip it, the lump in the back would not come out but the weight of the block turned the lorry over, and the cab with the driver in it swung around so the driver was upside down in his cab. Word got around on the radio and people from other sections turned up to strip the lorry of tyres, wheels, battery etc.Thursday – 23/08/1984. Day 261. Hours worked 10 ½.
Been a bright sunny day. I have been driving all day getting things for the site. It is amazing how tiring it is, I ended up not stopping for lunch.
The
bloke who hit the chap with the glass was in court in Stanley yesterday. Would
you believe he got away with a £150 fine and the sack, it’s a joke after what
damage he done to Peter the carpet fitters face.
Rick the tyre fitter was telling me tonight
that some tosser is going around slashing vehicle’s tyres. They even done the
fitters Hiab lorry. God, we have really got some lunatics here.
Kim
Benjamin came back from leave today, he came over to me and asked how I was. I
am being harsh, but does he really care, how we have been treated here?
Friday – 24/08/1984. Day 262. Hours worked 10.
Been quite a nice day, weather wise. Dave is going to get made up to ganger, I am pleased. To be fair I have been on to them for some time now and it will get him away from me, with all his moods. Now I want to know what is happening to me? I am a concrete ganger, a driver or what? I pulled David Antony about it, and what his plans were. He said he liked the way I was getting gear and sorting things out. I said I didn’t want my money dropped. He said, no. In fact, he would try to get me made up to a walking ganger, which would mean a pay rise. Yeah, we’ll see, I just don’t trust him at all.
Saturday 25/08/1984. Day 263. Hours worked 10.
Been a bright but really cold day, and the wind really got up this evening. Poured the second half of the tank base today, all went well and David let us go early, surprise, surprise. We were back at the camp by 4/30. David was driving and Dick was in the other Rover way behind us. As we were going up April Ridge Dick went flying past us, with all the lads laughing at us. David said, “right,” and we flew up the hill after them. We over took them on the muddy bend just before the camp. That is when Dicks bottle went and he slowed down. As we entered the camp in front of the car parking area a forklift was going forward with a container about to go on the back of a low loader (lorry) we stopped and but Dick flew past and went under the load in the air. They won, but the lads told us later that when they went under the load they were all screaming.
Sunday 26/08/1984. Day 264. Hours worked 8.
Been a nice day, a bit on the windy side, but okay. Went for a drink last night and got half pissed. Haven’t been feeling so good since finishing work this afternoon. Ended up drinking with Pat O’Leary and Dick the engineer in the bar last night. It was good crack.
Talking
of crack, I cracked the face on my watch last night when I had too much to
drink. Power Bill got found in a
telephone box the other night totally pissed out of his brains. It was Kim
Benjamin who found him on his first day back. It was in working hours, Bill got
a written warning.
Some really bad news, just been told that
a lad died today. He was working on the high-water tank tower at the camp. I
know very little about it at the moment, don’t even know his name.
Memo – Rommel.
Rommel, as the lads call him, after the German WWII Felid Marshall. That’s the nickname for a chap called Willie Williams. He is the ganger man for West Cove County Council as they are known, they are the haul road repair gang.
To put it as nicely as possible, Willie has totally lost the plot. He is convinced that the Argies are coming back. He has buried food in loads of places that he says he will live on when they return. He disappeared on a D6 (a bladed road machine) for four days. When he returned and was asked where he had been, he said he had been on reconnaissance for when the Argies return. He is another who has a dog that no one else can see. He calls it, Dodger, as he dodges in and out of the machines!
Monday 27/08/1984. Day 265. Hours worked 10 ½.
It’s Bank Holiday Monday today, but I have been working. Steve Smith the section manager had his office compound and site broke into and damaged. They got into a 360% digger and smashed his office up with it, and spray painted on the side. “Pity you were not inside, you wanker!!” They also smashed up parts of his section. I have always got on okay with him, but I don’t work for him, I know a lot of lads don’t like him.
David
Antony’s Land Rover broke down tonight, when we got to where they were,
standing by the sea, we picked them up and ended up with 12 in our Land Rover.
Joe and Tim in the next room to us must be deaf, or they will be. They have their radio blaring out every night, full blast. I have talked to them about it but it’s in one ear and out the other. Of course, the walls are paper-thin which does not help, but them not caring about others is not good.
Tuesday 28/08/1984. Day 266. Hours worked 11.
Been a really nice day, still a bit on the cold side but over all it was nice. More problems with David Antony’s Land Rover, ended up waiting over an hour for a fitter to come and get it going this morning.
The
Rover is totally covered in mud, I mean, thick. So, after it had been repaired I
drove down to the beach that is on the way back to the Tank Farm and washed it
in the sea, as Land Rovers are made from aluminium, saltwater will not rust them
as they would a metal car. It was really clean, when I got back to site that
David Antony walked past not realising it was his vehicle.
I
think I have got a cold coming. I was surprised that I didn’t go down with it
when Rich was ill. As a rule, in a place like this one person gets a thing and
it goes through everyone.
Wednesday 29/08/1984. Day 267. Hours worked 10 ½.
Been a very cold and windy day. The dust storms have started again, which I believe means summer is on the way here.
Have
heard that Eastham’s have lost their contract here which is up in November,
could just be a rumour, but I do know the contract is up then. Would the new
lot be any better, no doubt they would just take on the staff that are here,
they wouldn’t ship loads of new people out, would they? We will have to wait
and see.
Pat
O’Leary’s exhaust pipe came off the Land Rover coming back tonight, the fumes
were coming up through the floor, we had to drive with the back door held open
to stop us all choking to death. Earlier in the day the fan belt went on Pats
Rover as I was driving it, it took over an hour to get a lift to get it fixed.
Some of these vehicles have not been here a year from brand new and they are
totally wrecked, this is a combination of how they are abused by the drivers,
the condition of the roads, if at times a person could call them roads? And of
course, there is always a shortage of spare parts, which means others are
always trying to nick parts off other vehicles for their own.
Thursday 30/08/1984. Day 268. Hours worked 11.
What a day, it was absolutely pouring down all morning then it was blowing a gale all afternoon. This work I am doing is really getting too me. I was so pissed of I went to see Pat O’Leary and said I was thinking of packing it in and going home on the next ship. He talked me out of it, saying he didn’t want me to go and remind me of what I would lose, money wise after all this time. He said he would try and fix me up with something else.
I was not feeling good later on, in fact I thought my head was going to explode, so I went to see Dr Death. The nurse was not going to let me in, so I had a row with her. I got to see him, well I think the nicest why to describe him is that he is a total idiot! When I told him how I felt he said, “jack and go on the next ship.” I told him I didn’t want to do that as Pat had talked me out of it. He said, “okay, I will put you on Valium pills" and he said do you drink. I said only on a Saturday night as a rule. He said, “bring your Saturday forward this week, and go and get arseholed tonight.” No, I won’t be doing that, like I said, he’s an idiot. I think he is more pissed off with being here than me.
Friday 31/08/1984. Day 269. Hours worked 10 ½.
Been a bright day, but cold and windy. I felt a lot better today, Rich told some of the lads how I was feeling last night and they came around and we had a good evening, no I didn’t get arseholed. First thing this morning Pat called me into the office and we had a really good chat for a haft an hour or so. I told him how rotten I felt yesterday and how I felt I was coming apart. It was very good to chat to him, he came across very understanding. That was all I wanted from the doctor yesterday and it just didn’t happen.
There has been a shake up, manager wise. Alan
Smith has been moved to the airfield too push it on, I believe it is lagging
behind program. Steve Smith was on the radio the other day ordering concrete,
when a voice came on and said, “Smith, your life is on the next England!” Someone
really doesn’t like him, do they?
Hours worked for August = 246.
Overtime hours = 36.
September.
Saturday 01/09/1984. Day 270. Hours worked 10 ½.
I
am really cheesed off again, I know it is the job I am doing, I really just
hate it. There was a disco in the bar last night, and heard it ended in a punch
up. I know you are really surprised about that, ha-ha!
Sunday 02/09/1984. Day 271. Hours worked 8.
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Been a bright sunny day, but really windy and cold. The England is in tomorrow, so its “jacking weekend,” As usual there are a load of drunken jackers wandering around, a person has to avoid them as much as possible as some are just out to cause trouble.
Talking
about drunks, I had a good drink with the lads last night, it was Phil’s going
away do. He went on drinking with Rich and Mick until about four o’clock this
morning. Bill has just come around and asked me if the ‘topping’ (suicide) was
still on for me, I said “no” he opened the door and shouted, “okay lads, you
can take the rope back!”
I
asked Pat O’Leary for a transfer to another section today, the Stanley Road, he said he might let me go out on
loan. Had another flat on the Land Rover first thing this morning and had no
spare tyre, so we nicked one off another Rover, and got caught.
Memo – Huggie & Power Bill.
Since I came back from leave I had noticed that Huggie (Jerry, he’s a section foreman and pioneer) had been very quiet, today I found out why. He and Power Bill, who hates the pioneers had a drinking contest and Power Bill won hands down, which I have to say was a surprise. The out come was that Huggies Bar which is now at the camp but being used as a canteen not a bar was renamed as ’Power Bill’s.’
On the night it had been renamed, Jerry and his mates, drunk of course, went and smashed up the bar. Huggie got a written warning for it and a £400 fine and told anymore trouble and he would be down the road, or in this case, down the runway. The thing is the pioneers did think they were the “bee’s knees” because there were the first one’s out here, now they have come down to earth
Monday 03/09/1984. Day 272. Hours worked 10 ½
Been a very sunny but cold day. I have sorted my job out at long last. I had a good clear the air chat with David Antony and got my old job back. But Pat O’Leary told me later that he would not have let me go anyway. So, Dave Dier is now driving the Land Rover.
The
England came in today and as did the rest of the ‘B’ Team, PG and all. Three Eastham’s sister went sacked, one with “a belly
full of arms and legs,” (pregnant) and the other two have the “pox,” VD. The
one who is “in the club,” the father is one of the pioneers, the lads made him
a toy pram with a toy panda in it. His surname is, “Panda!”
Tuesday 04/09/1984. Day 273. Hours worked 11.
Been a very cold and windy day. Got three new lads in our gang today, well two new lads and PG, we can’t call him new, he’s one of the lads. With the new lads they are two extremes, one is very quiet and the other is so mouthy. The mouthy one is Gordon a Scotsman, all I have heard from him is, “haven’t you got this, haven’t you got that?” He used to be a foreman, “well guess what? You’re not one here Pal!!”
Dave
Dier was very lucky today. He was driving along the haul road with Mick the
truck mixer driver, taking him to the compound. One of the very large D8
machines was reversing out of one of the turning points. Dave tried to overtake
him, the D8 driver did not see them and the large tooth on an arm at the rear
of the machine crashed into the side of the Land Rover and took them up into
the air. It was a lorry coming down the road that saw it and got the machine to
stop. They were shook up but not hurt, but the Rover is written off. They were
lucky not to get killed.
Wednesday 05/09/1984. Day 274. Hours worked 10 ½.
Dr
Death had the new in take of women in the other day and had then all strip down
to their underwear so that he could check their skin? He has never done this
with any of the men, thank God.
Dean
the chippie down at our section has been made up to charge-hand, I think it has
gone to his head a bit, he is just not the same anymore, he used to be very
easy going, but not anymore.
All the power, lights and everything went out on the camp for an hour or so last night. No hot water by time I get in of a night, I can’t remember the last time I had a hot shower.
Thursday 06/09/1984. Day 275. Hours worked 11.
Been a nice day, not bad for the time of year here at all. There was a lovely sunset over West Cove tonight, the whole sky was alight. Talking about being alight, coming back after work this evening, many of the fields beside the haul road were burning. The shepherds do it this time of year for the new peat to come through for their sheep.
I got a birthday card from my sister
Jean tonight, on the back it said, “Do not open until the 12th
Tommy!” The family call me Tommy. The postman said, “now Tommy, take note, do
not open it until next week!” I also got a present from her, but Rich has taken
it off me, in case I open it.
Friday 07/09/1984. Day 276. Hours worked 10 ½.
It has been a really nice day, sunshine and warm at times. Getting in at six in the evening is a real waste of time regarding getting any hot water, they just can’t keep up with the demand. Last Saturday afternoon Benjamin and Bloomfield (top man over from the UK) turned up at about 5/15. Some of the lads had already gone, we were still there. Bloomfield said to David, “has the digger broke down, it’s not moving?” As quick as a flash David replied. “No, some of the lads like to get away early on a Saturday so they don’t have a tea break in the afternoon and go fifteen minutes early.” He is some conman that bloke.
Just
before Erect-a-Com finished here the other week, on a Sunday morning, some of
their lads carried a bunk bed into the canteen with one of the lads in it still
asleep, pissed from the night before. You should have seen his face when
everyone in the canteen shouted, “wake up, you pisshead.” Saw some photos of
Kim from Eastham’s dressed as a woman at a party dancing with all the lads.
Saturday 08/09/1984. Day 277. Hours worked 10 ½.
Cor, what a day for the weather, the wind was as strong as I have known it here. Not only was it hard to stand up at times, also the peat dust was flying around in massive clouds, blinding everyone. Then it started raining, and I mean really driving rain, it is still pouring down now.
Our new bloke Gordon who continually tells you what he has done and where he has been and how he was a concrete foreman has totally done my head in the few days I have had him, so I had him moved to the chippy’s gang today. The other chap, Ray from Plymouth seems okay. Dean and Brian the chippy’s who said they would never work Sunday’s because of the overtime, are working tomorrow.
Had a row with David Antony about the new
jackets they have got in, they are really good quality, but the lads are not
getting them, staff and drivers only, even Dave Dier got one and he hardly gets
out of the Land Rover these days. Those of us who are out in the weather all
day don’t seem to be getting them.
We
have had a load of “Big knobs” from the UK driving around today. They were
meant to have flown in on the islander plane from Stanley but it would not fly
because of the wind. I was told they had to come over here in Range Rovers and
got thrown all over the place, ha-ha!
Memo – Inquest.
The inquest for the chap who fell from the water tower was held in Stanley last week and the outcome was on the radio that night. It is hard to make out what happened. The foreman and other lads said they had been told to stop working up there as it was raining and very windy. They had a cup of tea then went to the workshop, it was then they said the chap, Kevin, was not with them. So, some of them went to look for him and found him laying at the base of the water tower. They said he had no reason to go back up and that they had all been told not to. The verdict was “death by misadventure?”
Monday 10/09/1984. Day 279. Hours worked 10 ½.
Been a nice sunny bright day, but still cold. A new bloke on the last England was drunk and fell and hit his head on one of the hard-fitted tables. He was very ill and he was airlifted the next day by helicopter, he died one day last week, that’s four we have lost now.
Jon
one of the medics went air bridge today as it seems that he cracked up over the
weekend, at least it seems they have learnt their lesson after last time and
did not put him on the ship. The chap
who drove the '966' machine (digger) into Steve Smith office went sacked last week.
They
reckon that we are all going to have our suitcases looked into before we go on
the ship as supposedly lads are taking wet gear, boots, coats, etc home to flog.
Someone must be flogging them from the stores, as it is really hard work
to get replacement gear.
Tuesday 11/09/1984. Day 280. Hours worked 11.
A very cold and windy day. JLB have stopped selling cans of beer over the counter so that there are no more carry-outs, JLB strike again!!!
Loads of shower heads have been going missing from
the showers, the two blocks of eight near us have only got three shower heads
between them now. The lads reckon that the women have taken them, they put a
piece of hose pipe on them and keep them in their rooms to wash their hair.
It’s one thing having no hot water, now even if we had any, there’s nothing to
shower with. We will probably end up hosing each other down in the yard!
Wednesday 12/09/1984. Day 281. Hours worked 10 ½.
My birthday today, 32 years old, where’s those years gone? My birthday and Dave’s wife had a request on the radio for him last night, she could have chosen another day.
Thursday 13/09/1984. Day 282. Hours worked 11 ½.
The lads took me out for a beer for my
birthday, I had more than I should have, but people were buying me them and
they just kept arriving!! Everyone sang Happy Birthday near the end. Rich and I
have sponsored Sally who has gone on a diet for Multiple Sclerosis.
Friday 14/09/1984. Day 283. Hours
worked 11.
Been a very cold and windy day, but it was also very bright but a lot of peat dust flying around again. Got a load of birthday cards today and four letters from the wife which was really good. I hate it when I don’t hear anything from home. There have been a few stories here now, of wives doing a runner, while I am happy that wouldn’t happen I think the fact we are so isolated and the fact that contact from home is hit and miss because of how we get mail, it just makes a person imagination run wild at time. You don’t know how much you miss a person at times until you have this sort of thing happen.
Our engineer Dick has been made up to
assistant section manger, it has really upset David Antony as he thought he was
going to get it. They have brought another engineer into replace Dick, his name
is Steve. I have got to say he comes across very strange, the lads reckon he is
on the wacky backie.
Saturday 15/09/1984. Day 284. Hours worked 10 ½.
Been a really rotten day, blowing a gale and driving rain. We got away early as we were soaked to the skin. But had yet another row with David as he said I could only book the hours we had worked. I mean we worked to get the job done he wanted, we were not just wet, we were drenched, he can be a real arsehole at times, anyway he agreed to pay us the day in the end when I said, we would not work in the rain again!
They have had a big clean up at the camp
today, it was looking a real mess, there is more big bosses coming next week. A
flag pole has been put up outside the post office which fly’s the Union flag
each day. It looks like the fort out of the film Zulu.
Sunday 16/09/1984. Day 285. Day off.
Had the day off today, the first since I have been back, worked every day for the past five weeks, and it made a nice change. Had a walk around the recreation hall after breakfast and looked in the small bar. What a mess, it looked like a war zone. Rich, Keith and I helped the woman clean up as the two men who were meant to help her refused and left her one her own. It took a while but we couldn’t leave that poor woman on her own. The barman came in as we were finishing and he gave us a pint each.
Dave Dier is in one of his moods again and seems to be avoiding me and Rich. He’s a funny bugger. I am thinking of contacting a solicitor when we get home, as we will still have nine days of our contracts to run. JLB want those days to be taken out of any leave days we have over.
Just been winding Dusty next door up as
Tottenham beat his team QPR. I am doing this because he really gave me some
stick when they beat Spurs last season. 120 days to go until we sail, not that
I am counting that is.
Memo – Eastham’s.
I am not sure where to start with them? To say I think they are rubbish is an understatement. Nine times out of ten the rooms hardly get touched. The toilets and shower blocks are rotten most of the time, and there is never any toilet paper.
They
haven’t got any hoovers these days, well not for our blocks anyway, the
cleaners in the management block use hoovers, the same as they always have hot
water over there. When they clean our corridors, they use hard brushes and have
to wear face masks as the there is so much dust.
The
food we get in packets are always out of date, as is the Long-Life milk,
sometimes three or four months. One cleaner jacked because he came out here as
a barber and was put on cleaning toilets. He said he would be cleaning toilets
and then put in the canteen to help prepare food in the same overalls, he asked
for more but they said they didn’t have any and he would have to do it in the
ones he had.
While they are only sub-contractors it is like
they run the job in some ways. Of course, they control all the important
things, like food, bars, recreation, phones, doctors/medics, mail, shops, you
name it. Anything good that comes in they have first dibs on it and we get
what’s left over. And they just have enough workers here, it has been like that
from the start, that’s the main reason the food is total rubbish, and
everything is boiled to death.
Most
of this is down to that tosser of a charge-hand Dean, he has changed so much
since he has been made up. He really thinks they are something special, he is
always sucking up to management. We were concreting a wall today and he came
over and took the vibrator off me, I had to walk away as I was about to
explode.
Photo of a concrete vibrator above.
Tuesday 18/09/1984. Day 287. Hours worked 11 ½.
Yet again it has been an odd kind of day, sunny, windy and showery. Well, we have had our first mugging here, I suppose it was only a matter of time before it happened with some of the people they are bringing out. It was a 60-year-old chap, he was coming back from the bar on Sunday night. He was hit over the head from behind with a brick, and had £20 took off him, it put him in hospital
One of our sub-contractors, McKay’s who are building under ground storage tanks sacked all their men yesterday because they stopped work. That was because one of their lads had an accident inside one of the tanks and was badly injured. It took fifty minutes for the ambulance to get there, which was not far from the medical centre. They had no stretcher with them, then the medic refused to go inside the tank, so the lads had to carry him out. Sounds about right for this place. They have now reinstated them. Not sure what they were thinking of when they sacked everyone?
Hasn’t been a bad day weather wise, the odd shower but over all it was okay. David Antony came to me about 4/00 this evening and said that a single room had come up for me and other gangers in the staff block. He said think about it and let them know in the office by 7/30 this evening. I talked to Rich and we agreed that if he was left with a single room we would do it, if not I would stay with him. We went to the office and not only would Rich have someone else move in with him tomorrow there was a very good chance I would be in with another person. They said the idea was to get all the gangers and charge-hands in the staff block, it is a kind of segregation.
Thursday 20/09/1984. Day 289. Hours worked 12.
The lads working on the Stanley Road are
getting further and further away each day. At the moment they are travelling
over an hour each way and it will only get worst. They have asked for
travelling time as we have to do this in "their time," of course they were told, “no.”
So today they refused to get off the bus until it was sorted. It got sorted
alright, Benjamin drove out there and told them if they did not start work they
were all sacked. JLB never let us down!!
Friday 21/09/1984. Day 290. Hours
worked 11.
We
won’t be getting a single room until the New Year (it says in our con-trick
that we would have one when the camp was built) I said I will be on my way home
then. He said, “I meant when you come back.” I said, “don’t hold your breath.”
Saturday 22/09/1984. Day 291. Hours worked 12 ½.
Been a fine day, at times warm and nice, you won’t believe this but very little wind! We had our bed sheets and towels changed today and only got one big towel back. That was the first time in 23 days, not that I am counting of course.
David
Antony is getting very greedy regarding getting work done. He was told he could
only get one lorry of concrete today and that was just after lunch, he called
it in and we were not ready for it, the lorry had to wait an hour and a half
till the slab was ready, the driver was going mad. Then we ended up late
finishing it.
After
all the rows with overtime and not working Sunday’s, then getting us to work them,
Dick in his new role has stopped them to save money. The chippies are still
getting their Sundays of course.
They are pushing so much now, we are
digging bases in the morning, then blinding them (blinding is a covering of
weak concrete for steal to sit on) then fix the steel reinforced cages, then
pour the concrete in the afternoon/evening. They are just trying to make names
for their selves.
Sunday 23/09/1984. Day 292. Day off.
I laid in bed for until nearly 10/00 this
morning, that was mainly because I was totally pissed last night. Bill was
nearly fighting with Steve, Hacks brother and Innis, this is because when they
have too much to drink and Bob and Sally are there they make remarks about
Sally, sexually wise. Bob and Sally don’t say anything but last night Bill
really got upset about it and fired into them, fair play to Bill, he shut them up.
And to be fair he is on the big side.
Stoney
is being made up to ganger tomorrow, mainly because of his accident, he got
blown up (see memo below) he asked Pete and Dusty would they still talk to him
now he would be in the staff block and eating in the staff canteen. Peter said,
“your being made up to a poxy ganger, not the managing fucking director.”
Jim
Davidson the comedian is doing a one-off show here next week, there is a draw
for tickets, Rich and I are in for it. Not expecting to get any.
Memo – Drainage blast.
This happened on Tuesday the 11th September. As they have come across so much deep rock on the airfield where the drainage is going and other services at each side of the runway and the full length and the machine will hardly touch it, they have started blasting. There is now a blast almost every day. On this day the blast had finished and the “all clear” horn had sounded, it is mainly at break times, so as not to stop work, JLB thinks of everything.
The lads went back to work, there was five of
them there. They have a digger with breaker on it which breaks up the large
lumps of rock. There’s then another digger behind him who digs out the rock and
loads the lorries. This time there was an unexploded piece of jelly (gelignite)
in the trench, when the breaker hit it there was a large explosion. Both
diggers and the lorry had their windows smashed and the five men doing the
drainage were all injured. One put his hand up to his face and a piece of rock
went through his hand and into his cheek. He and another were flown to hospital
in Stanley.
There
was another blast where too much jelly was used and a rock the size of a
football flew in the air and went through a containers roof and landed on the
table where the lads were eating lunch. Thank God no one was injured.
Monday 24/09/1984. Day 293. Hours worked 11 ½.
Wasn’t a bad day, windy, but not bad. 13 bags of mail came in today, I got 11 letters, it’s great when that happens, its like Christmas, as long as they are good letters of course. I saw Tom Bell one of the quarrymen in the showers tonight, he was totally pissed at 7/30. He came back on our ship, I don’t think he has been sober since he got back, along with a few others. Dr Death has him and a few others on injections to stop them drinking. I don’t think it is working somehow.
Heard
that someone saw a ghost of an old shepherd in one of the showers. Finished
late again, no hot water, still I suppose cold showers are good for a person
when they do not have their wives around!!
Another
lad was glassed in the bar last week, he had to have 20 stiches in his face, it
puts us all at risk as the chap who did it only got £150 fine.
Been a really cold and windy day, well not to put too fine a point on it, fucking freezing. Don’t know Eastham’s/JLB are up to? But instead of out of date fruit cake and cheese crackers that are off in the doggie bags, we have now started getting Mars and Star bars and Club biscuits, but still almost only corned beef in al the rolls.
Got
a birthday card off Mum tonight, it took 5 ½ weeks to get here, she only puts a
16p stamp on everything she sends me and it takes for ever. Still she does send
me things, so that’s good.
We
were pouring (concreting) a wall this afternoon and the shutter went a bit
(moved) and of course we got the blame off Dean and David, nothing to do with
the fact that the bolts holding the shutters together were not done up
correctly? David takes their side over everything.
Wednesday 26/09/1984. Day 295. Hours worked 11 ½.
Been a really nice day for the weather, no wind and really hot, mind you it is totally pissing down now. I got drawn out for the Jim Davidson show tomorrow night, so that’s good.
More jelly has been found after a blast at the airfield. Tom Smith the safety officer wanted to stop the job, but
Benjamin would not let him. They now have a ‘jelly in the trench watcher.’
After a blast he stands by the breaker looking out for jelly. It is JLB’s
answer to getting any dangerous job done, he is getting paid "double time" while
he is doing it, so are the lads working in the trench. The money is good, but I
dread to think what would happen to them if they hit any jelly.
A bloke went mad with a knife the other
week, he tried to stab lads in their container at work, they all jumped on him,
no one was hurt. They got him in a straight jacket and locked him up, the army
have now taken him away, sounds like the lad totally lost it.
Thursday 27/09/1984. Day 296.
Hours worked 10.
Been a nice day again, not as hot as yesterday. The rain from yesterday lasted until this morning but it then cleared up.
Fell
out with that tosser Dean again today That's because we had started concreting with
the small dumpers and the access road we were using, for some reason, he pilled a load of
shutters in the way. He said his work was more important. I don’t think he has
ever supervised before, the job has gone right to his head, some of his lads
are fed up with him also.
The
lads and I got away early tonight as we are going to the show. Rich never got a
ticket and is pissed off about that about, but fair play he has just come in
with four letters for me. He is a really good friend, and I have only known him a short amount of time.
Friday 28/09/1984. Day 297. Hours worked 11.
Yet again it has been a nice warm day. Went to the Jim Davidson show last night, it was really good. It was very rude, but we knew it would be like that. He is touring the island doing shows for the army and being filmed which will be shown on the TV at home at Christmas. He told us that at the start, then pointed to the chap doing the filming and said, “you won’t get one fucking minute of this one mate!”
He had a five-piece band, a lady singer
and four dancing girls. The show lasted two-hours, he was on nearly all the
time, sometime on his own and other times with the rest. Any time he was not on
and the others were he would poke his head around the curtain and pulled faces at
them. It was a very good night.
Saturday 29/09/1984. Day 298. Hours worked 11.
Another nice day, very warm at times. PG told me in the week that last Saturday when I was drunk that he stopped me having a fight. When we came out of Bill’s room there were four blokes in the corridor pissing up the wall. I started to have ago at them. PG who drinks very little pulled me away. Good old PG, what a load of tosser’s we have here.
The airfield got the first of the hot
meals in trays at lunch time today. It will be a while until we get ours, as
they can only do one section a day and as there are eight sections we won’t get
one a week.
Sunday 30/09/1984. Day 299. Hours worked 10.
Been another nice day, I wonder how long it will last? Went out for the usual Saturday night drink last night and got half drunk. Dick our assistant manager ended up back in our room and was here until about 2/00 this morning. As soon as he went I got in bed and the next thing I knew PG was shaking my arm saying, “Tom, Tom you’re late for work, wake up.
We
have been getting extra Mars Bars in our doggie bags this week, the cups are
all clean in the canteen, the rooms are now being cleaned with hoovers, and all
the corridor walls have been washed down, and the toilets and showers have all
been cleaned. Eastham’s contract is up for renewal and word on the runway is
that JLB have people coming over from the UK to do some inspections.
Memo – Medevacs from the September ship.
Word is that blokes who came out of the September ship are going for medevacs. One chap woke Dr Death at 2/00am on a Sunday morning, banging on his door. He said, “doctor I think I am a chicken.” The doctor asked, “why’s that?” He said, “it’s all these fucking eggs I keep laying.” The doc said, “hold on, lets start with your name, the reply was “Ken.” The doctor asked “Ken what?” The reply was “Kentucky.” The doc asked, “are you having me on? “No,” came the reply “and to prove it, you can have the eggs half price!” He goes on Thursday.
Another new chap has been running around
waving a big ‘Bowie’ knife shouting at people. He’s gone in a straight jacket!
Hours worked for September = 299-
½.
Overtime hours = 40- ½.
October.
Monday 01/10/1984. Day 300. Hours worked 11.
A new month and 300 days done, must be some kind of milestone? Another nice day, a bit on the windy side, but it is blowing from the north which is always warmer, also nice and bright.
Eastham’s are giving away boxes of crisps, 48
in a box, as they are all out of date, that has never worried them in the past.
I went and got a box for Rich and I last night. The change in the place in the
last week is unreal, it’s a 100% better now they have this inspection coming
up. I hope they get kicked out as they have not given a toss about us for the
past ten months.
The
small bar has been closed to get cleaned. There was a birthday in there on
Saturday night and as a lot of them seem to do here for some totally unknown
reason they end up throwing the birthday cake all over the person those birthdays it is.
Totally mad!
Got Dave Dier off my time sheet today as he
told David Antony that I am not booking the correct hours he is working. That’s
a load of rubbish, but I must say I am pleased.
Tuesday 02/10/1984. Day 301. Hours worked 13.
Nice again today but not so warm but nice and bright, the sun was very strong. The wind does seem to be getting stronger each day at the moment. Some bastards nicked mine, Rich and Alan’s, along the corridor pioneer coats out of our lockers in the drying room last night, they bent the doors open. They are not giving them out anymore, well they haven’t for a long time, people are trying to look as if they have been here a long time for some unknown reason.
David went early tonight without telling
anyone he was going. Dick went absolutely mad, he called him nearly every
swearing name you could think of. I don’t suppose David has got used to the
fact that Dick is now his boss. I think it’s really funny, I will be looking
out for the fireworks in the morning. David is taking the piss as Pat O’Leary
has now gone on leave.
Wednesday 03/10/1984. Day 302. Hours worked 11.
Yet another bright day, but again the wind was strong and cold and the dust was really flying around. We had our first hot meal on our section today, in the airplane trays, it was hot and made a change, can’t really say a lot more than that.
Ray
Brock, the new lad in our gang had his second day of since he has been here
(less than a month) yesterday. I believe it was because of a hangover, but he
did get a sick note. David asked him to try and not be ill again, ha-ha!
The church is nearly competed and so are most
of the covers over the outside walkways at the camp. Haven’t had our sheets or
towels changed for nearly two weeks now.
My lips are cracking and splitting again
with the wind. It is really painful this time, oh, and when I have a hot drink,
bloody hell does that hurt. I have been really aching in my lower back, but
won’t go back to Dr Death after last time.
Thursday 04/10/1984. Day 303. Hours worked 11.
Well what a day for weather. It has been really windy all day, rain and fair bit of snow. And of course, where we are right down by the sea we get it driving in from there. And word on the runway, or in this case, word off the top deck of the ship, is that the forecast is for it to get a lot worst, can’t wait!
PG
and I were concreting a pipe plinth which the fuel pipes will sit on today, out
of the small front-loading dumper. We were shovelling the concrete out of the
bucket into the shutter, I was on the ground in front of it and PG was in the bucket.
David Antony came over and started talking to me, with the noise of the dumper
I could not hear him so I moved out of the way to hear what he had said. Just
as I did that PG had leant over the bucket with the shovel to raise the bucket,
but hit the gear stick instead. The dumper jumped forward to where I had been
and crashed into the shutter with much force. It hurts me to say, but David
properly saved my life, if not a very bad injury!
Friday 05/10/1984. Day 304. Hours
worked 11 ½.
Well what a day, I will start
with the weather. We have had snow, high winds, blizzard like conditions at
times and hail stones cutting into your face.
The
last thing I wanted to happen to me here, happened today, and that was I had a
fight. It was with Butch the batcher ganger who I had always got on well with.
It was in the afternoon. We had finished one concrete pour and the chippies and
the rest of the lads had a ‘job and finish’ and had gone. David insisted we did
the other pour. We had started and we were out in the snow and we were getting
no concrete, so I went to see why? When I got there they were all having tea
in their cabin. I sent my lads two at a time to get a drink and a warm, they
all stopped at once.
Butch and I had a row, he pushed me over and jumped on me, I turned him over on the ground, and well, I beat him. David found
out and had us both in the office and gave us a bollocking and said we could be
sacked. He made us shake hands and said he would not report us. That’s because
its his pushing us that tipped us over the top. We should never have started
the last pour in those conditions. I don’t know if anything will come of it. I
would be sick if I got the sack after ten months in this shithole. I did tell
David he could move me to another section.
Saturday 06/10/1984. Day 305. Hours worked 11.
He
is turning all the lads against each other because of the way he is pushing
everyone and the pressure he is putting us under. The steel fixers all went and
saw Dick about him. Dick asked me what was going on, so I told him. I don’t
think Dick likes him much, he told me that David singed Dicks name to get
himself a new jacket and jumper.
Sunday 07/10/1984. Day 306. Hours worked 8.
Been not a bad day, well let’s say not too bad. I got a message from David Antony last night that I had to go to the RAF camp today to screed a plant room floor. I must admit I really didn’t fancy it at all, and with it being a Sunday and all. How wrong could I have been?
I got there just before 8/00, the screed was there, it had been delivered
pre-mixed. I had two labourers to wheelbarrow it in for me, the section manager
turned up about 11/30 as I was finishing and said, “that looks great, you can
go now, book yourself in for the day, I will see you in the morning." God it
doesn’t take much to treat a person nicely. Not like that tosser Antony.
Heard
this evening that the bus was on the way to the Tank Farm at 3/00 and David got wind and got on the radio and told the
driver to go away and come back at 3/50. He just won’t give an inch.
Word is getting around about me thumping
Butch, I would be gutted to get the sack with such a short time to go. I know I
have found it hard since I have been back, I put it down mostly to the work
issues I have had, but talking to lads last night in the bar who came out at
the same time as me, there are a lot who are struggling.
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The lads who went home in August had their leave cut to sixteen days and came back on the Uganda, as the England was in Cape Town having work done on it. The Uganda goes into Stanley and is used to carry troops, it seems our lads were treated rotten.
They were all put way down below deck and were only allowed in one small bar. There were many areas of the ship they could not go to and had to be below in their rooms by 11/00 at night. They were 20 to a room, the bunk beds were three high, there were unlagged water pipes on the walls that made a noise every time they were used. They had to make their own beds, and do their own cleaning.
They were the last to be fed at meal times,
all the troops had plates, they had tin trays, someone said "it was like you would get
in prison." Their food was nearly always on the cold side. They asked to
have a meeting with the major in charge and he let them use a smoking room for
a few hours a day. God, it would be one thing having your leave cut, then have
to put up with that crap!
Monday 08/10/1984. Day 307. Hours worked 11 ½.
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Been a nice day for the weather. Been at the RAF camp again, didn’t do any screeding today but should do tomorrow. Alan Booth the general foreman down there is a real worry guts, about getting the work done, but I think his alright. There is no chasing you out of the canteen at break times, not that I ever take the piss, and Alan lets you go 10 or 15 minutes early, so long as you don’t get seen. I am there again tomorrow.
They are pouring a tank base down at the Tank Farm tomorrow. It seems David is going to see how Dave handles it, I think if it goes well that will be it, I will not be going back there. David will have got what he wanted, to get rid of me while Pat O’Leary was away, as he stopped me moving when I asked him. I heard that a chap got stabbed in the back outside the bar last night.
Tuesday 09/10/1984. Day 308. Hours worked 11 ½.
Been a really nice, sun all day. I said yesterday it had been a nice day, not sure how I forgot it pissed down all morning? Two days I have been at the RAF camp now and left both days fifteen minutes early, and when I got to the camp I walked into the section manager Arthur Wright. He said “hello” both times, but I bet he has taken note.
97 days to go after today until we get on the ship. I have to say I think it is bad news when a person is counting the days, I have always tried not to do that, but I do think it has got to me here now.
Wednesday 10/10/1984. Day 309. Hours worked 11 ½.
Feed Me!!!
Been windy but bright sunny day.
Put the screed skirting around the floors that I had screeded today, but had a
problem with it and had to rip it off, the screed was of very poor quality
today. What a waste of time.
Wayne
Gammon has jacked today. He says he can’t handle it anymore, the lads said he
nearly killed someone with a JCB last week. He says that he is getting shorter
tempered all the time, and is going to go before he does some real damage. It
is such a shame as he came out with us and is now entering the last three months.
I really like Wayne. The last bit is seeming to be the hardest for a lot of us.
Rich got a letter from his wife saying that
part of their roof has caved in, he is really pissed off. The cleaner was
telling us that one of the blokes has got a mouse cage with two cardboard mouse
cut-outs, and today left a note for the cleaners to feed them? My God, what is
this place doing to everyone.
Thursday 11/10/1984. Day 310. Hours worked 11 ½.
Hasn’t been a bad day for the weather, on the windy side, but nice and sunny. Got the skirting done today, this time it stayed on, not like the last time. They told Jack (the old chap I am working with) and I to forget the mix we have been told to use and the drawings and to do it our way. So that is what we have done and to be fair it looks okay.
I have been told I will be going back to the Tank Farm on Saturday. I am looking forward to that as David and Dave must be thinking I will not be going back there and Dave will get my job and be David’s “yes-man.” They don’t know me very well. I think they had this planed before we went on leave and Pat O’Leary messed their plans up by insisting I was there.
Friday 12.10/1984. Day 311. Hours worked 14.
Was a nice bright sunny day, but the wind was strong and very cold. It is pouring down now. Got finished at the RAF camp tonight night. I am pleased because a lot of the screed was rubbish at times and we ended up mixing it ourselves, also they did not have the correct tools for the work.
Because of the dock strike in the UK and the England in dry dock in Cape Town, it now means we have had no new supplies here for nearly two months now. We are now running out of lots of things, milk, tomato sauce, fruit, beer, bacon we haven’t had any for a while now. I heard today they are now running out of food. They brought some milk over from Stanley and when they opened it they found it was off. I am back to the Tank Farm tomorrow for whatever that might bring?
Saturday 13/10/1984. Day 312. Hours worked 12.
Ever been stitched up? Well have I been well and truly been done today, thanks to David Antony and Dave Dier. I turned up on the section without them knowing I was coming. Let’s say that put the cat among the pigeons. Well to cut a very long story short David asked me to wait in our container. I sat in there for a while till Steve Smith turned up.
He said that I was being transferred and should have been told before. When I asked why, he said David had been told by Dave that the lads did not want to work for me anymore and they were happier with him, and he is meant to be a mate, fucking tosser! David and Dick didn’t have the balls to tell me their selves. On top of that its been a bloody cold day.
Sunday 14/10/1984. Day 313. Day off.
A very cold day, been snowing on and off all day, but most of it has gone now. Went for a drink last night, hadn’t been there long when Dave Dier turned up. I left and went to the other bar and low and behold they all followed me. I wouldn’t talk to him as I don’t think a person could get lower than what he did? If I am truthful with myself, I will say deep down I knew what he was capable of, but I am still totally shocked. Still when a person knows very little I suppose that's how they get on, creeping and crawling and licking arse. It’s never been my way and never will be. Time will tell if it works out for him or not. I will get told on Monday where I am being moved to.
Memo – Airfield blasts.
They are blasting at the airfield every day now. This is on each side of the runway where the rock is so thick where the drainage and services are to be laid. Management believe blasting is the only answer. Five men have already been injured and I hear they are finding a lot of jelly in the trenches after the blasts. The ‘jelly watcher’ and any men working in a trench that might have jelly in it are on double time, all tax free, but a person could get blown to bits into the bargain.
A blasting foreman has just been sacked
because one of the blasts had too much jelly in it and did £30,000 worth of
damage to one side of the hanger, all the cladding has to be replaced. Yet no
one got in any trouble when five men nearly got killed. It says it all about
JLB.
Monday – 15/10/1984. Day 314.
Hours worked 11.
Nice day for the weather, windy but not too cold. I have been transferred to the airfield as of tomorrow, concreting manholes with Jerry (Huggie) O’Brian, lets hope it works out alright for me this time, for the last few months here. David Antony said to me today.
“There was another stabbing last night.”
I said “there has been a lot of late.”
He said, “I have only heard of two.”
I said, “no there has been a lot more than that,
was it in the back?”
He said “no in the belly.”
I said, “I am surprised, most people seem
to get stabbed in the back here.” He thought about it, then said.
“Right, I see what you’re getting at.”
I
said “I wondered when the penny would drop?” I smiled and walked away. Still he
has got rid of me and that’s what he wanted.
Tuesday – 16/10/1984. Day 315. Hours worked 12.
Pissed down nearly all day, got soaked to the skin. Started up at the airfield today. I don’t want too get carried away but I think it might be okay. I will be building manholes and the drainage up to them and the benching inside the manhole. I haven’t done a lot of drainage before but I have done a lot of duct laying and benching. I will be doing a bit over the next week and if all goes well I will be getting a gang when the ship comes in next week.
After what has happened to me of late, I feel a
lot better at the moment. It was good to be getting my head around a new job,
seeing new faces and meeting new people. I am now pleased to get away from
those tosser’s, but I am still totally pissed off with them both.
Wednesday – 17/10/1984. Day 316. Hours worked 13.
Oh, what a day for the weather. It has been blowing a gale all day, at times it was hard to stand up. It is now pouring down, well it has been for almost two days none stop.
I have been working here at the camp, with a Cable
& Wireless engineer, assisting
him repairing a very large telephone cable which was broken in the night by a
digger on night shifts. What a job that is in the pouring rain. So that he
could work I set up lights and built a shelter, the cable is the site
communication to the outside world, so it is very important.
We finished about 8/00 this evening, the
engineer asked me if I wanted to carry on during the night, he said we would be
finished about 5/00 am tomorrow morning. I said, “I think we would die if we
carried on,” he agreed. We have half of it complete and some of the phones in
the office are now back on.
Thursday – 18/10/1984. Day 317. Hours worked 12.
It hasn’t been too bad a day, in fact on the warm side at times, a lot better than of late, regarding all the rain we had. Alan Booth came to see me this morning and said he had heard what David had done to me and I was stitched up, the other managers are talking about it. He asked me if I wanted to go and work with them at the RAF camp. It was nice to feel wanted after all that had happened, but I said I would stay with Jerry for the time being. We completed repairing the cable mid-afternoon, then had to get the casing on and pour the resin in to protect it. We now have contact with the outside world again.
One
of the stabbers was in court yesterday and got a £250 fine and goes on the ship
at the weekend. The England will dock on Saturday, but word on the runway is
that it will sit just outside the cove from 12/00 tomorrow. This is meant to be
so lads will see it and there could be more ‘jackers’ and that will free up
more beds. I think that’s a load of rubbish. But I have to say the way JLB
operate I wouldn’t put anything past them.
Phil Goodall who was in my gang before, will be on the ship. He had asked me to get him in my gang before he went, which I had him lined up for, so he will most properly end up at the Tank Farm working for Dave. He won’t like that, as he told me before that he would not want to work for him.
Friday – 19/10/1984. Day 318. Hours worked 12.
Had heavy rain to start with, but it did cheer up later in the morning and ended up as not a bad day. I have been banking (guiding and looking out for cables etc) a 225 digger today. I hate it, it is as boring as hell and is doing my head in. But I suppose that what you have to put up with when you have been a naughty Boy!!
Pat the crane driver in the room next to us
has just been in and said he has been to welfare and has got compassionate
leave and goes tomorrow. He said his wife sent a letter and said if he did not
come home now she would leave him. Then he said, “idiots didn’t even look at my
file to see I am not married!” He then said he knows a doctor he can pay so he
can get a medevac on health grounds.
Saturday – 20/10/1984. Day 319. Hours worked 12.
Started off as a nice day, but got very windy and cloudy later on. My foot has been very sore all day, really painful. I went to the doc's and I was told to put my foot up and come back and see the doc later. Saw him and he says that it is gout and has given me some tablets and has singed me off work until Wednesday, he wanted me to have the whole week off, but I couldn’t do that, it would drive me mad. We agreed I would go back to work on Thursday if the swelling had gone down, I wouldn’t be able to get my boot on at the moment.
The England came in today and a lot of the lads are back. I had a good chat
with Phil, he seemed to have a good leave. Hip, hip hooray, we got fruit in the
doggie bags today, it came off the ship, and there are cigarettes in the shop
tonight, things are looking up.
Sunday – 21/10/1984. Day 320. Day off.
It’s a very cold and windy day, not very nice at all. Some idiot climbed up a pipe on the wall in the bar on Friday night when he was drunk, to take photos. The pipe snapped and he fell to the floor and has broken his neck in two places. He was flown by helicopter to Stanley yesterday.
The
foot is still playing up and I have got to say I don’t feel too good in myself
at the moment. I went for a drink with Phil last night who was telling us about
his leave. He lives just outside Manchester City centre, he is not married or
anything. He seems to have got about a fair bit, seeing friends. We were
talking to other lads who had just got back, they were all pissed. It’s funny
how that’s the first thing everyone does as soon as they get back here!
Memo – Briefings.
Been thinking of some of the briefings we have had here, some would make you laugh. When we first got here Jim Morrison said, “there are lots of rain showers here. But don't worry about getting wet. The wind will dry you out in ten minutes!” Yeah?
Kim
Benjamin once told a new intake of man, “this is a hard job, in a hard land,
for hard men!”
On
the ship we came off leave on, they told the new lads that a lot of lads are
getting back aches and they do not know why? We all know what it is, it is the
water, and the bloke’s kidneys are playing up.
Morrison
also said when we first got here, “I would recommend you go to see the
penguins, but don’t interfere with them.” One lad shouted out, “we haven’t been
away from home that long Jim.”
We
had an army officer on the ship who was giving us a talk on land mines. Held a
red tin plate with a white skull and cross bones on it. He said “if you see
that on a barbed wire fence do not entre for any reason, as it is a minefield.”
He then turned it around to show a plain silver side, and said. “if you see
that hanging on a barbed wire fence, you have shit it, as you are in the middle
of a minefield!”
Monday – 22/10/1984. Day 321. Off
sick.
Been a windy day but not too bad. Well this is the first of my three days off. I had a lay in this morning, I got up about half an hour after Rich went to work. He wasn’t happy as I morally bring tea back for when he wakes after I had breakfast. No tea in bed for three days Rich, ha-ha.
I have been doing some writing, working on some poems. PG told me, I get all my info off him, most nights. He said he and Dave are going to stay on here for an extra month and that Dave has said if his wife is okay with it he will come back for an extra six months. Just shows you what a new job will do for someone. Two weeks ago, he said he never wanted to see this place again after January.
PG said that Dave is falling out with a
lot of lads down at the Tank Farm and
getting himself a really bad name there after upsetting a lot of blokes. PG
said that it was a load of rubbish about the lads in my gang not wanting to
work we me. I did always try to look after them and put my neck on the line for
them a lot of times, but I also always made sure the work got done. Mind you he is one of them? With saying that
I like PG and do believe him. I still can’t believe what Dave has done to me.
We have been workmates for some years now. Has he done this for the pay rise? I
reckon David Antony got to him.
The foot is not so bad at the moment, but the rest of me feels rotten. God only knows what will happen when I go back to the doc’s on Wednesday.
Tuesday – 23/10/1984. Day 322. Off sick.
The
foot has started hurting badly again, along with other parts of my body. Back
to see the doctor tomorrow.
Rich
reckons he is cracking up, as he is unable to take anyone serious. When anyone
tells him their problems, which happens all the time here, he makes jokes about
it, and at times even laughs. I have to say I have noticed him doing that.
The
3rd engineer on the England died on Sunday, he had a heart attack.
It had to return here, firstly to remove the body and secondly to wait for a
replacement to be flown out. As far as I know it is still here.
Wednesday – 24/10/1984. Day 323. Off sick.
Third day off and the last. I went to see Dr Death. He looked at my foot and said it’s still swollen but looking better. I said I was feeling rotten in myself. He said “can you get your work boot on?” I said, “I suppose so,” he said, “good you can go back to work tomorrow.” I don’t like being off work but the last couple days I have been aching and just feel crap. Still the doc knows best???
Been
watching a video of Spurs this afternoon that the wife sent me, really enjoyed
it as they beat Liverpool. And it had an episode of M*A*S*H on the end which
was also very enjoyable.
Been a very windy day and very overcast, with
showers. While I don’t like being off, it doesn’t hurt not being out in that
weather sometimes!
Thursday – 25/10/1984. Day 224. Hours worked 12.
Went back to work today for the first time this week and what a day it was for the weather. From 11/00 it just poured down, it didn’t stop, we were soaked to the skin pouring concrete. We were hanging about most of the morning waiting for the concrete, then got really busy. Still haven’t got a gang of men, but at the moment I really don’t care, I am alright with what I am doing, and with no hassle, touch wood. And still getting the concrete ganger’s rate, I don’t think they can take that off me unless I agree, and I won’t be doing that, mind you as we know JLB are a law unto their selves.
I
got an application form back from a firm that I applied for another overseas
job with. It is just outside Cairo, Egypt. They are building a massive water
treatment plant and are taking on British ex-pats. Not sure how the wife will
take it if I did get it, as she is pissed off with this.
Friday – 26/10/1984. Day 225.
Hours worked 12.
Rich’s foreman, Paul the Paddy, does not seem to like Rich at all. They have had words a few times over the months. Paul told him tonight that if he wares his radio earphones from Monday he will ground him and take him off the lorry. So, Rich went to the shop this evening and brought a massive radio with two speakers for £44. He reckons the other lads ware earphones.
My foot has been a lot better today, but I feel really tired, in fact totally worn out. If Rich goes out, which he said he may do, I will have an early night.
Saturday 27/10/1984. Day 326. Hours worked 12.
Been a rotten day, rained all afternoon. Ray in the next room to us, who was in my gang at the Tank Farm has been given a verbal warning by David Antony for having more time off. He was having time off when I was there, but seems to be having more now. He has had three days off this week without a sick note. Its because he is out drinking most nights and is often pissed, we hear him coming in late a lot. He is in fact a good worker and a nice bloke when he is not drinking, which is not often!
Rich’s foreman, Paul the Paddy came up
to him today and said, “name,” then wrote it down. He reckons his card is
marked. But then Rich told me that every time Paul is near him he stares at
him, that is really not going to help the situation.
Sunday 28/10/1984. Day 327. Day off. + Memo
Been raining all night and most of the morning, it’s stopped now but it’s blowing a gale. Rich has been getting bad letters from his wife. I think it’s a hard time for her having their first baby and him not being there and having problems with the house. When he was drunk last night he was talking about going home, I think I talked him out of it. It is too long for families to be apart, six, seven months at a time.
They reckon that the BBC cameras for
Pebble Mill at One are here, I haven’t seen them. I decided last night that I
am on my official “run down, to going home.” I have had nine months here, and
if I say it myself, I have worked bloody hard, and all I have got for it is
“shit on” by management and so-called mates. So, from now on I am going to try
and take it easy. I am not going to put myself out anymore. like I have, it
doesn’t do you any good.
I am still on the airfield and there is no
sign of me getting a gang again. I know I haven’t helped myself by being outspoken,
unfortunately that’s the way I am, maybe I should change for my own good. But I
just can’t stand by and watch us being walked all over as we have been many
times here, I can’t do it.
David Antony told me many times that I could
go a long way in this industry if I didn’t speak my mind so much, as he said,
“people don’t like it.” Too bloody right they don’t, they don’t like being told
the truth. I will say one thing, and that is that now the new contracts are
coming up we are seeing people in their real light. I have learnt a hell of a
lot about people since I have been here. My problem is I can’t help telling
them. I have had my rant, and as I said, “official
run down!!!”
Monday 29/10/1984. Day 328. Hours
worked 12.
Phil was telling me that when he
was waiting for his case at Heathrow a brand-new pair of Wellington boots came down the carousel with a JLB on them. They must be desperate to nick
a pair of welly boots! It has been raining all afternoon after a fine start to
the day.
There was a mock war at the airfield this
morning. We were on the bus when one of the lads said, “look there,” in the
diches beside the road were loads of soldiers who then ran on to the runway. At
least they were ours!
Got
another application form back today, this time for Woodrow Wimpey, for here. It looks the same deal as
what we get here. Ray next door was off work again today, and is going for a
medevac as a drunk. Did he and others come out just to do that, get paid off,
or can they not handle it?
Pat O’Leary come back today, I haven’t seen
him yet, but I heard a lot of lads went to him about David, apart from Dave and
Butch that is, who are in David’s pocket. Welcome back Pat!
Tuesday 30/10/1984. Day 329. Hours worked 12.
Ray
next door fell in our room last about 10/00, he was drunk and said he had taken
an overdose of pills. Rich stayed with him while I went to security, they said
the duty medic had just popped to the bar. I went there, found him, he was half
pissed.
I
went back to the room and Rich and I carried him to the hospital, then I went
to Dr Deaths room and got him over there. He said he did it because David and
Dave were picking on him and were going to sack him. He wants a medevac. I know what that pair are like, but if he went
to work, it would have helped.
There
is a rumour going around that the England
has broken down and is going to be a week late coming back?
Wednesday 31/10/1984. Day 330. Hours worked 12.
The first day of summer here yesterday, a good start today, it snowed! Rich and I were in our room earlier this evening and there was a knock on the door, and blow me down it was David Antony. He said he had come to thank us for saving Ray’s life. I am not sure if we did that, mind you he was flown by helicopter to hospital in Stanley today, and David said he got his medevac and is being air bridged home. All in all, I think it is the best thing for the lad, looks like they have learnt their lesson regarding people with mental health problems going on the ship. Fair play to David to come around and said thank you after the history between us. Just don’t make a habit of it pal!!
We are now getting a hot meal every lunch time in the hot trays. JLB have limited overtime to 20 hours per person per week, as allegedly lads are booking hours they have not worked. Can a person believe people would do something like that to such a good company? My heart bleeds for them, ha-ha!!!
Hours worked for October = 317.
Overtime hours = 37.
November.
Thursday 01/11/1984. Day 331. Hours worked 12.
Hasn’t been a bad day, overcast but not too cold, mind you I am working inside at the moment which of course makes a massive difference.
PG is not very happy with Dave these
days, say’s he is moaning and groaning all the time about everything. He asked
me if I could get him moved to work with me. I am not in that position at the
moment, I said let’s see what happens to me.
Stoney who used to be on the committee and was in the blast at the airfield went home on the last England. He got a medevac because of the blast. He said he was okay to start with, that was until the other four got medevac’s that is. He then started going funny in front of people and was taken into the medical centre a few times. If there was something wrong with him it didn’t stop him going after the women here. I have heard a few stories about him, which I will not go into now but may be for a book at a later date?
Friday 02/11/1984. Day 332. Hours
worked 12.
Been a bright sunny, but very cold day. Oh, my good God! On the bus going to and from the power station each day there are a group of lads who sit at the back of the bus who sing all the time. In particular in the morning at 6/30, all a person wants is to wake up slowly, well it does wake you up!!!
I hear there has been more problems with
David Antony at the Tank Farm. There seems to be arguments and fallouts nearly
all the time. On reflection it is properly the best thing for me to be away
from that inflammatory environment.
The new post office which has been open
a while no, but had its official opening today. Rex Hunt the islands governor came
over to do the honours. I have got a 'First Day (stamps) Cover ordered, which will be
good to look back on, in years to come.
I am taking this as a wind up, but after what happened with Dr Death and ‘Kentucky’ I don’t think I would disbelieve anything here. Allegedly a chap went to see the doc and said, “woof, woof, doctor, I think I am a dog.” The reply was. “I am not going to medevac you, but I will put you into quarantine!”
Saturday 03/11/1984. Day 333. Hours worked 12.
Been a cold day again today and rained on and off. I walked in to Arran Jones tonight and he asked me if I had been asked to come back for another contract? I said, “no, I’ve been a naughty boy.” He said, “come and see me on Monday”
Been laying a new type of resin floor at the power station today, completed a small test area and everyone was pleased with it. The foreman I am working for, a Scotsman called Paul Bedford has got this thing about the chap who was doing all the floor laying before me, he is on leave at the moment, his name is Jess. He keeps saying how good Jess is. Jess would do this, Jess would do that, Jess would sort this. I felt like saying, “why don’t you stop the fucking job, till your lovely Jess gets back?” But guess what? I behaved my self and kept my mouth shut. Aren’t I good? It was bloody hard though!
Sunday 04/11/1984. Day 334. Day off.
Had to do this on Monday as I forgot yesterday, that’s a worry, that I forgot about my dear old diary!!! It was a nice, but windy day with the odd bit of rain, but not much.
Had
a few drinks on Saturday night and ended up having a go at Steve Smith (section manager) regarding having me transferred as he was looking after the section when Pat was away. I suppose I was out of order and while a lot of blokes don’t like Steve I
have always got on with him.
I
haven’t seen Pat to talked to yet, but I hear that David Antony is now trying
to get rid of Ian the steel-fixer charge-hand. He is just trying to get just “yes
men” working as supervisors for him down there.
They had a late disco in the ‘Gull
& Penguin’ last night, I didn’t stay but Rich did. He said that four blokes
got up on the stage and danced with their shirts off like the dance group from ‘Top of the Pops,’ 'Hot Gossip.'
Memo – Jimmy the Jock.
Jimmy is a chap, who is a ground worker and is laying cable ducts in at the airfield. He has been here five-months now, and brags that he has only had one shower since he has been here, and God does he pen and ink (stink). I saw him on the stage in the bar one-night signing when he was drunk, which appears to be most nights. He dropped his trousers to show a pair of ‘Long John’ underpants, which I am sure must have been white at one point, oh they were filthy. He says that he will fly them on the flagpole the night before he goes on leave. The cleaners have refused to clean his room as it is so dirty and smells. No one will share a room with him.
Monday – 05/11/1984. Day 335. Hours worked 12.
Been a nice bright sunny day, but very windy. Been hanging about all day with nothing to do, God I hate that.
I
saw Arran Jones today, he asked me would I come back? I said I was
undecided. He said if I came back I would be on his section doing the floors.
He said "even if we have had our ups and downs, he liked my work and said I
always worked hard and he was pleased I was back on his section." Well, I can’t
be that bad then, can I? And do you know what? After all the crap I have had of late, it is nice too get a pat on the back.
There’s
a party on Saturday night for George Connor whose contract is about to end.
They want £10 a ticket, which I think is too much. Done 11 months today, nearly
there, thank God.
Tuesday – 06/11/1984. Day 336. Hours worked 12.
PG had an accident yesterday. He was getting on the dumper when he fell off, kicking it into gear as he went. He landed under the rear wheel and as the dumper was in front of a container it kept jumping up and down with his leg under the rear wheel. It bounced on his right leg until it stopped and rolled off him.
There
was no Land Rover to take him to the medical centre and no radio to get help.
When David Antony got back and before he took him to the medical centre, he told Dave
to "make sure you dock his time." He really is all heart that tosser. Rich made
a get-well card for him from the both of us, he did cross out Happy Christmas
to do it, but PG liked it. He was really lucky, a few inches higher and it
could have ripped his balls off. He really is in a lot of pain, he told the doc
he does not want a medevac as he wants to see his contract out.
Been
a really nice day, bright and of course windy. It looks like I have got a gang
again, Malcolm an older chap, from Guildford in Surrey, not a long way from
where I live, and Eddie from Newcastle, which is a long way from where I live.
They seem okay.
Wednesday – 07/11/1984. Day 337. Hours worked 12.
Saw Pat O’Leary with Steve Smith at the power
station today, that’s the first time since he has been back. Well, he hardly
said anything to me at all. I was really disappointed as I thought he was
alright and would want to hear my side of the story, well obviously not. I was
very silly to have thought he would have gone against one of his fellow, ‘Africa
Mafia’ members. Talking of that, it’s
their ‘Godfather’s’ George Connors
going away party on Saturday. The tickets have now gone down from £10 to £5 as
no one was buying them. But a person has to buy their own beer now.
Thursday – 08/11/1984. Day 338. Hours worked 12.
Been a very odd day. Cloudy to
start with, bright and sunny then the wind got up, now it’s pouring down. Four
seasons in one day!
Reading in the ‘Penguin News’ (available
from a welfare office near you) that the Falklands Islands have drawn up a blacklist for people on the islands who have a
drink problem. They will not be served drink in bars or shops. God if that was
the case here the bars would be all most empty!
They found a skeleton on the airfield
today, they say its old and could be a shepherd. I wonder does it belong to the
ghost that they reckon turns up in our shower block every now and then?
The BBC cameras are here again. Paul
our foreman was looking for lads in clean overalls to be filmed. They can’t be
doing much if their overalls are clean!!!
A notice has gone up in the canteen saying that, "as of tonight, if a person puts any washing in the laundry, it will take two weeks to get back." We will all be smelling like Jimmy soon. Mail has been rubbish again, we have only had one deliveries this week and that was the first for over a week.
Friday – 09/11/1984. Day 339.
Hours worked 12.
Mine and Rich’s washing went into the laundry today in my bag, it should be ready on Friday the 23rd. With saying that and the notice about it taking two weeks, the girl in the laundry said it would be ready in six days. It is very concerning when a person has to worry about their washing, it says a lot for having a wife who does it all! Been a sunny at times day. Its also a worry when the first thing I put in here most nights is what the weather has done that day!
One
of Eastham’s bar men Phil got mugged at 5/30 this morning, had his face
slashed. He had £200 in UK money taken off him. What was he doing with that
kind on money on him, in UK notes as well? Well someone must have known he had
it. I wonder did it come from one of those heavy-duty card schools I’ve seen?
Rich has been moved from the airfield to
the West Cove Road by his best mate Paul the Paddy the foreman, Rich hates him. The
hours are being changed a bit as of next week, not much for us though. I heard
Ray is still in Stanley, they are meant to be trying to "dry him out" before they
send him home. Not sure why?
Been a very windy day and is trying to snow now. I am off to George Connors party tonight. Since I finished work this evening I have had just one big rush! Frist to the shower to get some hot water, it was lukewarm, then on to dinner, then to get subs (money), then the post office and shop, then back to get this written then, I am off.
Everyone I talk to from the Tank Farm are running Dave Dire down. It sounds
as if he is hated, and how they are talking he may get a thump before long.
Even PG, has not got much good to say about him at the moment. They reckon he
is raring and shouting at the batcher lads, the chippies, you name it. It hurts
to say, but I am feeling sorry for him, he looks very lonely. It shouldn’t have
been like this.
Sunday – 11/11/1984. Day 341. Day off.
Been a very cold and windy day and it is pouring down now. Went to Georges party last night and to be fair it was a good night. Out of the money for the tickets we brought him a tankard and a watch. He was fairly knocking back the whiskey. A lot of lads seemed to have liked him??? I left at 12/30, it was still going strong, they held it in the power station canteen and had a bus running back and forth. There was a lot there.
We got the ‘B’ Team sweatshirts today,
not bad, they have only been on order since February, nine months. It was only
£4.70p instead of £7.50p as they were meant to be jumpers. They are black with
gold writing that says. Mount Pleasant Airfield – Falklands ‘B’ Team 1983 – 1985.
Been asked to play in goal for the concreters against the bricklayers.
Memo – The bus song.
One of the songs that they sing on the ‘Happy Bus's is sung to the tune of When this lousy war is over. From the film. Oh, what a lovely war.
When this lousy job is over, oh how happy I will be.
I will kiss Kim Benjamin, oh how happy he will be.
No more doggie bags for dinner, no more standing in a queue.
When this lousy job is over, I will say, fuck you! (this is repeated
a few times)
When this lousy job is over, oh how happy I will be.
No more shit from the foreman, no more tossing in the loo.
When this lousy job over, I will say fuck you! (repeat)
They also do an Indian version of. Oh, I do like to be beside the seaside. They then repeat it in English. They also do other songs. They did all this at Georges party which went down well and had Arran James laughing about kissing Kim Benjamin.
Monday – 12/11/1984. Day 342. Hours worked 12.
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It has been a cold windy, raining wintery kind of day, not bad for summer! Got some photos back tonight that turned out to be really good. The wife said in a letter that Dave’s wife was really mad when he told her that he was staying until February then coming back for an extra six months. She said if he did that she would leave him. He said he was happy here in his new job. She said she had got him and me application forms for Balfour Beatty, who are about to start a new job in the town. and who we used to work for. She doesn’t know what has happened between us, anyway, my wife had already sent me a form. I don’t want to work with Dave again, not how I feel about him at the moment.
Ray
Rand a plumber foreman upset one of the lads and got a beating for his
troubles. I get on alright with Ray but I know he can be a real mouthy bugger.
Tuesday – 13/11/1984. Day 343. Hours worked 12.
It’s been a real rotten day, wet, windy and bloody cold. Butch is being transferred here from the Tank Farm. He fell out with his lads on the batcher down there and Dave Dier went to the office and complained about him, he has been moved to our section and Dave is now over the batcher as well as the concrete gang. He told PG that they won’t be sat in their cabin when there’s no concrete on, he will have them on site doing other things. This is turning into the naughty boy section!
I
don’t want to talk too soon but I seem to be settling in here a bit better now
that I have been here a little while. I am a lot happier now that we have got
something to do and I am enjoying it. It’s just a pity I was ever sent to the
Tank Farm after my leave.
Wednesday – 14/11/1984. Day 344. Hours worked 12.
Been a nice sunny day, but there has been a very strong and cold wind. Butch arrived at our section today. He came over to me, shook my hand and said, “Tom, can I join the club?” I said, "what club?” He said, “the Dave Dier stab in the back club.” I did laugh, and I am pleased Butch and I are back on good terms, even if it has taken bad events for us to make up.
JLB are giving people an extra 10% on their
bonus to return, months ago they said “there would be a pay rise if a person
came back,” they are really con-men!
I haven’t been feeling at all well of late, I have been getting a lot of pains in my stomach and all over my body. This place has really worn me down, at times I have found it a lot harder than I ever thought I would, as I know a lot of other lads have. I am young (ish) and fit (ish) yet I have struggled at times. I have also learnt a lot about myself.
Thursday – 15/11/1984. Day 345. Hours worked 12.
Been a very cold and windy day, with a fair amount of rain. I got a tape in the post from the family today, which I will listen to later.
My foot is playing up again, I am in fact feeling rough all over. I don’t want to go to see Dr Death unless I really have too, if I told him how bad I was at times there is a chance he could send me home, and I don’t want that, being so close to the end.
One of
the lads Frank, I worked with on the camp before I went on leave, told me that
he went to see him as his back was aching a lot. He told him to take his
wardrobe door off and lay on that at night, Frank said. “I would get charged a
£100 to replace it.” He said, “well that’s my advice, if you do not want to
take it, that’s up to you.”
Friday – 16/11/1984. Day 346.
Hours worked 12.
Been a very cold and windy day, with sleet, rain and hail stones, not nice at all. The chap who has been running the shop for a long time, Kevin, is going tomorrow and not coming back, he came out on the ship before me. He is a good lad, he has been saving me a Sunday Mirror each week when they come in. He told me tonight that the woman who is taking over said she won’t do that, she said, “first come first served.” It’s like the hot water, if you work long hours you miss out. Eastham’s have first dibs on everything, it is just not fair!
We have got PG and Phil in here at the
moment, reading our dirty mags and drinking our tea, they are good lads, and in
return we get all the gossip. The England is
in tomorrow, and this is the one to go on to be home for Christmas, I am told
it is full already. Bet there will be fun and games in the bar tonight as it is
“jacking day.”
Saturday – 17/11/1984. Day 347. Hours worked 12.
Been a very cold and windy day, not very nice at all. The England came and went again today, one more then I am on the one after that. A lot of new faces on this one, a lot of them are here with Woodrow Wimpey.
A bit sickened this morning at
breakfast with all the lads going on leave and everyone wishing them all a
Happy Christmas. I heard that 50 blokes jacked yesterday alone, you wouldn’t
know what’s true here. But it wouldn’t surprise me. I didn’t go out last night
(not on jacking night) but Rich did and said there was a lot of trouble and a
few fights. It is like the Old Wild West here
at times! A person can feel the tension in the bars at times, and you know it
wouldn’t take much for it to “kick off!”
Sunday – 18/11/1984. Day 348. Day off.
A very windy and cold day. I went to see the Eastham’s manager about having a paper saved, he said, “no, you were lucky to have it in the past, if I had known I would have put a stop to it!” Tosser! So, I went and saw welfare about it, they said they would see what they could do. Everything is gone when I get back of a night, they would moan if I didn’t work the longer hours so I was back in time. Is it really that much to ask? Another little rant!
Went
out for a drink last night and had a good chat with some of the lads from the Tank
Farm. They were all moaning about Dave Dier and the way he is carrying on and
how he talks to people, one said he it turning into David Antony. God
forbid!
Joe Williams, who lives near us at home,
my sister works with his wife, told me last night that my wife is sending out a
Christmas present for him to hold on to for me as I would peep. I think that’s
a bit unfair!
Memo – Alf Little.
He has now been moved up to the
airfield, not sure what he is doing there or how long he will last. I have meet
him a few times but have had very little to do with him, but the lads reckon he
could have an argument in an empty room.
Monday – 19/11/1984. Day 349.
Hours worked 12.
Davy
Jaws, is the ground works ganger down at the Tank Farm. He is in his late
fifties and comes from Plymouth. They call him Jaws as he has no teeth at all
and sucks all his food to death. He was seeing an older woman who came on our
ship after our leave, she wore a set to false teeth. The lads reckon Davy was
going out with her so he could lend her teeth.
Anyway,
I digress. He came around for tea tonight and said he is putting in for a transfer
as Dave is trying to take over the section. He spends a lot of time in the
office with David Antony and has been choosing who works Sundays. Davy wasn’t
happy because he had work to do, but none of his lads were asked to work, only Dave, and his gang.
Tuesday – 20/11/1984. Day 350. Hours worked 12.
Been a really nice
summers day, no wind. There was a little bit of rain late on but not much, and
was still on the warm side.
Davy
Jaws did not go to work today because of the situation with Dave. Pat O’Leary
and David Antony went to see him. I don’t know what exactly what was said, but
my informants tell me that Dave was called in the office by David later on and
was given a good old-fashioned bollocking. He was told he had to start treating
and talking to the lads a lot better, amongst other things I am told.
One
of the blokes who never gets any mail and moans about it all the time, Keith
Harding, shouldn’t moan any more. Tony Linett a bricklayer for Slough in
Berkshire got a load of lads together and over a few weeks and without Keith
knowing, they all sent off for free gifts etc from the newspapers in his name. The
post master Charlie, kept them all and gave them to him last night, there was
almost a sack full! I am not sure how funny he found it?
Wednesday – 21/11/1984. Day 351. Hors worked 12.
Davey
Jaws has been made up to section foreman at the Tank Farm, which hasn’t pleased
Dave as he thought he was going to get it. I just saw Dave in the corridor on
the way back from the showers, I was only in my dressing gown. I couldn’t help
it, I had to pull him about what happened with me. He denied he had said
anything about me. I felt he was lying and could feel myself getting madder and
madder. I just walked away in the end.
Some
of the lads reckon some of their mail has never got here at all. Mind you I got
two letters yesterday that had been posted 18 days ago.
Thursday – 22/11/1984. Day 352. Hours worked 12.
One of the lorry drivers on the airfield had a
load of balloons tied on his Volvo tipper truck. Paddy Paul the foreman there,
Rich’s mate, stopped him and said, “what are you doing with them on there?” He
said, “well Paul it helps lift the Volvo so I can get extra muck in and it
helps me go faster.” He is still here, at the moment?
Another Volvo diver who ran into another
one last week has been given a written warning and has been fined £400 for the
damage to the truck. He couldn’t stop as his breaks were wet after he had
driven in the sea on the instructions of his foreman.
Friday – 23/11/1984. Day 353. Hours worked 12.
Been nice day, with saying that I have been working inside all day laying the polymer resin floors. It really smells and with me leaning over it all day it has given me a really wicked headache, really nasty, it is still aching tonight.
I had a pee today and the pain in my guts
nearly killed me. I have just felt really rotten of late. My guts, bones,
chest, not good. I just don’t want to go to Dr Death after the last few times I
have seen him.
Welfare didn’t get the paper sorted out
for me as they said they would. I went to the shop and saw the woman as they
had them behind the counter. I asked her for one and she said she had been
given times when she could put them out, its three times a day, all of which are
when I am at work! I am just so fed up with Eastham’s who just care about themselves.
Saturday – 24/11/1984. Day 354. Hours worked 12.
Been a really nice day, no wind, nice and warm, not a cloud in the sky, yes, I was working inside. I got a newspaper, hooray!!! I mentioned it to Sally and she got me one, and got our cleaner to let her into our room. What a lovely surprise to come into tonight.
The
food has got a bit rough again, not nice at all. I think Eastham’s have had
their contract renewed. Rich has been told he has to work again tomorrow, which
he is not happy about at all. I am having the day off, and I am going to have a
lay in. I don’t want to work anymore Sundays here, I enjoy having the day off
and being able do have a rest and do my own bits,
Sunday – 25/11/1984. Day 355. Day off. + Memo.
Rich didn’t go into work today as he was
pissed last night and didn’t get up. He said it was my fault as I wasn’t up to
wake him? He hasn’t been moved to the West Cove Road yet, but thinks Paul will
move him tomorrow now this has happened.
I had it out with Dave Dier last night,
after the lads said we had to sort it. I said to him, “we don’t see you in our
room anymore these days.” He said, “well I am very busy and don’t get the
time.” I said, “oh, it has got nothing to do with the fact that I won’t talk to
you then?”
We had it out and he said he had been
used David Antony, and felt a right idiot. Dick and Mick off the batcher came
over and had a go at him also. He said he wasn’t going to go into work today
(which he didn’t) and said on Monday he was going to ask for a transfer. I did
feel a bit sorry for him in the end. When it all clamed down he was asking me
loads of questions about concrete?
Monday – 26/11/1984. Day 356.
Hours worked 12.
Been a wet and windy day, and we have been working out in it. Heard there was a large punch up in the posh bar last night, I am told there was about 12 involved, I am sure we will hear more soon. Someone nicked a diesel tanker last night and turned it over on one of the haul roads, that will be a mess.
Phil
has a ‘Back-Gammon’ set, which he, I,
Rich and PG have been learning and playing when they come around on a Sunday
afternoon, while we listen to, ‘Dads Army’ and ‘Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy’ on the local radio. For the first time
yesterday, I beat Phil. Its great watching Phil laugh every week when Captain
Mainwaring says to Private Pike, “you,
stupid boy.” It cracks me up. You can see we have fun packed days here!
I saw Neil Thompson (welfare officer)
last night and he was well pissed up. He wanted to know where my ‘B’ Team
jumper was and why I wasn’t wearing it? He had his on, I have never seen him
like that before, like the rest of us, he has been here too long.
Tuesday – 27/11/1984. Day 357. Hours worked 12.
Been a very overcast, but a very warm day. Had Davy Jaws in for most of the evening, talking and drinking tea. I have to say he does make me laugh. He was saying that around the tank bases they are concreting the ‘batters’ and its not working out as none of them have done it before. Batters are a slop formed by a digger, then concreted. It is not easy as of course the concrete is wet, and will run down. I have done it a few times over the years, I told Davey the best way. I know now why Dave was asking me all the concrete questions the other night.
Had
a dream last night where I was having a fight with a bloke who held me down and
was going to shot me. I pushed him off, as I did that I rolled over and fell
out of bed!
Wednesday – 28/11/1984. Day 358. Hours worked 12.
Ray Brocks Mum, received a telegram from JLB saying he would be home that day. Not only has he not been seen, but that was two weeks ago. I don’t suppose we will ever find out what has happened to him, but one has to say it is very concerning.
Been
a nice sunny day, not s cloud in the sky. On the radio tonight, it said that an
Argie plane tried to fly into our air space last Friday, but was chased off.
Are they testing, to see how far they can get? That could be a worry, I would
say.
Paul Bedford our foreman asked today if we
would go on nights to lay the flooring. This is because the sub-contractor,
Barton who are installing all the plant (machines) in the power station need
large areas to bring the equipment in. I told Paul that we should have put the
floor in first, or when they were finished. He said, “that’s the program, we
have to work with it!” He said he would come back to me tomorrow.
Thursday 29/11/1984. Day 359. Hours worked 12.
Been another nice day, very warn again, would you believe even the wind was warn, which is saying something here. Paul said today we will be doing nights this Saturday and Sunday, but may have to put us on them full time in the future? I suppose it will make a change. The wife sent out a load of Christmas decorations for the room.
Rich
went and got the post and took a letter around to Dave Dier and said he looked
well pissed off. PG told me tonight that as they have a very “high target” on
completing the concrete batters and they were not meeting it, they would have to
get another concrete gang on it. Dave said, “no way!” Who is in charge down
there then?
Friday – 30/11/1984. Day 360.
Hours worked 12.
Been a really funny day. It started off really nice, like it has been of late. But this afternoon it became very overcast, then it was as black as night and we then had one hell of a hail stone storm. Some of the stones were like golf balls, we were inside the power station and they were hitting the tin roof with such force, it sounded like they were coming through.
I got my overtime payment sheet today and it is sixty hours short. Thirty was because Huggie did not put in the sick note I gave him, the other thirty was because David Antony hadn’t put one of my time-sheets in. He is a tosser to the last! So, I have to get that all sorted now, the problems are never ending here.
Hours worked for November = 310.
Overtime hours = 50.
December.
Saturday – 01/12/1984. Day 361. Hours worked 12 – nights.
Been a really nice day, not a cloud in the sky. I am off today as I am working tonight. I went for my Saturday drink last night, not great to start nights on Saturday night, but there you go.
I was talking to little Geoff who is a
ganger at the Tank Farm. He said he
went into the office about Dave Dier, as he has been walking around the site
like a foreman. He also said that the lads on the batcher, who are also under Dave
now, have been told that he will not let them have their flasks with tea and
coffee anymore, and if they are not mixing concrete they have to go out on site
cleaning up. They are not happy.
One thing about not working today and
that is that I have been able to listen to the football on the radio.
Oh, before I forget, not only is it a new month, December, but guess what? I go home next month.
Sunday – 02/12/1984. Day 362.
Hours worked 12 – nights.
It’s been a really nice sunny day, even if I was asleep for most of it. Worked last night and it started to get light a 2/30 this morning. The story is that the chap who turned the diesel tanker over was an Eastham’s chap. He was taking it up to the airfield to release it onto the sub base there, which would destroy it and it would have to be replaced. He was doing it because his father had been sacked a couple of weeks before. I say story, as they sacked him, but have had to give him his job back because they can’t prove it.
A chap who hit a woman in the bar last
week got four months in prison and has been returned to the UK to serve it.
Word on the runway is that before he came out here he was in and out of prison
for ten years. A person is not meant to be here if they have spent over six
months in prison?
One of the lads had a heart attack at
work yesterday and was air lifted to hospital in Stanley.
Memo – One year – less 2 days!
Well we are into December and will have completed one year in two days’ time, and I just won’t be sorry when it is all over. It has really worn me down, in the body and mind. I don’t know what I am going to do regarding coming back?
Money wise I would like to and save as
much as possible, but on the other hand I, along with other lads are just so
pissed off the way we have been treated by JLB, they just don’t give a fuck
about us. I know they have to manage and have had a hard job because of where
we are and everything. But the way they have gone about it at times, well it
has always been “their way, or the highway,” (go home).
These last six months have been the
worst by far. There has been nothing too look forward to at all, well just the
end, which at times has seemed so far away. I think having to spend two
Christmas’s here hasn’t helped. It was very hard when the last ship went with
the lads who would be home for Christmas.
Monday – 03/12/1984. Day 363. Hours worked 12 – nights.
Got finished at 4/00 this morning, and was snoring by 5/00, we had started at 4/00 in the afternoon as soon as the lads working were gone.
The lad who is labouring for me, Ed, he
mixes the polymer resin and brings it to me. I really like him, he does make me
laugh, he is from Newcastle. I had agreed to meet him at the Land Rover we have
been given while we are on nights. He wasn’t there when I went to meet him at
3/30. I went to look for him and found him in the bar, we have a big crowd of
fellow Geordies, they were all singing as Newcastle had won at football. Edie
was rat-arsed.
I got him in the Land Rover and when we got there I made him go in the canteen, which I had the key for, to sleep it off, I carried on by myself. He came in after a few hours, and told me what happened.
As
he had not wanted to be found under the influence of alcohol, as he could have
been sacked, he went to the back of the canteen and got under a six-person
table and pulled the chairs in so that he could not be seen. He woke when a
gang of fitters came in to make tea and sat at a table near the front. Rumours
have gone around, that, that area is hunted. When he started to get up all the
lads could see were chairs moving on their own, then a head appeared from the
far side of the table. I would have love to have seen their faces. Ed was okay
when he came back, I am not sure about other the lads.
The ‘Gull and Penguin’ was smashed up
on Saturday night, and they would not hold the bingo last night because of
that. The food has gone totally down hill again. Not only is it cooked very
badly they just throw in on the plates. Also, there seems to be no choice at
all, they say it because they are running out of things, but word on the runway
is that they have loads of food we would not eat if we had a choice so they
just put that out?
Tuesday – 04/12/1984. Day 364. Hours worked 12.
Been an overcast day, but not cold or windy. I was totally boiling in bed last night. Jimmy the tyre fitter who came out with us, has had three heart attacks in two days. The first the other night. His room mate went to the medical centre and told the medic that Jimmy had pains in his chest. The medic said, “has he got pains in his legs?” His mate said, “no, I don’t think so.” The medic replied, “well tell him to walk over her then!”
Jimmy, was too ill to go over there. His
mate got Dr Death in the morning who went to see him then had him flown to
Stanley, he had another attack on the way to the helicopter and then one in the
hospital. The last I have heard is that his wife is being flown out as they
don’t think he will make it!
Wednesday – 05/12/1984. Day 365. Hours worked 12.
On Sunday morning, Vince one of the lads who
came out with us, came out of his room to go fishing and put his wellington boot
on, which he had left in the corridor and someone had shit in it. It went all
over his foot and up his leg. I want to say I can’t believe some of the things
that happen here, but unfortunately, I can!
Talking of that, the shits are going around again. I may have missed them, as it seems it have affected everyone who had the hot lunch time meals on Monday, the turkey roll, we didn’t get them. Thank God. Phil has been moved to the airfield, as they are well behind, Benjamin goes around sections and if he thinks people are not very busy, he moves them to the airfield.
With
the walls in the rooms being so thin a person can hear everything from next
door. We have Polly and Alan in the next room, each night we have a ‘Walton’s’ (off the TV) style goodnight,
“goodnight Jim-Bob, goodnight, Grandpa, goodnight John-boy and so on.
Thursday – 06/12/1984. Day 366.
Hours worked 12.
Been a really cold, wet day, not nice at all. Paul Bedford my foreman asked me again tonight if I was coming back? I said “I doubt it as I didn’t think the new offer any good.”
Four
of the foremen that came out on the last England have been made unsuitable, they just can’t get the right blokes at
all now. They are bringing out anyone who will come now.
Alf, the ex-welder who was with us is now
cleaning toilets, the canteen and offices up at the hanger section. They are
just trying to sicken him off, so he jacks as no one wants him because of his attitude
and he has done his three months so I suppose if he hasn’t done any wrong they
would have to pay him off, and JLB wouldn’t
want to do that, would they now.
Bob
is still seeing Sally, silly sod, it really could finish his marriage. He’s an
idiot, but I hope she doesn’t get hurt as she is a nice girl, and of course she
gets me a paper once a week!
Friday – 07/12/1984. Day 367.
Hours worked 12.
How about this for a little joke, that is doing the rounds? How do you know Neil Thompson (welfare) lying? His lips move, ha-ha!
Been
a nice sunny day, and when the wind dropped it was nice and warm. Cable &
Wireless are dropping the phone rates 50% over Christmas, which is fair play to
them. I hope JLB don’t try to charge
the old price. I don’t think they will, as everyone knows they should be going
down. The C&W chap I was doing the cable repair with said that when they
first put the phones in here, JLB wanted to charge their own price. C&W said
if they did that, they would remove all the phones, good on them.
As
Ed and I were walking back to the camp from the power station tonight, we try
to avoided the nutters in the bus as much as possible. I digress, there was a
massive explosion from behind it. Haven’t got a clue what it was, as a rule we
know when there is a planed explosion.
The new
hospital at the camp opened this week. The wife put a small Christmas tree in
the parcel of decorations she sent me, it wasn’t in there. I thought it had
been opened. The post often gets interfered with on the way here.
Saturday – 08/12/1984. Day 368. Hours worked 12.
Been a dull overcast day, strong winds with rain at times. Got a specimen con-trick today, I really don’t want to come back, but won’t know until I get home and talk it over with the wife. Another six months would do for the money and to start buying the house. The money they pay is no better really than we could get at home, it is not paying the tax etc that makes it worthwhile. But I know the wife and kids don’t want me to come back.
The pain in my stomach is getting worst.
They come out of the blue, and does not last long but really hurts when it
happens. I really don’t want to go to the doc’s until I really have too.
Sunday – 09/12/1984. Day 369. Day off.
Started off as a nice bright day, but turned rotten in the afternoon when the wind got up, it is raining now. Out for my Saturday night drink last night, was half drunk. Inness the Scottish fitter got a bit out of hand the drunker he got, as he often does. He was throwing full cans of beer around and one hit me in the chest. I like Inness when he is not being an idiot and would not like to fall out with him. But I did have words as it bloody hurt and he calmed down then.
No
more bingo until the next England gets here as they have run out of bingo cards.
I have to say it is good fun seeing the Eastham’s women going to the bingo,
they all dress up for the night out. Well to be fair to them, it is the
highlight of the week.
Memo – Kim Benjamin.
When
all is said and done, the man has been sent here to do a job. Things were not
going great when he got here, and he had a fair amount too do to get it back on
track, and he did do just that. He is very uncompromising, he thinks management
are here to manage and must be on top. That is why they would not let in
regarding the overtime issue. Had the workforce have won that, then it would
have been one thing after another. I have seen it many times over the years
where there is a very strong union on site. There was moans about us getting
paid overtime at a flat payment rate. If we had of won the issue regarding being guaranteed our overtime, overtime rates
would have been the next thing, and so on.
Pat O’
Leary told me some time ago that Benjamin said in a manager’s meeting that, “no
matter the size of the nut, by using a big hammer you will crack the nut in the
end.” Meaning even with the size of the job here, they would keep bringing out
more men until they cracked the nut. He also said, “and gentlemen we will be
firmly holding the handle of that hammer.” So, I think that says it all about
the man.
Monday – 10/12/1984. Day 370.
Hours worked 12.
Been nice day, not much wind, but looks like rain is coming in now. Heard that Jimmy the tyre fitter is a bit better and sat up in bed for his breakfast yesterday, that’s really good news. Terry from the ‘A’ Team who I used to worked with is on his way back and Phil said they are getting him in their gang. I told him to have words and get it stopped as he would drive them all mad.
I heard there was another punch up it the
bar last night, I don’t know anymore about it at the moment. How about this for
the latest wind up going around. JLB are
bring Christmas and Boxing Day forward to Sunday the 23rd so as not
to lose two working days. Well while we know it’s a wind up, they have put us
on JLB time, I bet if they thought
they could get away with it! Well?
Tuesday – 11/12/1984. Day 371. Hours worked 12.
Been damp and overcast day with rain at times. Ed and I got moved from the power station to the hanger for a few days this evening, to screed some office floors down there. That was after we got a blocking from Paul Bedford. We had just finished a large area of floor and was having a smoke when Benjamin came in with some others and went and told Paul. We hadn’t stopped all bloody day. I felt like telling him to poke it. But I am too close to the end now, keep clam, keep clam!
Hope there is some mail in soon, we haven’t
had any for over a week now. It is because the air bridge has been turned back
a few times because of the weather.
The photo above is of Ed Howarth. I kept contact with him for over 30 years with Christmas cards etc. He passed away a few years ago. RIP Ed.
Wednesday – 12/12/1984. Day 372. Hours worked 12.
Been a cold overcast day and is pouring down now. The foreman at the hanger has shown us what he wants each day. He has more or less put us on a “job and finish,” in so much as he has said what he wants every day, then said. “Once you have done that you can clear off, and book the 12 hours each day.” It is a fair amount he wants each day, but it is up to us to get it done. He also made it very clear if it took over the 12 hours that was all we would get paid.
Oh,
there’s a new chap who comes from Kent who has been sitting with us at break time.
What a “gobby sod,” he really fancies his luck. He’s another one who says he
has done everything and wants everyone to know it.
I am still hearing stories about Dave Dier,
but I am totally fed up with it. We ended up getting post last night which was
really good. I got a parcel from Dave’s wife Jenny to give to him on Christmas
Day. If I was really rotten, I would do as he did with my birthday presents and
give them to him at 9/30 at night! Two wrongs don't make a right, Tom!!!
Thursday – 13/12/1984. Day 373. Hours worked 12.
Well, it started raining yesterday afternoon and has not stopped since. It now seems to be getting worst and there is a mist closing in. We did in fact get away at 3/30 this afternoon, after we got soaked to the skin. Joe the foreman asked us to help the lads finish the concrete they were pouring in the rain outside.
Davey
Jaws was in again last night, he told us that Dave Dier is being taken off the
concrete by Pat O’Leary. He said he stood outside the office door when Pat
reared up on David Antony, saying, “well it’s your fault, you were mad to get
rid of Tom and replaced with someone who doesn’t know what they are doing. And
you did it behind my back when I was on leave.” That happened yesterday and I
now know Dave hasn’t been to work today. I don’t know if he is sick or
something has happened? I will have to have a word with my informant’s!
Friday – 14/12/1984. Day 374.
Hours worked 12.
Yet again it has been a rotten day, high winds and driving rain all day. I have been really aching again today, really worn out. I am just hoping Rich will go out tonight as he has said he will, so that I can have an early night. I tried last night. I got in bed at 9/00 and was still awake at 10/00. That was because Dave Dier was around Joe's next door and was laying on his bed which butts up against my bed, with just the thin wall between us. He was laughing (his laugh goes through me at the best of times) and talking, it was almost like being in bed with him, God forbid. I had to go around in the end. They weren’t happy, but did shut up in the end.
Saturday – 15/12/1984. Day 375. Hours worked 12.
Been yet another rainy, windy, rotten day. It has been a bad week one way or another. The England came and went again today, the next one I am on, I can’t wait. Unfortunately, we have got to get through another Christmas and New Year here first.
There seems to have been a few punch ups in
the bars over the last two nights, always the same before the ship comes in. I
heard there was a load of jackers, one never knows if that is true or not, but
one thing I can say that is correct, and that is there were very few blokes about
today, our section was dead. I also heard that twenty blokes did the round trip
on the England for fighting?
Regarding the 50% off the phone card.
They will be the same cost as before but for a few days over Christmas you will
get double the time, that’s alright, nice to get something for nothing! Paul
Gilmore one of the section managers wound his lads up by telling them for some
time he was going air bridge at the end of the month, then disappeared at 11/00
and got on the ship!
Sunday – 16/12/1984. Day 376. Day off.
Been another wet, windy, rotten day, not nice at all. Went for a walk with PG up to the airfield, past the hanger then back past the power station, to take some photos. As PG works down at the Tank Farm he never gets to see the job up here. He said he enjoyed it, even if we did get soaked.
Brought a new watch in the shop today,
£62.50p. I know that’s expensive and that is meant to be tax-free also. But I
really liked it, and it is a Christmas present to myself for doing 14 months
(nearly) in this place.
Out late last night on the lash. We put
the Christmas decorations up in our room tonight, and if I say so myself, it looks
okay. Went to a meeting this afternoon about the ‘B’ Teams party. It is going
to be £3.50p a ticket. Another Eastham’s rip-off!
Memo – In case of fire!
With saying all of that, the alarm in
our corridor has gone off the last two Saturday nights and neither Rich or I
have heard it. I suppose with it being a Saturday night, we would be in the
drunk category! People have been putting rags between the dinger and metal so
they don’t get woken up. JLB have
started replacing these with sirens, but not many have gone in up until this
point. They also have a ‘D8’ bulldozer
here all the time so that if there was a big fire they would take sections of
cabins out to stop it spreading. So, if the fire does not get you, the ‘D8’ will!
There has been loads of incidents where
fires have been started, thank God up until now they have been found and put
out. Like the fire alarms, fire extinguishers have been set off. I made a list
of the empty ones near us the other week and gave it to welfare, they haven’t
been sorted yet. Some lads who are not working because of illness etc have been
put on “light duties” as” fire wardens.” I was talking to one, in the bar that I know last
week, and he was totally arseholed!!!
Monday – 17/12/1984. Day 377. Hours worked
12.
I have been on the island one year today. Been a dull and overcast day. Dave Dier has been taken off the concrete down at the Tank Farm as of today, and Con who used to be in my gang has replaced him, Con knows the job to be fair. Pat O’Leary said to Davy Jaws, “Dave can’t do the job.” But David Antony told him “it was to give him a rest!”
Got a parcel from the wife tonight for Christmas, which Rich promptly took off me. But the customs form said it was a watch, would you believe it? The foreman over us who has been on leave, Jess from Sunderland started back today. I have to say by first impressions I am not over keen as he comes across as a real know it all. Ed called him Humpty Dumpty, as he has got a big head!
Tuesday – 18/12/1984. Day 378. Hours worked 12.
Started off as very overcast, but was never cold, and brightened up later to become a nice day. Found out that there wasn’t any trouble on the last England. A person just never knows what to believe here. Mind you, I said that to Arran Jones once, and he replied, “it depends who tells you Tom.” Which of course is correct.
Eddie and I have been given the old chap
Malcolm to work with us, we had him for a little while not long ago. The truth
is he is just not up to the work, I am sure he was once, but I am sorry to say
not now. Paul Bedford said he didn’t want him back but was told he had to take
or he went on the next ship. Paul said to me, “if he is not up to it he goes
when the ships back.” I told Eddie and we have agreed to “carry him,” as he is
nice enough and we don’t want to see him sacked as he is only here to make a
few quid, like the rest of us. I told Ed, “he and I may need looking after one
day!”
A
notice has gone up in the canteen saying, we will be off, Christmas Day, Boxing
Day and New Year’s Day. Its good that they have not tried to make us work any
of those days like they did at Easter.
Got
a statement for my overtime tonight for the first 12 months, it’s about £1,000.
It could have been a lot more had it not been for the overtime ban.
Wednesday – 19/12/1984. Day 379. Hours worked 12.
On the local radio there is a request
show on a Tuesday night. “The anything goes, show.” Which is mainly used by the
army, but our lads also use it a lot to slag each other off. The other week one
of the lads put a request on it for, Joe the airfield drainage foreman. Joe has
not been here that long and is not liked at all by the lads and does not get on
very well with his section manager, John Lowe.
The request was for. The Last Farewell, by Roger Whittaker, then she said, “the message
is in the first two lines.” Which was.
“There’s
a ship lies rigged and ready in the harbour,
Tomorrow for old England she sails!”
Not funny for Joe, but it made us all laugh.
Thursday – 20/12/1984. Day 380. Hours worked 12.
Yet again started off raining and brightened up later, but it is very overcast now. Off to see the pantomime our lot are putting on tomorrow night, Benny Green and his Forty Thieves.”
Got away about 6/15 tonight, a bit on the
early side, and nearly walked in to Paul Bedford at the post office. I was
about to go in when I saw the back of him in front, “I did a runner,” I don’t
think he saw me. He would whinge if he did, just like he does. He is a world
record holder for whinging!
It looks like we will be moved off the
epoxy resin floors tomorrow, as Barton’s are
moaning that we are in their way and that they can not get on while we are
laying the floors. I have got to say since we got into it, it has really put
the time in fast. We have been doing really good, but that stuff does really
give me a head ache, the smell of it. It can’t do a person any good, mind you
that’s like lots of things in this industry!
On a lighter note to finish on this evening, the Christmas decorations have gone up in the canteen. Happy Christmas!
Friday – 21/12/1984. Day 381.
Hours worked 10.
Hasn’t been too bad day, quite warm at times. Been moved again, back up to the hanger today to do some more floors there, than we are up at the airfield tomorrow to put some floors in some electric sub-stations up there.
We
had to put up with that mouthy John McBride at every break time today, he is
back for his second contract and is taking over from Reg as the “gofer” up
there. Between the two of them they are trying to talk each other to a standstill.
God they can both come out with some total bullshit.
Not
long too go now, get Christmas and New Year out of the way, and it’s all over,
bar the shouting, and of course there can be plenty of that here, especially if
I am involved, ha-ha! I have got to say that time has gone very fast since I
got back from leave, even with all the hassle.
Saturday – 22/12/1984. Day 382. Hours worked 10.
Ed and I have been up at the airfield
laying the sub-station floors. We got a “job and finish” but they were not
giving anything away, what a surprise for this place. We didn’t have any breaks
at all and only got finished an hour early and had to walk back. I have to say,
I like working with Ed, we get on well, he has got a good sense of humour and
he’s a good worker. I am on my hands and knees laying the floors but he is
loading the wheelbarrows and wheeling them in, it’s hard and heavy work. No, we
have turned into a good little team. Even if I can’t understand him half the
time, ha-ha!!!
We went to the pantomime last night and I must
say it was enjoyable, we had a good laugh. One problem was that we had a drunk
behind us who was shouting a lot. One joke I liked was. “How comes it takes the
human body 24 hours to turn food into shit, when Eastham’s can do it in five
minutes?”
Sunday – 23/12/1984. Day 383. Day off.
When
I was out for the Saturday night drink last night I went to the toilets and there was a big ring of blokes, with two on the floor in the middle fighting. There
was blood and crap everywhere, I knew them both. Bets were going on at the
time. This place is the “old wild west.”
Saw Inness in the bar, it was the first time I
had seen him since he threw the full can of beer at me the other week, I had
avoided him to be fair. Steve his room mate had told him what had happened and
he kept saying sorry. He was “totally out of it” the other week.
Before we went to dinner tonight, Rich and I
had the BBC World Service radio on to
listen to the new number one record, it is a charity one, by Band Aid, called, ‘Do they Know
it’s Christmas.’ I have to say we
were nearly in tears by the end.
Memo – The jail.
The lad who went to jail in Stanley for 14 days has come back here, until the next ship comes in. He went to jail because he kicked a bloke’s door in then beat him up while he was in his bed. He also tried to set fire to the canteen. He is now wandering around the bars pissed up most of the time, what is wrong with this lot letting him come back here? While he was in the jail we built here, before he went to court in Stanley, he got the bars out of the window to escape, they found out before he got out and backed a van up to the window.
Memo – The ‘B’ Team.
We, the ‘B’ Team had a meeting in the canteen this afternoon about not getting paid until the end of our con-tricks. We are all putting in some money to get a solicitor when we get home to sort it. Dave Dier is one of the lads who is going to try and get it done? Neil Thompson from welfare was there. While, yes, he did come out with us, and he had his ‘B’ Team sweatshirt on, he’s a manager when all is said and done, so we all think he was only spying on us.
Monday – 24/12/1984. Day 384.
Hours worked 12.
Bob has done his hand in, he fell over when he was pissed on Saturday night, it looks broken to me. He went to our hospital on Sunday but he was sent away.
Been
a nice day. Most of the sections knocked off at lunch time and had beer given
them, not us. Ed and I had another sub-station floor to screed up at the
airfield. We were given a job and finish for the 12 hours, but did not get done
until 4/30. By time we walked back to the camp half the workforce were drunk.
David
Antony has just been a round to wish me a Happy Christmas. I suppose I should
let bygones be bygones and move on, until I can get my own back that is, ha-ha!!! Move on Tom.
The post office was open when I passed it
on the way to work this morning, so I popped in on the half chance, and got 11
letters, a good way to start the day. Rich and I have got beers in as we have
the lads coming around for a drink before we go to dinner tomorrow. What is
really odd and that is it’s Christmas Eve and it is light so late at night, I
still can’t get used to that.
Tuesday – 25/12/1984. Day 385. Day off. Christmas Day.
Well, my second Christmas Day here, and I must say up until now it been okay, well a vast improvement on last year. Went for a drink with the lads last night and had a good time. PG got drunk, for the first time here. He only ever has two, well he was well gone last night. I took him back to his room. He has looked after me a few times over the past year, so it was time to repay him.
I
went to the phone at 6/00 am (9/00 at home) this morning and there must have
been 50 plus in the queue so I didn’t worry. Opened up my presents and very
pleased with the gifts from home. Rich and I brought each other a present, he
got me a new lighter. Phil brought us both 200 cigarettes, he doesn’t smoke.
Rich went to the midnight mass in the church last
night and said nearly everyone was drunk, he said people were falling all over
the place. Steve Hall was standing at the back of the church with an arm full
of beer cans, and dropped them at one point.
It looks like a nice day up until now. Photo above of the lads in our on Christmas Day.
Wednesday – 26/12/1984. 386. Day off. Boxing Day.
Been another nice day, very bright and pleasant. We had a good day yesterday, had the lads around at 10/30 and were back in here for the afternoon. We had fourteen lads in this little room at one point. There was a lot of cans of beer in here and there was a fair few lads who were the worst for ware by the end of it. Phil passed out at tea time in the evening, Tony and Rich took him back to his room and put him to bed.
There was a party across the corridor,
what a row they were making, it went on until about 3/30 this morning. Someone
who was in there was sick all in the corridor and in the toilets. What mess and
smell. Rich and I helped clean it up this morning. Photo above of Tony and Phil in our room.
Thursday – 27/12/1984. 387. Hours worked 12.
Been a nice sunny day after an overcast start. After being pulled out of the power station to let Barton’s on because of their moaning and groaning they are doing nothing in there and we have been told we could be back in there next week.
Eddie
came in this morning but was coughing, choking and had pains in his chest. I sent
him back telling him to go to the docs. On Christmas Eve when we were in the
bar, Kim Benjamin came over and started talking to me. I couldn’t look at PG
who was stood behind him as I knew I would crack up laughing. And of course, I
got a lot of stick from all the lads after he had gone.
Dave Dier spent all day with us on
Christmas day then came around again yesterday afternoon. With our round coffee
table, we made a race track around the outside, we got little cars and dices
out of the crackers. So, we had races at 10p a go, it was good fun. I had
nicked a box of 50 crackers out of the canteen for our room and the lads.
Little things please little minds, as they say, ha-ha!!!
Friday – 28/12/1984. Day 388.
Hours worked 12.
Dave Dier who is now doing the mastic joints on the road slabs at the Tank Farm, was found by Dick the assistant manager inside one of the tanks, snoring his head off. Lucky for him they didn’t fill it up with oil while he was asleep!!!
PG
rang his wife, she said, “some good news, we have had £1,700 go in the bank two
days ago.” He said, “that’s my wages and overtime payment.” She said, “guess
what? We have now got £250 left.” PG said he couldn’t talk.
It has
been a nice hot and sunny day, and as I have been working outside I have been
making the most of it, but the back of my neck is red raw.
Got away a bit early tonight, then
walked into Paul Bedford who stood looking at his watch, the man has got
nothing better to do.
We
had post in today, which is always good. Also got my pay slip, £1032 overtime.
There will still be some more to come after that. Got to work on Sunday
which is a pain. Still we have a day off on Tuesday, New Years Day, which is
something to look forward too.
Saturday – 29/12/1984. Day 389. Hours worked 12.
Jimmy the Jock who hasn’t washed since he has been here was true to his word and flew his ‘Long John’ pants on the flag pole the night before he went on leave. They were totally rotten, it seems he had never taken them off since he had been here, nearly seven months!!! He is being charged by JLB for the room. It was so dirty they had to strip the whole room out, carpets and redecorate it. I don’t know if they will let him come back? But he should be sacked for doing that, that is ridiculous!
Been another really nice day, apart from
the wind being really strong. My neck and face are both bright red and very
sore. Ed and I are back on nights as of next Wednesday, doing the epoxy-resin
in the power station again. My guts have been playing up and I have had bad indigestion,
along with my feet and legs hurting its like I am falling apart. I don’t want
to go to the docs as I have my medical for the next con-trick coming up.
Sunday – 30/12/1984. Day 390. Hours worked 6.
It has been a really lovely morning, no wind, not a cloud in the sky, and it’s Christmas!!! Mind you it changed after lunch and is now pouring down, more of what we are used to for this time of year, at home.
Only worked until 1/00, as the job we went in
for we could not get on with as Barton’s came in and moaned that they could not
get on. They are a real pain that lot, they think they are the only ones with
work to do, and they won’t work together, in the same area.
Reg Brooks went home out of the blue
yesterday. His wife has been getting dirty phone calls and his daughter got
beat up on Friday night. He is in Stanley today and there is a troop ship going
to the UK tomorrow.
There was a fire in corridor ‘Q’ during
the day yesterday, the whole corridor was full of smoke. They had to kick five
doors in before they found it. Someone had left an element on in a cup of water
and it had burnt out and caught fire. They will be in trouble!
Memo – Bill.
Bill is some lad, I really like him. Dave and I first meet him coming out here last year. The three of us spent hours playing Monopoly on the ship. He doesn’t mix his words, he says it as it is. We have had some good fun taking the “Mick” out of each other with me coming from London and him from Birmingham.
On Christmas Eve, he was totally arsed holed, for a change! Sally had a party in her room (I didn’t go) he went out to the toilet, and was so drunk he couldn’t find his way back. He then bumped into (in his words) a very large woman who said, “I’ll show you back to the room.” He said the next thing he remembers was the next morning, waking up in her room. He was on the floor with just his socks and glasses on. She was asleep in the armchair with just her bra on with her false teeth in a glass on the table beside her. He got his clothes and did a runner. “The best is, I can’t remember what happened,” he said.
Monday – 31/12/1984. Day 391.
Hours worked 12.
The last day of 1984, one whole year on the island (apart from leave) a year ago today, I and a lot of other lads had the shits. And the old guts don’t feel that much better today, one year on!
It has been another really good day, it was in
fact boiling at times. We have had a couple of really good weeks, it is the
first time I have had sun burn at this time of year, my shoulders are burning.
Phil was telling me he has fallen out with
Steve Smith his section manager up at the airfield, I did say, “that’s not a
hard thing to do.”
The wife and children will be out with the
rest of the family now for a New Years Eve party, I wish I was there. It is 10/00
o/clock at home now, not long to go.
I have noticed a lot of lads here are stocking up on beers in their rooms, it could be a bit lively later on tonight. We are all going out about 9/00 o/clock, which of course will be midnight at home.
Hours worked for December = 302.
Overtime hours = 42.
January 1985.
Tuesday – 01/01/1985. Day 392. Day off.
First day of a New Year, I wonder what this one has in store for us? I managed to fill the last diary, much to my surprise, I just never thought I would keep it up, mind you this new one is a page a day, where the last one was two days to a page, so this one may be bit harder.
Malcolm
the old chap in our gang was taken in to hospital last Saturday, his stomach
and private parts had all swollen up, he was really in a lot of pain, he didn’t
look good at all. Davy Jaws has been told he has got an ulcer and has to stop
drinking, he does drink a lot.
The
mail has been really bad of late, Dave Dier has had very little from his wife
Jenny and I have been told from my wife that is because she has had very little
letters from him.
It has been another really nice day weather
wise, it was very, very hot at times. We had a really good New Years Eve in the
bar, people were in good form, no silliness, not that I saw anyway. I got hold
of a load of crackers and party hats which I had in a big bag, I was handing
them out to everyone, I felt like Father Christmas!!!
I
borrowed a phone card off PG this morning as the shop had sold out so that I
could phone home. All the family were still at sister Jeans from late night. It
was great to talk to them all, and on top of that Tottenham beat Arsenal with a
last-minute goal, 2-1. Which is great, top of the league!
Wednesday – 02/01/1985. Day 393. Hours worked 12.
We had a Royal Navy ship at West Cove on New Years day and the sailors came down and used the bars, there was some very drunk looking sailors wandering around the camp later in the day.
PG, Phil and I spent the day out walking. We walked from here to Westland beach which is about one-mile past the ship which is about eight miles in all. I got a lot of good photos, and of course we did the penguin thing again. I have only been there once before and that was the weekend we first landed, over a year ago. It was very hot again and we had lunch on the ship, all in all it made for a nice day.
Been another nice warm day, which can’t be bad. We had a show on last night which is for the forces here but they come to us as well. We enjoyed it, it just makes such a nice change. The last act was a chap who did comedy songs, which went down very well.
Thursday – 03/01/1985. Day 394. Hours worked 12.
One of the lads who came out with us, Alan who is a Volvo lorry driver went home on leave to find out his wife had left him for another chap. Not only did she clean his bank account out when he got to the flat it was empty, all the furniture everything gone. To cut a long story short, and I haven’t got up to date information but he got some more bad news from home over the weekend and has taken an overdose and was taken to hospital in Stanley the other day.
The bloke who set fire to his room the other
week, because he left the element in cup, ‘Thunder Box George’ he is
called that as when we first got here he was coming out of a thunder box
(toilet) and the wind blew the door on his thump and broke it, the thump not
the door! Anyway, he has been charged for the damage to his room.
Had to fill a form out yesterday on my
health records for my second con-trick, if I come back that is? We are meant to
have another medical if we say we may come back, but I haven’t heard anything yet.
Polly next door has been getting hold of tins of fish (he hasn’t said where
from) that we have spent the evening, first trying to open them, (with my steel
fixer snips) then eating them, and smelling the room out.
What
a change of a day with the weather, it has been blowing a gale and bloody cold.
We have spent the day up at the airfield concreting, it always seems a lot
colder up there as it is flat and higher.
Talking to one of the fitters in the showers
tonight who has been sacked for refusing to go on nights, he said others had
refused and had not been sacked. I said he should ask to see Benjamin.
Friday – 04/01/1985. Day 395. Hours worked 12.
One lad who came out with the ‘Boat People’ Mick phoned his wife the day before the last England came in, and she said she was really fed up with this. He jacked the next morning and went on the ship. He had done ten out of fourteen months!
The laundry has got a lot better of
late. They now reckon you could get your things back in two days, if not the
next day, and to be fair they are making a much better job of them these days.
Eddie, who I work with does make me laugh
with some of the things he comes out with. When the ship leaves Cape Town and
until it leaves here he says he goes into compression (not depression) when he gets
like that he says there is only one way to cure it, and that is to go into the
decompression chamber each night after work. The other name for the chamber is,
the bar!
Not a bad day, a windy start but it
died down later but it was overcast. Jess came to me at 4/45 this afternoon and
said I had to go for a medical then! So, I went down to the centre and saw John
the medic who came out with us. He said “have you got the form?” I told him I
gave it back to welfare as I was told to. He said “you haven’t been badly ill,
have you?” I said “no.” He said, “fine, here’s a bottle, piss in it, bring it
back with the form. You’re fit to come back!” The technical term for the
medical is, a bloody joke!
Saturday – 05/01/1985. Day 396. Hours worked 12.
Been another really nice day. My back peeled and now it is brunt again, and it really hurts.
On Christmas day we had some of
the lads around for a quite drink, before dinner at lunch time. Well that’s how
it started off, but ended up as a real piss up! We all went to dinner together
and put four tables in a square as did others so that we could all sit
together. In the afternoon we must have of had half the corridor in our room at
one point, there were bodies lying everywhere. Everyone who came in had to ware
a hat and have their photo taken with it on. Phil was well drunk and at tea
time he fell asleep in his meal, and doesn’t even remember going to tea.
Loads of Eastham’s staff, who were
working were drunk and moaning about having to work on Christmas day. Well when
a person works in the service industry that’s what happens!
On Christmas Eve I opened one of my
nine letters from the wife. Inside there was a small envelope with dirty little
finger marks on it. Written on the front in my daughter Jeans (Little Monkey)
handwriting, who will be five on the 16th of this month, it said “To
my Daddy Wheeler, 6026 (that’s my ID number) Falkland Islands. Inside was a
“for someone special” card, on the back it said. “Because precious things are
very few, that must be why there is only one of you.” Love Jean xxxxx. Yes of
course I cried.
I was told yesterday that we would be
going back on nights next week, last bloody week before I go. The cleaners have
nicked Rich’s ashtray, we had one each, he has gone mad. When we were in the
canteen for dinner tonight, Ian a concrete truck mixer driver came in and
shouted across the room. Tom, get back to the Tank Farm will you, and show them
how to lay fucking concrete!
Sunday – 06/01/1985. Day 397. Hours worked 8.
It was a nice bright day to start with, but started raining late in the morning and is now pouring down. Had a nice job and finish today, had a couple of rooms to screed up at the hanger, was paid 8 hours and got finished just before lunch time.
Nick
the young Volvo fitter spent Christmas day over in Stanley, a few of them went,
he was telling me about it the other day. They ended up in the NAFFI bar. Apparently,
there was troops from the Green Jackets and others from the Royal Marines. It
seems that it started off with a lot of singing at each other, then turned into
a drinking contest between the two forces and then progressed on to other
things, which are far too disgusting for me to go into here. And they think
this lot here is bad!
Saw Jimmy the tyre fitter’s roommate the other
day, who just happens to be another Jimmy. He has been to visit him in Stanley
and says he is lot better and is now walking around the ward. His wife is
staying in the hospital with him until they fly home on the 17th of
this month.
We had collection for him, there are a couple of things I disagreed with. The “whip round” was only among us the ‘B’ Team, which is fine as we can’t have a collection for everyone who goes home ill from here. The two things I am not happy about, is first off, we were only allowed to put £1 in each and secondly, they are going to get him an engraved pint mug. How ridiculous is that? He doesn’t know when he will work again, if ever. We should have a good collection to help him out!
Eddie and I have got to get a night pass to work nights now, which we will
do tomorrow. That is so a person can go in the canteen early to eat and move
around the sections at night as the has been a lot of damage done and things
nicked off sections at night.
Memo – Phil Goodall.
While I have moaned about of lads here, and there have been some real idiots, or maybe this place has brought it out of them? With saying that, I have met some really good blokes, and Phil is one of them. He is older than me, I would say in his late forties. He has worked in a lot of places around the world, but does not go on about it like a lot of them do.
Phil
comes from Bury, Greater Manchester, I just got on with him as soon as he came.
He came on the April ship, (they were nickname ‘The April Fools’) and he makes
fun of himself if he does anything wrong, saying, “what do you expect? I am an April
Fool.” He was in my gang at the camp from when he first arrived, he is a good
worker, knows his stuff, and I have not had a minute’s problem with him. PG has
been the same, that’s why I got them both in my gang at the Tank Farm, after my
leave, but as I have documented, that went “tits up” well for me anyway.
Phil keeps himself to himself, but he often
comes around to our room to listen to the radio and have tea and to have
company. He is just a good all-round chap, whom I am pleased to have meet.
Phil is rear left with the cap on in the photo above.
Monday – 07/01/1985. Day 398.
Hours worked 12 – nights.
It started off as a dull and overcast day, but did brighten up later on. Well, not long too go now, just a week in fact. I am not really sure how to sum up the past year or so? There have defiantly been “ups and downs.” There have been times when I haven’t minded it at all, then others “for two pins,” I would have got on the next ship and got the hell out of here. I do miss the family so much, but it would do us good to do another six months, for the money, but I just don’t know.
We have had tin fish off Polly next door, he has now turned up with a giant tin of fruit, God that is going to take some eating.
Last
Thursday night Rich left me in the canteen to go to the post office. The one
night he does that I left my keys in the room, I couldn’t find him anywhere. In
the end I went to Eastham’s office to get a spare key. I had to answer loads of
questions, which of course is a safeguard for you. He got in at 12/30, he had
been on the drink.
We
had a meeting last night, the ‘B’ Team, regarding being paid to the end of our
con-tricks. We have formed a committee who are going to see Benjamin.
Tuesday – 08/01/1985. Day 399. Hours worked 12 – nights.
It looks a bright and sunny day but sounds windy, I haven’t been out yet. Well just got up after the first night of the week, it’s 2/30 pm. As for the nights work, we had two new blokes who had came out here on the last ship as plasters. Well there is no plastering here at all, they didn’t want to do the floor laying or the nights, so they didn’t turn up, Jess said they have jacked. Talking of Jess, he spent the whole night sat in the office, and popped in a couple of times. While I was done in at the end doing it on my own with Ed mixing the gear, well to be honest, I was happy with just us and Jess out of the way!
A chap was taken to hospital in Stanley two
weeks ago with kidney failure, I am sorry to say he died last Friday morning.
They had flown his wife out and she was with him when he passed away. I am not
sure what, but they had flown things here to help him, but unfortunately it
didn’t.
I had a look back at the last year which I had
wrote about, and there are times when I have done a fair amount of moaning and
whinging. I suppose that is the thing about a dairy and that is if a person writes
after something has just happened, well sometimes emotions are running high. I
have said a fair bit about my state of mind and body. Regarding the first one,
well it has been a test at times as I know I have been up and down, but I am
pleased with the fact I have completed it. Body wise, the doc says I have got
arthritis and I would go along with that, so I will have to get it sorted when
I am at home.
Wednesday – 09/01/1985. Day 400. Hours worked 12 – nights.
Day 400, that must be some kind of landmark, not sure what though? Been out to have a haircut today. I brought a razor comb when I was on leave, which I have been able to keep it down and Sally cut it for me once but it’s good to have a tidy up before going home. When I walked over there the weather was not very nice at all, it was very overcast and windy and was raining when I came back.
The committee the ‘B’ Team have formed
have got an appointment to see Benjamin tomorrow. It’s a six-man committee, which
I personally think is too many, but that is what was voted for. The chairman is
a Welshman called Geoff, I put him up for it. He is a pipelaying ganger, I have
always thought he knows what he is on about and comes across alright. Oh, and
Dave Dier is also on it, funny change for him to stick his neck out!
Bob Clarke has totally lost it. Its one thing
that he’s been having it off with Sally, now Rich said he told him that he is
thinking of leaving his wife and kids and moving up to Scotland with her when
they are completely finished here. I think he’s an idiot!
In the bar on New Year’s Eve a button came off
my shirt and PG said, “if that happens on New Years Eve it means you get good
luck all year around.” I said, “is that true?” He said “no, I have just made it
up!” Very good PG!
Another busy night last night, but we got a fair bit done, just Ed and I that is. The England was meant to be here next Wednesday but a notice has gone up in the canteen saying it is now due on Tuesday. After fourteen months a day here or there is not an issue, with saying that, better a day early than a day late.
Thursday – 10/01/1985. Day 401. Hours worked 12 – nights.
On
the way to work we walked through the RAF camp. Outside the joiners work shop,
they have got an 8-foot x 4-foot sheet of ply wood, long ways, fixed to two 4x2
timbers which are stood up in the ground. Painted at the top is a ship, the England.
Under that is a semi-circle, with Cape Town
at the left-hand side, then 1 to 14, West Cove at the bottom, then 15 to 28 to
Cape Town at the right-hand side.
There’s an arrow that they move each day to count the days. It’s not good counting
the days here, I feel like ripping the arrow off every time I pass it.
Got the ID pass for the nights today,
there was a real queue at security as they are now changing the normal passes
for some reason, if we come back we have to have a new one. Ed and I can now
get in the canteen at 5/00 pm to get feed.
Friday – 11/01/1985. Day 402.
Hours worked – 12 – nights.
Been a very cold and windy day, not nice at all, as it was all last night. I have come down with a heavy cold, I was not good during last night at all, coughing, choking and sneezing throughout the shift. With saying that I seemed to have sweated a lot out while I was asleep today and do feel a lot better now.
When we were sat in the canteen at
1/00am this morning having lunch, with other lads working nights, without any
one seeing, I blew up paper bag and popped it. They nearly all jumped out of
their skins.
The lads who are in our ‘B’ Team committee
have had a meeting with Kim Benjamin regarding our con-trick and have been told
in no uncertain terms that we will only get paid until the day we arrive back
at Heathrow and not until the end of our con-trick, everyone is up in arms. I
read the con-trick again yesterday and it says, “If JLB don’t give us a month’s
notice, (which they haven’t) they have got to pay us a month’s money.
I did see Neil Thompson, welfare about it a
little while ago. He said that if they paid us they would have to do the same
for every ship, it would cost far too much. It’s a bit like the overtime all
over again, we are getting hit! They should have thought of things like that
when they were drawing the con-trick up. If what a person hears is true? This
is meant to be an open-ended contract with the government regarding money, but
again we are going to get done-over!
Saturday – 12/01/1985. Day 403. Hours worked -12 – nights.
It hasn’t been a bad afternoon, bright, but of course windy. It was raining when I went to bed this morning as it was most of last night.
I
signed my second con-trick last night, I must be mad. The thing is, if I sign
it now and do come back they pay us a week of the four weeks we are at home,
“big deal.” I know but it is better than nothing. I now have loads of forms to
complete and get back to the office.
There
seems to be a lot of stick being given out these days by a lot of the newer
lads to the pioneers and ‘A’ Team, bearing in mind Jim Morrison said we were
also pioneer’s when we landed, but we have never seen ourselves as such, well I
haven’t anyway. I am not sure if I have said how the ‘A’ Team came about, but I
will briefly below.
The Merchant Providence left the UK first with
24 men and a lot of cargo on board and were meant to get here first and more the ship and set up the camp. They called their selves the ‘A’ Team as they
said they must have been the best to have been chosen first. But they broke
down and had to pull into Las Palmas Spain. The England left a couple of weeks
later with 80 men on her, and of course it then passed the MP. So, when the England got here they all signed a flag saying “the first ‘A’ Team to land on the
Falkland’s. And that started it all off.
The photo above is of the MP before it left the UK for the Falklands in 1983.
Sunday – 13/01/1985. Day 404. Day off.
Another overcast day and on the windy side. Got finished at 2/30 am last night, we had been given a job and finish, that’s the floor finished in the power station now. While they would have completed it with or without me, it’s a good feeling to get it done. Ed has been told he has to work with Jess now I am going. To say he is not happy is very much an understatement, he never stopped going on about it. Talking about moans, I was told by Paul Bedford I didn’t have to work Monday if I got the floor finished, I said this to Jess and he said, “no you need to come in as I have a couple of floors that need screeding.” That’s so he doesn’t have to do them. Things never change here!
I got a tin of paint and a paintbrush
off one of the Erect-a-Com’s lads today so that I could paint the walls in our
room after Rich and I took our posters and post cards down, they charge a
person to redecorate the room if there are marks on the walls. The walls looked
a real mess after I took everything down, but I must say they look fine now, if
I say so myself after my DIY.
Memo – Benny Radio.
I am not sure what sort of set up they have
over there for studios etc, but one day they had the builders in there and you
could hear the work going on in the background. There was sawing, hammering,
drilling, people talking, it was very funny.
It is interesting at times as it gives local
information and when the islander plane is coming into West Cove, this normally
means we will have post. The two girls who do the “Anything Goes Show” on a
Tuesday night are locals. It is mainly for the forces, but our lads have taken
it over a bit, and send some really rude things in that often they read out,
without realising what they are saying.
Monday – 14/01/1985. Day 405. Hours worked 10.
Started as a very overcast day, and it was very windy, but that died down and it was okay. We all went out for drink last night and had a good time. I think it is fair to say we were all half pissed, or even a bit more. I went to the kitchen and showed my night pass and said the doggie bags had not turned up, they gave us rolls, fruit, ham and a whole chicken, so we went back to our room for a midnight feast. We were in fact meant to have had the ‘B’ Team going away party on Saturday night but it was cancelled because they only sold 26 tickets.
Got
away from work at 4/30 pm, but had a very busy day, in fact we hardly stopped. Ed
didn’t stop moaning about having to work with Jess. He says he just doesn’t
like him, and the fact that Ed comes from Newcastle, a Geordie and Jess is from
Sunderland, a Macham (they call them that because of the way they talk, they
don’t say make and take, it’s mac and tack) so that doesn’t help! I am sure he’ll
be okay.
Finished
work for at least eight weeks, if I come back that is. With saying that the bit
of time I got off early was spent sorting out more forms, for my return.
Tuesday – 15/01/1985. Day 406. Travelling.
An overcast start to the day but now it's very bright at 3/30 pm in the afternoon. We are at sea again, once this two weeks are over we will have spent about two months on this old tub in just over a year. We were told to be out of our rooms for the 8/00 this morning, but it was nearer 10/00, no one came near us. We boarded the ship at 2/00, Rich and I are in a cabin together.
There
was a fire in Corridor ‘A’ early on Sunday morning. It started in the drying
room, it burnt that out, the shower and toilets and a large amount of the
corridor. The firemen got it under control and everyone got out safely. All the
blokes from there were in the reading room this morning waiting for new rooms.
No doubt they will end up in our old rooms, the Uganda came in last week and the lads from there are all in the old
medical centre, and of course there will be lads off the England today, I am pleased to say I wouldn’t
like to have to sort that mess out, what a headache?
I saw two coppers on the camp last week
and didn’t think much of it, I was told today that there are now 12 of them
here, in the police station we built at the camp. We could do with it to be
fair. We are now on our way around to San Carlos Water to “bunker up” (refuel)
tonight, then on our way home!
Had breakfast with PG this morning as he
is not coming home with us, he is staying an extra month but will not be back
after that, so that will probably be the last time I will see him, which is a
pity as I really got on well with him. Phil and Eddie were also there, but I should
see them again, if I come back that is.
Wednesday – 16/01/1985. Day 407. Travelling.
We didn’t get to San Carlos until 10/00 am this morning, so twenty hours on here and we are no nearer Cape Town. As usual there is nothing to do on here, blokes wandering around, bored out of their brains.
A chap who was on our section who everyone calls Speedy, got sacked on Monday afternoon by Paul Bedford, who is also on here, going on leave. Speedy was having loads of time off, always with a doctor’s note, but loads of time off all the same. I was talking to Paul and his words were, “he just had to go.”
Talking
of “sackers and jackers” Willie the Scotch steel fixer, he is the one who sat
behind us at the pantomime and was totally pissed and was shouting and roaring
all the time, he has jacked. I don’t think I have ever seen him sober. He was
trying for a medevac, the doc said if you want to go you had better jack, so
that is what he has done. He totally hates the ‘B’ Team, we have been in the
bar a few times when he has shouted out, 'B’ Team, wankers, tosspots!” Now he
is on a ship full of us. He told one of the lads that he “came on the ship to
make sure we all went.” There could be fun and games with him before we get to the UK!
Thursday – 17/01/1985. Day 408. Travelling.
The weather hasn’t been too bad, but not great. I went to the back of the ship to do a bit of sunbathing but the sun kept going in and it was on the cold side then. The sea is a bit on the choppy side.
Last
night, I went up high outside at the rear of the ship with my radio to get the
football results on the World Service. I got it, but depending on which side
the ship lent (port or starboard) the volume would go very high or very low,
anyway Spurs won so that’s good.
Before we left on Tuesday, the ‘B’ Team was
asked to go in the bar at the camp. Wilf Fry the second in command here was in
there, he has always come across as genuine to me and I got on okay with any
dealings I had with him. Anyway, he thanked us for doing a good job and said we
would be missed. I don’t think it was bullshit and it’s good to get a pat on
the back. Mind you the thieving bastards are still doing us for six days.
Also, the morning we were leaving some of the ‘A’ Team were trying to wind us up by saying that that the days we spent on the England travelling home was going to be docked out of our bonus. I didn’t believe it for a minute. Mind you if they thought they could get away with it, this lot would no doubt try it.
Friday – 18/01/1985. Day 409. Travelling.
Not a bad day, on the warm side, but very cloudy, if it wasn’t for that it would be boiling. Rich and I went to breakfast at 8/30 this morning and everything had been cleared away, it was then we realised we didn’t put the clocks forward last night, so it was in fact 9/30, breakfast is until 9/00. That is the first time I have done that.
One
of the pioneers Nick, who lives in the same town in Cumbria as Rich and has in
fact worked with him came back on this ship for his second con-trick and
refused to get off when it got to West Cove. He said he couldn’t do another six
months there. They got Huggie, his foreman to come on the ship and talk him out
of it, but he wouldn’t change his mind. I can see this both ways, firstly you
think he has come all this way and will have to pay for the fares each way, why
didn’t he give it a month? Then I think I can see where he is coming from, two
weeks coming back thinking about this place and it just getting to much. I have
never really liked him very much, he comes across as very cocky. Lads have
thought that of a lot of the pioneers as they came out first, they were not all
like that but a lot were, and he was one of those!
Saturday – 19/01/19855. Day 410. Travelling.
Been a nice hot sunny day. It was a bit over powering this morning as it was very overcast but hot and humid, but was really nice when the cloud cover moved away. I had an hour up on the top deck with all the “posers,” Dave Dier has been spending a long time up there, half naked, Rich is calling him “Poser man.”
There’s a fair few of one of the subbies
men from McKay’s going on leave, they were all on the piss for the first couple
of days, but seem to have calmed down now.
David Antony is on here, he is not coming back, he has tried to talk to me, but I have just avoided him, I’ve nothing to talk to that back-stabber about. The ‘B’ Team had a meeting this morning regarding the six days we are getting stopped. We are all going to chip in to get a lawyer to look at it, not sure if that will do any good or not?
There is a fair few of Barton’s lads on
here who have been let go as they have said they are running out of work. They
tried to get kept on but they said no. I have got to know a fair few of them
since I have been at the power station and they have done a good job, and of
course they will have to pay tax on their earnings as they have not been out
here a year. Barton’ have looked
after their lads as well as JLB have
looked after us, ha-ha!
Sunday 20/01/1985. Day 411. Travelling.
Overcast start to the day, became brighter later, then overcast again. Clocks went forward again last night, I remembered to put them forward this time. It was 3/30am when I got in bed, but still managed to get up for breakfast at 7/30.
“Now get back to work!” That saying has
been going around a few of us since Christmas Eve. Eddie and I were talking to
two of Barton’s young lads and one of them had seen a karate type film called Big
Boss, about seven times. There is one scene where the Big Boss falls out with
about 12 of his workers and has a fight with all of them. At the end of the
fight he is okay, but there are about five workers dead and the rest are
covered in blood and have body parts hanging off them. Big Boss then says, “now
get back to work.” Well we all fell about laughing. So, every time we saw each
other, it was, “now get back to work.” They are both on the ship now.
Memo – Rich. + words.
Cumbrian dialect.
Marrar – mate or friend.
2 Jern – doing.
3.
Bewer – girl.
4.
Oor – over.
5.
Laa’l – little.
6.
Frer – from.
7.
Gern – pull a face.
8.
Gert – big.
9.
Tha or Thou – you.
Beck -stream.
Gam – going.
1 Yan – one.
1 Tan – two.
1 Tither – three.
1 Yam – home.
1 Cuddy – donkey.
1 Yatt – gate.
1 Has-ter – have you.
1 Ken – know.
2 Dusta – do you.
Where dusta hail frer, me laa’l marrar?
Where do you come from my little friend?
Like I said, a foreign language.
Monday – 21/01/1985. Day 412. Travelling.
Been a very misty day, while I am in our cabin at the moment the last time I was on deck about an hour ago the mist was closing in, but at the moment it is red hot.
For some reason this trip seems more boring
than any of the others, that’s not just me there are a lot of people wandering
around looking very fed up, you wouldn’t believe we were all going home. I know
a lot don’t want to come back, but like me people are concerned about what work
is like at home. It has been on the radio a lot about the amount of people
unemployed in the UK. Not only that, but it is a bad time of year (winter) for
the construction industry, and I know there has been some bad weather at home.
I
did hear that Dick Turner; our party leader has asked to see Dave Dier
sometime. One would tend to think it is regarding the money, I don’t think Dick
is one for small talk, but you never know?
It is yet to be confirmed but word on the top
deck (not the runway anymore) is that we will be landing at Heathrow next
Tuesday morning. Willie is off the drink! I will tell you more about it
tomorrow.
Tuesday – 22/01/1985. Day 413. Travelling.
It has been an overcast, misty day, but with saying all of that it is red hot. I was up on the sun deck most of the afternoon, there was a group of us, Rich, Bob, Sally, Bill, Tony, Polly. It was good fun, just relaxing, chatting and generally winding down. I think half the problem has been with most of us is that we were so looking forward to getting home it was like we were going to walk on to the ship and walk off the other side and be in Cape Town! No such luck, it was when we got on here that the realisation sunk in of another two weeks on this “old rust bucket.”
Willie
the smelly Scots steel fixer. If I hadn’t said it before, a steel fixer is a
tradesman who positions and secures steel reinforcing bars, also known as
rebar, and steel mesh in reinforced concrete, using, steel wire and a tool
could nips. I have done a lot of it myself over the years. I digress.
I was talking to him on Saturday in the
lounge, and I will say the lad knows what he is talking about, I have been told
“he is good on the nips,” it’s the first time I have really talked to him, and
he was not drunk. We both know some of the same people we have worked with, we
both worked on the Anchor steel plant in Scunthorpe in the early 70’s, he’s the
second chap I have met out here from there.
While
we were sat there I could smell him so much, so, I had a go at him, as in that
short space of time I had really got to like him. He said he had been going
through a really bad time with the drink and all and it had cost him the job.
We talked about him stopping the drink and getting cleaned up, he said he would,
but I was not convinced. Then low and behold I saw him on Sunday afternoon and
he had had a shower, was in clean clothes and had a haircut, he looked a
different person. I am so pleased, I just hope it lasts.
Wednesday – 23/01/1985. Day 414. Travelling.
It started off as a really nice day, but later on there was some rain, but not too much. In the Sunday ‘news sheet’ put out by the ship radio operator it said. “The British government were going to start taxing workers who work overseas for the government. It was pointing at us and it had to be a “wind up” but so many of the lads believed it and were going mad, many were saying that they would not return if that was the case. Then in ‘Mondays news sheet’ it said that the government had now retraced it and it would not be going ahead. News on the top deck is that Dick Turner stepped in and talked to the captain and he got the radio operator to change it. I still can’t believe how many fell for it. We passed a Japanese factory ship this afternoon, but we were too far off to get good photos.
I am sad to say Willie is back on the beer, that didn’t last long, and it looks like he is trying to make up for the time he lost not drinking. He was really drunk today, he was going around roaring and shouting at everywhere. We had a ‘B’ Team photo on the rear top deck and he was shouting all the time. He said he was going to get a photo of all the “sackers and jackers.”
Thursday – 24/01/1985. Day 415. Travelling.
Been a nice day, very little cloud or mist, just sunshine. I can cope with that, particularly this time of year, especially with the weather how it is at home now.
Bob Clarke got in a fight in the bar last
night with one of the Scottish sub-contractors, they work for KJY. It sounds as if they were chatting
Sally up, I think it just started with them chatting but the bloke said
something out of order and Bob went for him, Bill pulled Bob back and while he
was being held the chap head-butted Bob in the face. I think it all kicked off
then and a curtain got pulled down. I was at the bar at one point and you could
tell there was “tension in the air.” Big Geordie John was having a go at people
and turned on me. I was about to bite but Rich stepped in and we left, it would
be very upsetting to get the sack after almost 14 months.
I have been 10 ½ stone for as long as I can remember, mainly because of the work I do, concreting. I weighed myself before my leave and that is what I was, I weighed myself before we came away last week and I am now 11 stone. I reckon it’s because I am not concreting and have been on my knees nearly all the time screeding. I am not happy at all, so I am cutting back on things.
Friday – 25/01/1985. Day 416.
Travelling.
It has been the hottest day since we have been on here this time, really boiling. Have posted some cards on the ship, which will be posted in Cape Town. They are postcards of Cape Town to PG, Phil and Eddie, just to piss them off, that should do the trick, ha-ha-ha!!!
Since
I have been on the ship this time I have gone out of my way to avoid David
Antony, I just don’t want to talk to him, I really have nothing to say to him, but
he has tried to talk to me for some reason. Yesterday I was near the shop sat
reading when he came over and sat next to me and started talking. I gave him
the time of day, but I just don’t want to talk to him. The same goes for Dave
Dier which I am more upset about. It’s over five years that we have been
workmates now and I know things can never be the same as they once were.
I was talking to Paul Bedford this
morning for about an hour and a half. I did say that I was not sure about
coming back. He said that they had said (managers) that if I come back I would
be made up to a section foreman. Which of course would mean a pay rise and
everything, but why was this not said to me before?
Saturday – 26/01/1985. Day 417. Travelling.
The flights have been confirmed for
Monday night, but we will be staying out here so that we don’t end up going
into Cape Town. The ship before our
leave last year spent the night in dock and the lads went out and there was
trouble I am told.
The Scot’s KJY lads are drinking all the
time the bars are open, lunchtime 12/00 to 14/00 and evening 19/00 to 23/00.
There are not many of them but they really make themselves heard.
Sunday – 27/01/1985. Day 418. Travelling.
We had a ‘B’ Team party for the lads up on the sun deck. As I say it was for the lads and it was a really good night, we all had far too much to drink and it was 3/30 when Rich got back to our cabin. We had a lot of photos taken and it was just a really good night.
Memo – PG and the post-box.
As I have said before I really liked PG and it’s a pity I will properly never see him again. I want to put this story down as when he told me it I remember hearing it on the news.
It
was in the 1970’s, I am not sure when. Paul was a postman in London, part of
his round was in the city, one of the box’s he emptied was a box built into a
brick wall. On this evening he drove along the road, he was on the left the box
was on the right. It was completely pouring down, so he thought he would do it
on the way back as he could return that way.
He went about the rest of the round and
then came back, when he got to the street it was blocked off by police. He got
out and asked what was happening, to be told. The post box had exploded by an
IRA bomb. It would have gone off in the back of his van had it not been for the
rain. Are some things meant to happen in life? And as I said I remember hearing
the story on the news some years before.
Monday 28/01/1985. Day 419. Travelling.
Landed in Cape Town at 06/00 this morning. Rich and I were up early to watch us come into port. It was a really hot day, it is summer here and the temperature must have been in the 90’s, it was very hot.
They
let us go into the town this morning which is about a fifteen-minute walk from
here, we had to be back for early afternoon for our flights to Johannesburg,
and of course then onto home. It was good to get out into the town. We had an
early lunch in a shopping centre which looked on the newish side. I got a lot
of good photos, more of Table Mountain, we didn’t have time to go up there
which would been really good. Maybe one day if I come back here under my own
steam.
On the evening of the 20th January in thick fog, the Kenya had to move very fast to avoid hitting a trawler, we did feel the move and were told about it the next day. We had picked it up on our radar but it seems they didn’t pick us up.
Tuesday 29/01/1985. Day 420. Travelling.
We got to Heathrow at 7/00am this morning and the family were there to meet me, the wife, daughters Claire and Jean and sister Jean meet me which was great. We went out shopping not long after we got back.
I was
given a seat upstairs on the 747 SA flight
from Joburg, I think it was like a Silver
Service, which was very nice, I did in fact have three seats to myself and laid
down for a sleep after the Tom Hanks new film Splash, which was good.
Had a long wait at Joburg but we were feed.
A lot of the lads went on the drink and some were lucky not to get locked up as
they were acting like idiots, and at one point the police were called and Dick
Turner had to intervene. One lad, Little Ted was totally pissed and made a real
fool of himself.
Hours worked for January = 138.
Overtime hours 18.
February.
Memo – Leave.
Well, that’s the leave over, again! Had a really good time with the family and going out. Not like the last leave as it was the winter. When I first got home it was really cold and there was snow on and off, but the last few days before I came back was very nice, almost Spring like. We brought a computer which has gone really well with everyone.
I
had a real problem over whether to come back or not. It was half way through
that a person had to tell them. We talked it over and I looked around locally
for work and there is still very little about. While the tax-free money is good
and of course working, but I do miss the family so much.
Thursday – 28/02/1985. Day 451. Travelling.
Well the winter will be on the way over their
shorty and the fact I will be there until mid-September, which means I will be there
the whole winter. I am not looking forward to the 13-hour flight, I don’t mind
the two hour one as it is in day time and a person can see things, then there’s
12 days on that old rust bucket with nothing to do.
Hours worked for February = 0.
March 1985.
Friday – 01/03/1985. Day 452. Travelling.
There have been a lot of lads that have come back that has surprised me. Big Reg for one, he was drinking so much before we came away, mind you maybe he has got to pay for it now? Dean the chippy nearly turned back at the bar at Heathrow and Terry the walking ganger talked him out of it. Mick the mixer driver had said he would never come back and is here. Mind you there are others who I thought would come back but did not.
We were on the plane for over 15 hours but did
stop about midnight at Cape Verde in
the Atlantic Ocean. While it is of Portuguese colonial culture, traditions from
Africa are also present. It was dark
but very warm and we walked to the terminal which was a square breeze
block-built building painted white, with a big fan in the middle, with table
which had red checked tablecloths, and a bar at one end that had a very large
African lady in appearance serving. I only got a can of coke but it was, “give
me one English pound.” These were the days of £1 notes and when we left, her
‘till’ a shoebox at the back of the bar was over following with “English pound
notes!”
Saturday – 02/03/1985. Day 453. Travelling.
First day back at sea and it has been on the rough side, overcast and we have been getting thrown all over the place. When we had left Cape Town I heard that Davy Jaws and his mate, Big John had left the ship. I have now heard that they did not. They had a row over the cabin they had been given and have now been moved.
Sat on the top deck last night and watched the
lights of Cape Town disappear into
the sunset, as it will be the last we see of “life” for two weeks! Brought
myself a new radio cassette player, as my son Paul would say, “that’s real Harry Dash (flash) Dad.” Went to clean my teeth last night only to find out I
had not packed my toothbrush, so I brought a new one this morning.
When we were landing at Cape Verde my ears started popping very badly and
they have only cleared up today. I did all the holding the nose and blowing, thing,
but I was really in a lot of pain.
Sunday – 03/03/1985. Day 454. Travelling.
Some really bad news. Yesterday afternoon I was in the cabin writing when I decide to go up to get a coffee out of the machine. While I was getting it, I saw a lot of people looking out to sea and pointing. I went and asked them what they were looking at when a lad said, “someone has jumped over the side.” I was then talking to young Carl who was in my gang at one point and it was him who saw the chap jump in. He said he was on a bench with him, not talking, when the chap got up went to the side and jump in.
Carl raised the alarm and threw a life ring in
the sea. The ship turned around and stopped, but the sea was on the rough side.
After about fifty minutes we saw him waving and shouting. From the bridge they
fired a flare near him to mark the spot. They hung a net from the side for him
to climb up. But the next time we saw him he floated past, face down.
What a shock that was. I was on the ship
when another chap went over on our way home in June, that was in the night. We
had to have a roll call later on to work out who it was. It was awful. When I
went to bed that night and closed my eyes I could see him floating past.
Memo – Jock the flag
So, Jock (that’s what everyone called him) was on the piss all the time and was wandering around drunk for a large period of that, promising people free phone calls home when we got there. When this rumour went around, he had a Confederate (‘Yankee’) flag and wrote the ‘B’ Team on it and got everyone to sign it, saying, “the ‘A’ Team couldn’t handle it but the ‘B’ Team will.” He got sacked when we landed and never stepped foot on the island. And the story is he threw the flag over board on the way back!
Monday – 04/03/1985. Day 455.
Travelling.
There has been a really horrible atmosphere on board since the chap died on Saturday. I was in a cabin with Little Ted the weight lifter. He is the one who was totally pissed at Joburg airport when we went home last time. I have now moved cabins, I have no problem with Ted it was just that the cabin was so small there was just no room for both of us at all. He was trying to shave and I was getting ready to change, it wasn’t easy. I have a cabin on my own now but it is down on ‘C’ deck which gets shut off if the ship has problems. I haven’t been below ‘B’ deck before.
Neil Thompson (welfare) was meant to come back
with us, but I have been told he missed the flight. I was talking to Sally and
she said Bob tried to come back this time but left it too late to contact the
office and when he did they said it was full this time, but he is coming back
next month. It looks like he will be carrying on with Sally then?
It was a lot colder in Cape Town when we left
this time. It has been a nice and calmer day today but not very sunny.
Tuesday – 05/03/1985. Day 456. Travelling.
When we were coming into land at Cape Town this last time the plane went through massive turbulence and we were getting throw all over the place. I had Des the lorry driver sat beside me, he was shaking like you would not believe. When we landed he took a bottle of wine out of his bag which he had been sipping on through out the journey, but when he tried to drink it he could not as he was shaking so much.
Wednesday – 06/03/1985. Day 457.
Travelling.
I went for a drink with Tony the welder last
night, which was good. There weren’t many people around, I like Tony, he is a
nice bloke, he lives about 20 odd miles away from me at home. He did shock me,
which I will talk about on Saturday
Went to the horse racing last night, didn’t
win anything. The chap who went overboard was coming back from leave, he worked
for one of the subbies, I didn’t know him. He was in his forties and was
single.
Thursday – 07/03/1985. Day 458. Travelling.
I was talking to Sally again and she say’s Bob has left his wife. She said that he spent about three days at home but they were doing nothing but rowing and falling out, then it came out about Sally, he then moved in with his Mum but went up to Scotland twice to see her. She said that it wasn’t because of her and that it would have happened anyway. To be fair Bob did tell me that he and his wife rowed all the time, and he had left her in the past. I am not sure if it would have happened had he not meet Sally? With saying that Bob is always sniffing around women, and did “have it off,” when he went to Stanley the first time he was there. I tend to come out on his wife’s side, and of course his two daughters, as there are two sides to every story.
One good thing came out of my
conversation with Sally and that was after I brought my watch in the shop for
£62.50p, Bob liked it and went and brought one also. He had it valued while on
leave at a £142.
I was talking to the captain this morning and he said it doesn’t look like the airfield will be open on time which JLB will not be happy about at all. I went up on the back deck last night to get the football results but couldn’t get them. I got them this morning, but bad news, Tottenham lost.
Friday – 08/03/1985. Day 459.
Travelling.
The sea got rougher during the night, we were getting thrown about a fair bit. But it has been a lot calmer today, but no sun out at all and a lot cooler. Those of us going back on a second con-trick can choose who we will share a room with, so much for a single room! I haven’t put anyone down, I will take my chances.
Regarding the chap who went overboard,
I was talking to Carl who saw it. He has been called to the captain’s cabin and
was asked did he want to change his statement regarding what happened as they
feel as the sea was rough he may have got up on the hand rail to be sick. Carl
said “he saw what he saw.”
I was in town with the
family the morning I came back this time getting some last-minute things and we
bumped into Dave Dier’s wife Jenny. He is working on a site just outside the
town centre. She was going on how much she liked having him home every night,
which didn’t help with my wife very much.
Saturday – 09/03/1985. Day 460. Travelling.
Reasonably calm today but again no sun. They were testing the ships water tight doors this morning. I was in my cabin and I heard a slam, I went out and it was to the right of my door I walked around the corner to the left and the one around there was shut! If something happened, I’ve had it!
They had a talent show on last night which
passed a bit of time and was funny at times.
Tony the welder really shocked me the other night, he filed for divorce while we were at home. His wife had a boyfriend a few years before him, and he found out when he was at home she was having an affair with him.
His wife was having
a lay in and he was giving his children breakfast. He’s got a young boy and a
girl, the lad said about Uncle Jack. Tony said he was wrong, but started
questioning them, his daughter said, “when Uncle Jack comes he sleeps in
Mummy’s bed.” Well he flew upstairs and woke her up. She did not deny it, and
said they were over. What a shock? He moved out that day and stayed at his Mums
till he came back. I am gutted for him.
Sunday – 10/03/1985. Day 461. Travelling.
A bit sunnier this morning and a bit warmer, the sea has also been calmer. The time hasn’t gone too bad this time for me, but it can be boring at times, going from one meal to another, and staying in the restaurant as long as possible, but they chase you out when they want to clean up.
Not sure what to make of Joe these
days? He comes and goes which I don’t care about, but the other day he said, “I
don’t mind knocking about with people, but I don’t like being questioned if one
time I decide to eat on my own and not with them?”
I know Dave Dier used to wait for him
every night for dinner at the camp and he got feed up with it, and would lock
his door some nights when he came around to make out he wasn’t there. I haven’t
said anything to him and there are a few of us who eat together, so I don’t
know what that is all about?
Memo – Pete & Dusty – again!
One
Sunday at lunch time they were totally pissed, to be fair, I say one Sunday,
they spent the whole of every weekend pissed. This afternoon I was queuing in
the shop when they came in, they queued for half an hour and when they got
served, not only did they not want anything but also had no money on them. They
brought a pair of pearl earrings and Dusty had his cheque book on him but was
too drunk to make it out so the chap in the shop did it. They then went and saw
a bloke who pierces ears with a hot needle, ouch! To be fair they wore the
earrings all the time.
Another
Sunday when they were drunk they cut each other's hair with a Stanley cutting
knife. You have never seen such a mess in all your life, they had bits hanging
off all over. It was just before they went on leave last time and had to have
it all cut off to make it look right, and they both had a fair amount of hair
before.
Peter came in from work one night and Dusty
had made some shelves, which Pete said looked really good. He then laid on his
bed and fell through it, Dusty had used the slats off his bed to make them!
They papered the walls and ceiling of
their room with tin foil, if it was a bright day a person needed sun glasses on
to go in there. They wrote off to a dating agency and got loads of girls
contact details and were selling them for £5 each. They put adds up all over
the camp. It was Peter who threw the dead Goose on the stage at the folk night.
I have loads more about them I might do another memo on them another time.
Tuesday – 12/03/1985. Day 463. Travelling.
Saw the islands for the first time at breakfast this morning. We are going around to San Carlos today to ‘bunker up,’ then around to near West Cove tonight and in tomorrow. I have written six letters and done one tape since I have been on here for the family and will send them when we get in tomorrow. Rough sea and high winds, welcome back, to the Falklands!
Wednesday – 13/03/1985. Day 464. Travelling.
Another day at sea that we were not excepting. The sea has turned really rough, so they will not take the ship into the cove as it is so narrow. So, it’s another day of floating up and down past the island, while I can’t wait to get off this this old tub, it’s another day of the con-trick gone.
I was talking to the captain again the other
day, and he is a really nice chap. The ‘A’ Team called him a lot of names as
when they first got here, like today he would not take the ship into the cove
because of the weather. And the truth is he cares about the crew, passengers
and the ship, so he won’t risk them.
He had six months off the England. He had a month’s holiday, then they
went down Oz way, he then said, “would you believe I got orders to come down to
the Falklands and around Cape Horn? He said the ship would be on until June, then
we would be flying in and out. It will be a long flight but has got to be
better than two weeks on this thing?
Thursday – 14/03/1985. Day 465. Travelling.
We got in this morning, what a joke of the accommodation we have been put in. They are no more than tin sheds. Two to a room, one wardrobe between the two of you, a really small heater, it is a fair walk to the camp and the canteens, bar etc and the roads are just full of mud. I am so pissed off.
Us lads on our second con-trick got a telex a
few days ago from Simon Freeman, who I believe has taken over from Kim Benjamin
who has now finished, it read:
Owing to the number of people now
resident at Mount Pleasant, coupled with technical problems that
have delayed the commissioning of the RAF
camp, we are not able to provide you with single accommodation at present. The
above problems have been exacerbated by the loss of 24 rooms in a recent
indecent.
It is hoped that the above problems will be
resolved soon, and when single accommodation becomes available you will be
given priority in accordance with paragraph 4.1 of your agreement.
So,
the technical term for that, in short is. “We don’t give a toss about you, GET
STUFFED! Oh, and welcome back."
I am not sure what to say as this place beggar’s
belief, and I came back! I did hear also that the loss of the 24 rooms was
another fire!
Friday – 15/03/1985. Day 466. Hours worked 12.
Davy Jaws was telling me that when we got to Heathrow going home, he saw Bob Clarke kissing Sally goodbye as she went for her flight to Scotland, then when he came out he was kissing his wife who was there to meet him with their girls. Well its over now, by the sounds of it.
There
has been a wind-up going around the new lads. And it is that when we get back
we all go to the canteen or rec hall and get told which section we will be on.
Someone told the new lads on the ship that it is a second interview for them
and if they fail they are back on the ship in the afternoon. We have some
rotten sods here.
First day back at work and not too bad.
I am not on the floor screeding anymore, I am back on the concrete, PQ
concrete, it’s the floor in the hanger. Paul Bedford had wanted me back, but
Alan White said he pulled strings to get the best concrete ganger on the
Falklands, that made my head grow a bit.
I
have got seven lads and they seem okay, a cheery enough lot, plenty of crack,
but they seem to get on with the work okay, that’s the main thing.
Saturday – 16/03/1985. Day 467. Hours worked 15.
Started work at 04/30 this morning as it was the only time we could get the PQ as the runway has main dibs on it. But all went well.
Had another row over the single room,
this time with Neil Thompson, I really got upset about it. Spurs won away to
Liverpool today for the first time in 73 years, I was over the moon. I had the
radio next to me all time I was working, it was great. I rang home tonight,
which as always is great to talk to the family.
I was talking to one of the officers on
the ship after the lad went overboard. He said he knew people wondered why they
didn’t put a lifeboat down for him, but they are meant to go away from the
ship, not to come back and it was rough. It would have been a big risk.
Sunday – 17/03/1985. Day 468. Day off.
Again, it has been raining all day, it does not seem to have stopped since we got back, it has been almost none stop. All the lads who have come back for a second con-trick are well pissed of off with the way we have been treated.
All
the bars were totally packed out last night. There are just so many people here
now and the facilities just can’t cope. There are now more queues than ever
before, and of course no hot water half the time.
I had a drink with Steve Smith the section
manager last night, I seem to be one of the few people who gets on with him. He
said he had put down for me to go on his section when I got back but couldn’t
get me. I said, “oh that’s a pity.” God I wouldn’t want to work for him!
Memo – Big Mac.
Ian McDonald is his name, but everyone calls him Big Mac, he is a very big Scotsman from Edinburgh. He is a setting out engineer, a really nice bloke. He goes on benders every weekend. He never works on a Sunday, he goes out every Saturday as soon as the bars open after his dinner, then I think he just drinks until bed time on Sunday night, he also often goes out in the week. He never gets nasty or anything like that, but boy can he drink. I can truthfully say I have never known anyone drink like him.
When he was living in the port-a-cabins down
at the ship he and others would often be seen dancing on the roofs. I saw him
and his mates one Sunday afternoon and they had, had a talcum powder fight,
what a mess they were in. He once came in the bar one Saturday night (drunk)
with a ‘Walkman’ on his belt with two sets of earphones in it. It was playing
marching music, he grabbed people one by one to have the earphones and march
around the bar with him.
Monday – 18/03/1985. Day 469.
Hours worked 15.
It has been raining on and off all day, I suppose that’s a change from the none stop rain we have had, but it has still been a rotten day. We have got to start early again tomorrow morning and had a late finish tonight. They are long days, it is work, eat and sleep at the moment, but it is extra tax-free money and it puts the time in.
Little Ted and I had been put in a room
together, but when I got in tonight he was moving to the main camp with a mate
of his. I don’t think he liked the smoking, which is fair enough, and it has
got me a room to myself for the time being, don’t know how long it will last,
but it’s good.
Tuesday – 19/03/1985. Day 470. Hours worked 15.
Been another wet and horrible day. There has been a fire bug here while we have been away, with three fires. The police are now interviewing all the blokes here who have been inside (prison). The point is a person is not meant to be here if they have severed more than six months inside. But I know for a fact that JLB have broken that rule many times as they have had a problem getting men as time has gone on. It looks like I may lose three of my gang because of that, they have all told me they have done more than six months. One lad Tony said he had done four years, would you believe, for arson!!!
Wednesday – 20/03/1985. Day 471. Hours worked 15.
I was watching Davy Jaws on the ship coming
back, oh my God, what a gambler he is. He is always playing cards. ‘Nap’ as a
rule, I have seen some big money in those kitties. But the fruit machines, the
amount of money he was putting in them. He was telling me that he went to race
meeting’s when we were at home. We have been here a long time now, too long to
hand all the money over to a bookie!
Thursday – 21/03/1985. Day 472. Hours worked 14.
Been another rotten, drizzly day, and as for work that has not been much better. We had a power floated slab to do and it was ruined with the rain. We also had to start concreting a 40-metre slab at 3/30pm and really struggled to get the concrete.
It looks like we will be doing the doing the
PQ concrete for the apron in front of the hanger when we are finished inside.
Jack Stokes who is over a lot of the project now has told the section managers
that the plane will land on time or they will all be out of a job. Fun here,
init!!
Keith one of the chippies got pissed on the England when we last went home, and on his way to his cabin he fell down some stairs and cut the back of his head open. He didn’t know he was bleeding and laid on his bunk in his clothes, he must have passed out. Someone reported the blood going to his cabin. Security opened his door and woke him up, they took him to the doc’s and he ended up with ten stiches in his head. And of course, his head shaved at the back, which did look funny.
Friday – 22/03/1985. Day 473.
Hours worked 15.
It has been raining all day again, there seems very little end to it at the moment. I am not sure if there has been a day without rain of some kind since I got back.
It looks like they have caught the
fire-bug. He is a Welshman who came out in December, I know his locked up at
the moment, they want to get him the hell out of here.
It seems like a lot of blokes whose
con-tricks end in two months’ time will not be asked back for a second one.
Neil our foreman has sorted me out for the 10 hours overtime, that I was done out of
on my first con-trick. He is all right, a nice bloke, he asked me to do all of
the time sheets, including his, which I don’t have a problem with. He said to
do them after work each night as we are so busy and give myself half an hour
for doing them, which is okay with me.
Saturday – 23/03/1985. Day 474. Hours worked 15.
I am fed up with saying this, but it has been pissing down again, all day. Prince Andrew was here today. He had a walk around the hanger where we were working and came past us, but didn’t stop to talk but he did with the tarmac gang who are rising the level of the sub base before we concrete. He had a big load on navy blokes with him (bodyguards?) and a load of our top boys. His ship is docked in Stanley and he is in the navy rugby team who are playing our lot (JLB) tomorrow.
Big John Taylor who is in my gang has been putting some funny remarks my way for some reason. Words will be spoken if it carries on. I hope it doesn’t come to that as it’s early days yet, and the truth is, I just can’t be doing with that crap. I think he is trying it on, to see how much he can get away with.
Sunday 24/03/1985. Day 475. Day off.
Yet again it has been pouring down nearly all day. The road and footpaths we have to go on from here to the main camp, canteen and bars are temporary and are almost a sea of mud now, it’s a bloody joke.
I went out for the Saturday night drink last
night, but didn’t last long as I could not keep my eyes open after a while. I
suppose that what a person gets when they work an 89-hour week over six days. I
did in fact have a nice lay until about 9/00 this morning. I got up then, made
a cup of tea then laid in bed reading last Sundays newspapers. A nice way to
start the day.
I leant a fiver to young Mark last Sunday
morning which he said he was going to get a sub when they opened up, but
haven’t seen anything of it yet.
Monday – 25/03/1985. Day 476. Hours worked 16.
Been a better day, it rained last night, I woke up about 2/00 am with it bashing down on our tin roof. But it didn’t rain during the day at all.
The gang I took over at the hanger is
concreting the 300mm deep floor slab for the aeroplanes to park on, it is a
very large area. The foreman I am working for is Neil Jagger. I have eight men
in the gang, Neil has another two gangs but he comes and helps us at times as
we have so much on, they want the floor finished by this coming Saturday night,
and there is a lot to do still.
We worked until gone 9 o’clock tonight,
they brought fish and chips down about 7/00pm. I am still not sure about this
gang I have taken over, they seemed okay to start with, but as time has gone on
they have done a fair bit of moaning and groaning. They give Neil a bit of
stick which I really don’t like as he tries to look after them as much as he
can.
There is one lad who calls himself Billy the Bastard. Well I think the best way I can describe him is to say he is a headcase, and really fancy’s his luck. He tried it on with me to start with but I put him in his place. I think he is one of them who if you let him get on top he would make your life hell. Anyway, he goes on leave on the next ship.
Tuesday – 26/03/1985. Day 477.
Hours worked 14.
Started work at 4/30 this morning and was flat out all day and worked until 6/30. Alan White our section manager came down in the afternoon and said to me and Neil he wanted us to work until 10 o’clock tonight then start at 4/30 tomorrow morning. Before I could say a word, Neil said, “you can fuck off, you can’t keep pushing men like this. Everyone is worn out!” I backed him up, but Alan was not happy at all. But his parting words were, “well what ever happens this floor has to be finished this Saturday!”
Joe came around tonight and said he had been invited to Sally’s room by her for
tomorrow night, it seems she has got a single room, Eastham’s look after their
own. Joe said he is going to come around to let me know how it goes.
I saw Wilf Fry this evening and had a nice
chat with him. He said Kim Benjamin has been made up to Project Director in
place of Parr Burnham’s who has now gone to Australia with Johnston’s, who he
has been with a long time. Wilf said he had just started his second contract,
but instead of going home he spent ten days touring the islands here. He said
he done that as he wants to be home for July, and that is the only way he could
do it. I am sure about that?
Wednesday – 27/03/1985. Day 478. Hours worked 14.
Some really bad news today. Neil got a call on his radio while we were having lunch in the hanger, and was asked did we have a Di Williams (a Welsh lad) in our gang, and asked for his ID number, Neil said yes. A few minutes later a Land Rover tuned up and took him to the office. It works out that his four-year-old son had been beaten up by his ex-wife’s new husband and had died from his injuries. Di collapsed in the office when he was told. He is being flown home tomorrow.
We
were just all totally shocked, and of course a lot of us have young children.
It is absolutely terrible. I collected money from our gang and went to welfare
and saw Neil Thompson and he is going to sort a wreath and telegram out from
our gang. I asked him about a single room again and he said we won’t be getting
one!
Been a wet and rotten day again. My back has been playing up today, along with my foot and leg. All this damp whether is not helping at all.
Thursday – 28/03/1985. Day 479. Hours worked 17.
It has been pouring down nearly all day, not good at all. I woke up in the night and I was freezing. I got the quilt off the other bed and put the heater on, then woke up an hour later covered in sweat, you can’t win, can you?
Got post tonight, which is always good.
We have a Hercules aeroplane do a dummy landing tomorrow. It won’t be landing,
just a fly over.
Still being pushed by Alan White and Arran
Jones as well today to finish the hanger floor by Saturday. I said, “get us the
concrete and we will get it in!” We will finish it, if we get the concrete of
course. Starting at 4/30 tomorrow morning. My back is really hurting tonight, I
really don’t want to go to the Doc’s.
Friday – 29/03/1985. Day 480. Hours worked 14.
Been another wet day, not nice at all. A Hercules has been doing dummy runs on the runway, on and off all day. It never landed, but did look like it would a time or two. The runway was all lit up and of course the control tower is up and running. I have to say it is all very impressive.
Arran Jones came to me today and said go to
welfare after work they have a single room for you in the RAF camp. I went and
not only had the room been given to another, it was made very clear that I will
not be getting one!
Another
long day, I am totally worn out. We might be having some sort of “topping out”
out tomorrow for completing the hanger floor. We have the last bay to concrete tomorrow.
Saturday – 30/03/1985. Day 481. Hours worked 11.
Hasn’t been raining today but has been very cold and there is now a lot of snow on the mountains around us. We are having a drink in the canteen tonight for getting the hanger floor completed on time. Just us who worked on it. We did struggle to get concrete at one point today, but got it finished, I am not sorry, to say it’s done!
I worked out
what we have done since I have been back. In the fourteen days I have worked, 202 hours, which is 62 hours overtime. That is an average of almost a
15-hour day. Bearing in mind our basic hours are 10 hours a day, 6 days a week, which is 60 hors a week. In our industry at home it is a basic week of 40 hours, then overtime rate after that, which we do not get here. But "guess what?" We signed up to this?
They are going to hold a marathon here in
the coming weeks, they are asking people to put their names down for it. I
won’t be doing that.
Sunday – 31/03/1985. Day 482. Day off.
Surprise-surprise, it has been a really nice day, warm and sunny, makes a nice change from all the rain of late. We had the drink with Arran Jones last night, it was good of him to do that for us. He was really pleased how we got the work done in the time given. He did say when he was told the time to do it in, he didn’t think it was possible. We all had dinner together in the staff canteen after that, then spent the rest of the night in the bar. It was a good night. Photo above.
Been trying to catch up on my letter
writing today, as I have really fallen behind with all the hours I have worked
of late. I saw the list of lads on the England coming in next week, PG is not on it, he wasn’t sure if he would come back
or not, I would have got him in my gang had he of been.
Had words with Arran Jones yesterday about
being let down over the room and asked to see Wilf Fry, he said, “give me one
more chance.” There are lads here a lot less time than me and have rooms to
themselves!
Hours worked for March = 200.
Overtime hours = 60.
April 1985.
Monday – 01/04/1985. Day 483.
Hours worked 11.
It snowed overnight, then turned to rain this morning then poured down all day. Went to the doc’s tonight about the burning in my leg, and he said it sounded that it is a lack of vitamins. I said, “is that because everything is boiled rotten in the food?” He said, “no-no-no.” Well he works for Eastham’s, so he is not going to say yes, is he.
Anyway,
he said I needed a blood test, so I had to go and so the female Australian
nurse. It’s a bit of a worry when she turned around and said, “I enjoy doing this,
taking blood!” She showed me how they do the testing.
It
seems Dave Dier and the others have made some progress regarding the money JLB owe us. That’s what “rumour control” is
saying anyway. Big Dave the weight lifter had a row with Neil Thompson in
welfare about getting a single room and ended shouting and swearing at him, he
has got to go and see Wilf Fry about it.
Tuesday – 02/04/1985. Day 484. Hours worked 13 ½.
God what a day! Snowing on and off all day, and a very strong wind at times. Alan White and his trainee Mick Mooney who follows him around like a lapdog and have been on mine and Neil’s case all day. Neil is really pissed off about it. Word is Alan White got a telegram yesterday, he hasn’t told anyone what it was about, but boy has he been in a bad mood. He goes on the next ship, thank God.
I came close to sticking one on Terry Jackson
today, as big as he is. The odd thing is, that I think I will miss Billy the
Bastard when he goes next week. After we had words he has been as good a gold
with me, and he is a really good worker, which is more than I can say for some
of the others. If I stay, and I am really not sure at the moment, I will have a
sort out with some of the lads in my gang.
Well, we had an aeroplane in the hanger today.
It was a model one. It was so funny when we turned up this morning, one of the
lads had put it in the middle of the floor. It is now hanging from the inside
of the roof, the lads put it up with a scissor lift. Started at 4/30 again
today.
Wednesday – 03/04/1985. Day 485. Hours worked 14.
Been a much better day, weather wise that is. A bit on the cold side, but not bad at all. We are back to next to no concrete again. All the PQ is going to the concrete train again, so none for us again tomorrow. The problem is we are going to be way behind again, and it will be rush-rush-rush!
I have got to go for another blood test first
thing tomorrow, if it’s the Ozzie nurse that will get her day off to a good
start as she likes taking blood. I was given two new lads a few days ago, Tim
and Frank, they are both useless, not only do I think they have done very
little concrete before, they just talk so much. I have to send them to another
section tomorrow for the day, I am going to try and make it permanent.
Got a letter from my old room mate Rich
yesterday. He has got a job in a factory near him, he really hates it and the
money is rubbish. He says he wouldn’t come back as his wife wouldn’t have it,
but he says he misses having good mates around him.
Thursday – 04/04/1985. Day 486. Hours worked 10.
Been a cold day, then it started raining this evening and is totally pouring down now. Had my other blood test this morning. From the one the other day I had a bruise the complete length of my left arm, and it is totally black. When the nurse saw it, she said, “shit, did I do that?” I said, “yes it was you.” It was worth having the bruise to see the shock on her face.
No concrete today so it was a long boring day,
I really hate having nothing to do. Talk about from one extreme to another. I spent
the last two weeks running around like a lunatic, now this.
Mick
Mooney is upsetting a lot of lads, I mean he is really just not liked. He talks
to people like they are shite, he is not nice at all.
Good Friday – 05/04/1985. Day
487. Hours worked H + 11.
Hasn’t been a bad day, in fact the sun was out this afternoon and it was quite nice. I went to the doctors this morning, and all he was worried about when I got there was that I hadn’t taken my safety helmet off! About the arm he said, “don’t worry about it, it must have been a sharp needle.” Twat!!!
I pulled Wilf Fry today about a single room
and he said that it was nothing to do with him, but he would look into it on my
behalf. And see what he can do. I won’t hold my breath!
No
concrete again today. We did do some ‘blinding’ this afternoon, that was a joke
as they sent it on a tipper lorry, and with the vibration it came out as one
big lump and came close to turning the lorry over, which has happened here
before.
Got some new disposable lighters from the shop tonight, they haven’t had any for a while. It’s Good Friday today, we all worked, like any other day here. Didn't even get a 'hot cross bun!'
Saturday – 06/04/1985. Day 488. Hours worked 11.
Been a nice day again, not bad at all. Mind you I have still been wearing my Long Johns, it not that warm. I am working on Monday, I wouldn’t have minded the day off, but it’s all overtime.
I am on my way to getting rid of Tim, but
no one want’s Frank. Word has got around that he is a real lazy bugger. Tottenham
drew today, they had lost the last three before that. They were on top of the
league at Christmas, now they have blown it.
Tony knocked for me to go around for
coffee. He said he is being made up to foreman welder. He went and saw Neil
Thompson and he said "when you get the paperwork saying you have been made up I
will get you a single room." Tony said, “what if I hadn’t been made up?” He
said, “you wouldn’t have got one.”
Sunday – 07/04/1985. Day 489. Day off.
It’s a nice morning, but I am totally cheesed off with have to walk through a sea of mud every time I go to the canteen, bar or anywhere for that matter. Went for a few beers last night but not many. The bars were totally packed with it being the last Saturday before the ship goes. So many lads going home, lucky buggers. It did get to me a bit, that’s why I didn’t stay long.
On the way out, I got a coffee out of the
machine I then saw Mick the chippie who I used to work with in Scunthorpe, many
years ago having a row with a bloke and a woman. It looked like he was going to
stick one on the bloke, so I grabbed hold of him and dragged him away. I really
like Mick and bearing in mind he is off on Wednesday, end of con-trick, I
wouldn’t have liked to have seen him get sacked.
Monday – 08/04/1985. Day 490. Hours worked. H + 10.
Been a nice sunny day, a bit on the cold side but all right. Been working today, not like a year ago, when we told them to stuff it, because of the overtime issues. Not many blokes turned up so we had lots to do, but it was better than the hanging about of the last few days and we got away for 3/30.
The Stanley road opened up on Saturday
and there has been a fair few Bennies coming over since, using the bars and
shop. I was told there has been a few punch ups, but I haven’t seen anything,
thank God. I have heard that they are going to start bus trips over to Stanley
on Sundays now that the road is open.
I heard there is post in but not sure if
they will dish it out today, with it being a bank holiday. I am back to
starting early again tomorrow, back to the early nights. I had a very restless
night last night with my ankle hurting, well it was bloody killing me. I am
falling apart?
JLB played
a team of Gurkhas at football here
yesterday, JLB won 3-0. There was a
lot of soldiers in the bars afterwards, I was talking to a few of them.
Tuesday – 09/04/1985. Day 491. Hours worked 10. Finished.
With all the broken promises, and there
have been so many over the past 16/17 months, they haven’t given a toss about
us. And from the start it has been, “if you don’t like it, there’s a ship
coming soon.” I think all in all I have just had enough, it has got to me once
too often. I might be really sick with myself in a few days, but at the moment
I feel free, for the first time in all these months and it’s a great feeling. So,
I have now got no job (which I hate) and they will stop me a lot of money for
the fare home(robbers) and it may be a mistake. I don’t know, or do I care!
Wednesday – 10/04/1985. Day 492. Travelling.
Back at sea again, and this time will be for the last time on this old rust bucket, and thank God. Not long after I got on the ship I felt really down, so I went and had a lay down for while and felt a lot better when I got up. I have been put on ‘B’ deck which surprised me, I thought they would have put me down in the engine room.
I still don’t know what I am going to do
when I get home. I would like to have a rest, but that all depends on the
money. I will go to the doctors when I get home. I feel totally done in, in
body and mind, this has really taken it out of me.
I rang home last night and again this
morning, the wife thought I had changed my mind when I rang this morning. I am
just pleased to be on the way home, missing the family takes it out of you a
lot. Been overcast but not a rough day.
Thursday – 11/04/1985. Day 493. Travelling.
Been over cast again today, but still not rough. I was told that Arran Jones went mad when he found out I had jacked and reared up on Neil Thompson (tosser) and tried to find me that night. I am glad he didn’t find me as he may have talked me out of it, and I just didn’t want that. When I made mind up that afternoon, I told Neil Jagger and he said, “no Tom, lets talk about it.” I said “no” as if anyone could have talked me out of it, he could have.
Terry Barrett is on here, he has gone
compassionate, as he has problems at home, but he say’s he will not be coming
back. Also, Ken Bostock the quarryman is on here, he got sacked the night
before the ship went. So that is three of us from the so called ‘B’ Team on
here. I think there will be more before the next five months are up.
Friday – 12/04/1985. Day 494.
Travelling.
I was helping Tom Smith in the JLB office today, to pass the time. We were filling out forms for passport control. There’s a few of us doing it and it’s been good fun, takes my mind off things.
I am in a cabin with another jacker,
Terry from Boston, he seems okay. Been a nice calm day, with some sun. I am
looking forward to the summer at home as I only had a month of it last year. I
can’t wait to get home and settle into family life again, while it’s only been
17 months or so, it seems like forever.
Thinking back over the last month or so I
must admit I missed having Rich as a roommate this time. Firstly, we only saw
each other at nights and Sundays, not like when I was in with Dave working
together and everything, we saw each other 24/7 that wasn’t good. No, Rich and
I were similar in many ways and got used to each other’s ways.
Saturday – 13/04/1985. Day 495. Travelling.
Again, it has been a clam but overcast day and a bit on the cold side. But who cares as we are getting a bit nearer home every day, and I just can’t wait. Been helping out in the office again and when we were finished a few of us had a game of dominos, which was a good laugh.
Had
a drink with one of the lads, Gordon last night. My roommate came in really
late and pissed last night, he has been on the lash every day we have been on
here, then spends most of the day in bed.
Bob
Hancock the engineer gave me a photo of myself today, I was in the office one
night about a year ago, I was filthy, covered in concrete of course. My right
foot has been playing up all day today, really painful.
Sunday – 14/04/1985. Day 496. Travelling.
I was laying on my bunk today when I had a
long bout of regret about jacking. We had our plans for the money from another
six months tax free, and of course now I have to pay for my fare home and I
won’t get any of all those overtime hours I worked in that month, which was an
extra 92½ hours. Boy if I stayed for the six months that would have been some
real extra cash, mind you it would have probably have killed me.
Terry, my lodger, got in about 3/00 this
morning, totally pissed and woke me up and said, “Tom, I am in now and I am
going to bed.” When I got up this morning I woke him up and said, “Terry I am
going to breakfast.” He wasn’t happy at all. When I mentioned it to him this
afternoon, I didn’t remember any of it, not even me waking him up this morning.
Clocks go forward for the second time
tonight, which is a lot better than when they go back and you have another hour
on this thing to waste.
Monday – 15/04/1985. Day 497. Travelling.
Another clam day with a bit of sunshine. It’s Billy the Bastards birthday this Friday. I have paid Tiny the chef 12 cans of beer to make a cake with Happy Birthday Billy the Bastard on it. He’ll love it, he likes being made a fuss of.
Terry
Barrett got called up to the radio room today to ring his wife. She has had a
breakdown and hasn’t been well at all, that’s why he is going home. He asked
them to fly him home when it first happened and they refused. That’s what they
think of a lad who has done 16 months in that “shithole” for them. Yet there
was a section manager last year whose young son was pining for him, and they
flew him home, then back in two weeks. The workers and staff get treated just so
differently over there. Mind you, that is the same all across our industry.
Tuesday – 16/04/1985. Day 498. Travelling.
Another clam day, but no sunshine. Because Terry had to ring home he had to pay cash for the call which is really expenses on here. The money he had was for this train fare home to Cornwall, so he had nothing left. I went to Tom Smith and had words about it, and said that if it was on the island it would have been free as it was a compassionate call. He took a bit of persuading but agreed with me in the end. I asked him not to tell Terry I had said anything. Terry came to me later and was over the moon, that he had been repaid the money, of course I had to act surprised.
A “wind up” went around the ship today
that we were going to pass a load of navy ships this morning, I told my lodger
and he got up early to see it, one way of getting the cabin to yourself.
Wednesday – 17/04/1985. Day 499. Travelling.
Not bad this morning, some sunshine, but very overcast this afternoon. We passed within a few miles of Tristan da Cunha this morning. They slowed the ship right down so we could have a good look at it. We could see about one hundred houses near the jetty and some grassy banks nearby, but the rest of it is just rock. I wouldn’t fancy living there, but if that’s what a person is used to, well!!! We used to moan about the Falklands being small, but this place really is small.
I woke up about 4/00 this morning, I was
absolutely boiling. It took me over an hour to get back to sleep as I was so
hot.
Heard some bad news today. Last Sunday they
had the first day out with buses to Stanley. When they got back in the evening
one of the lads was laid out on the rear seat of the bus, asleep as he was so
drunk. The lads couldn’t wake him so they left him on the bus to sleep it off.
He was found the next morning, he had frozen to death.
Thursday – 18/04/1985. Day 500. Travelling.
Some sun, on and off today. The sea is a bit rougher, mind you we can’t be far off meeting the Cape Rollers now.
My
lodger came in totally pissed out of his brains yesterday in the early hours. I
had a laugh for ten minutes or so as I could hear him trying to get his key in
the door, which is really wicked of me. I let him in when he started to try and
kick the door in. I then had him playing up for an hour or so, singing, dancing
and shouting his mouth off. He’s okay when he has not been drinking, but when
he is pissed, which has been nearly every night I think, he is a total
nightmare!
I
had a chat with Alan White and his girlfriend last night and he said he was
really surprised when he heard I had jacked, and asked why? I am having times
when I do think I may have done the wrong thing, but over all I think the time
was right, it’s been a long 16/17 months away from the family. I just found it
all in all harder this time.
Friday – 19/04/1985. Day 501. Travelling.
It has been a really rough day, getting thrown about and rain at times. It’s Billy the Bastards birthday today and we are all meeting up for a drink tonight, that’s when I am getting the cake. Woody the steward showed me it today and I am really please with it. It’s says, “Happy Birthday, Billy the Bastard” on it. Woody is bringing it up later. It should go down well.
Well we are only a few days off Cape Town
now and it will be my last time on this old tub. Once this trip is over I will
have down over three months on here in the last 16 or so. That is in fact
almost 20%. What this job has done for me is to give me the “travel bug.” I
have always wanted to travel more, but apart from when I went to Majorca in 1971 when I was 18 this has been the
only other time, outside the UK that is. I would like to see more of Africa. It
has been great flying over it in the daylight.
Saturday – 20/04/1985. Day 502. Travelling.
Again, it has been a really rough day, we have been getting thrown around a lot today. It is so bad they have put the weather side of the ship out of bounds.
We had the do for Billy last night, it was
good. He really wasn’t expecting the cake, it went down really well. Woody was
telling me today that after he got the cake off Tiny, he said who’s the cake
for. Woody said some mates of mine. Tiny said, “Oh, if you had told me that I
wouldn’t have taken the money for the beer.” Woody said, “the tosser didn’t
give it back though.” Woody is a good lad, we have been friends now since the
first trip out here, he has always looked after us.
I watched the film, The Jazz Singer with Neil
Diamond this afternoon. I like him as a singer and he was very good in the
film. Billy has been sea sick all day, must have had too much birthday cake,
ha-ha.
Sunday – 21/04/1985. Day 503. Travelling.
A much calmer day, a lot nicer, not much sun, but a lot nicer. Me, Billy, Ken the plumber and Terry all went down to Woody’s and Scouse Paul’s cabin last night for a drink. They can get the beer a lot cheaper than us, so we gave them some money and they got hold of some food, it was a really good night. As I said before we have become good friends with a lot of the crew in time we have spent on here.
Well
this is my last full day ever on here today. We will be landing in Cape Town tomorrow morning. Thank God, I have
totally had it with JLB over all these months. They just don’t care about the
workers at all. When I have been thinking, “have I done the right thing?” I
just think how they have treated us. Ten minutes only for a tea break, 60 hours
a week, then overtime at single rate. And I will have lost all the overtime I
worked in the last month to pay for my fare home and they never paid me the
weeks money for signing on again. And it is just all their petty rules, so many
of them!
The
night I jacked, I wanted to phone home to tell them. I went to Eastham’s for a
card and they said it was out of the hours to sell them. I had to go to welfare
and get a note to say it was urgent. It was like be at school, turning up with
my note.
Monday – 22/04/1985. Day 504. Travelling.
Arrived in Cape Town early this morning, we were allowed to go into town after breakfast. It was overcast to start with, but by mid-morning the sun came out and it was a nice morning. It was then back to the ship and on to the airport.
Of course, we had the usual drunks who
show us up. Our party leader was telling me that the South African authorities
were trying to have us stopped going through there, but our government stepped
in and talked to their government and it has now been sorted. But the way some of
our lot act and even dress is beyond belief. I got to say I don’t blame the
airport officials etc getting upset with a load drunks (some) coming through
each month, and the way they talk to us, one can tell they just don’t like us
very much. I have been told that if someone is now too drunk they lock them up
for the night and they have to pay their own fare back the next day. Still I
believe that all the lads will be flown straight into Mount Pleasant airfield
in a few months’ time.
Tuesday – 23/04/1985. Day 505. Travelling. Done for good!
Landed at Heathrow at 8/00 this morning. That’s me all done with JLB, thank God for that, it has been a long time and I am just pleased to be home and back in the real world.
The family met me at
the airport. When I was coming through customs I saw that Gary and Eddie who
used to be in my gang, they had been stopped and were having their bags opened. I
don’t know how they got on, but I know they were both well over the top.
Coming home in the car the sun was
shinning and just to see all the green grass and flowers coming out was good.
The last time I was home it was winter so it looked really nice. Daughter Jean
(who is just over 5) thought I was coming home tonight. The wife had agreed
with her teacher for her to have the afternoon off. We went around there about
12/00 midday and stood outside her classroom. Her teacher brought her to the
window and said, “who’s that man with your Mummy?” Jean said, “I think it’s my
Daddy!” It’s good to be home!
Hours worked for April = 90.
Overtime hours = 20.
This is the end of my Falkland Diaries, but I have now started the Diaries from Algeria, which you are welcome to read. I will also have Diaries From Namibia coming soon.
From
Start to Finish.
Many a mile we had sailed from land,
With the task ahead, we may have hoped God was at hand.
We had left our families on a tearful day,
All because we wanted to earn some pay.
Long days at sea, no sign of life,
Made one think of family and wife.
We were heading for a southern shore,
Where not long before had seen battle roar.
Men had come and men had died,
Now it was our turn, no time to hide.
Would we make it or would we fail?
That we would find out as we took to the trail.
The first time that I saw that wind-swept land,
I thought to myself, this isn’t so grand.
Land before that had only seen cattle and sheep,
Now they would have giant tracks running past their feet.
But there was work to be done no time to spare,
“Let’s build roads” the foreman said we a glare.
Virgin soil was turned by day,
Then we sat and drunk some of our pay.
We would laugh and cheer and all looked pleased,
But deep down inside we had other needs.
But those thoughts had to be put to put to one side for now,
As there was an airfield to be built, and they had said we knew how.
Some days were warm some very cold,
But that cutting wind was bound to make you look old.
We built a new camp so that we could all live together,
But some of those men would bring you to the end of your tether.
And as for some was it their first time away from home?
Poor things looked like a dog that had just lost its bone.
Then we had the suited men, who said they would make us rich,
Well, let’s just say they got up to some dirty tricks.
Give us all you have got they would say,
We’ll do things for you, you won’t forget this day.
But empty promises were soon forgot,
They were just happy to get their lot.
The summer was gone when the snows they came,
And my word chilled feet can give much pain.
Long cold days and freezing nights,
The end of this job seemed well out of sight.
So, work we did, and time went fast,
We looked to the future and forgot the past.
But the pressure was on, the job had to be done,
So, there wasn’t time to have much fun.
Mental and physical pain was felt by some,
While others looked on as if they were dumb.
As time got nearer we worked day and night,
Things had to be done for that in coming flight.
When toil was done the plane it landed,
Let’s drink to success, the glass was handed.
“You’ve done a good job” the boss said with a grin,
But did he expect us to take all that in?
We had done as we had been asked; it was time to go,
So, bags were packed this was the end of our show.
There were many memories none to be forgotten,
Some were good but others rotten.
The island had seen change lets even hope gain,
But let’s be fair, it will never be the same.
We got our pay it was time to be jolly,
But would any of this ever of happened, but for one man’s folly?
March 1985.
TW.
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