Aden: Thanks to my unknown readers

At the moment I have no more Aden material, and I would like to thank those of you who have followed me for all or part of the journey. Now I have finished everything and had time to reflect, here a re she musings arising from my Aden blogging.

Blogging on this website provides me as the blogger with statistics. Some are useful. Some are interesting, such as the ability to know where visitors to the blog have come from. This includes some ghastly search engines in Russia which are not really that. I wish I could eradicate these from my figures. 

Nevertheless, on the plus side I am flattered by the large number of visits from the UK, which is really my target audience as I imagine most people interested in my life in Aden would be there.

However, I am very curious about the handful of visits from the Yemen. Here's hoping the interest is from ordinary individuals like myself and not any state or commercial organisation. If it is anther "man in the street", whoever you are (singular or plural) thank you for being intrigued enough to visit my blog. I wish you and your country peace and stability, especially given the recent turmoil. If you are from Aden, then my wishes are more heartfelt still.

My nomadic childhood has left me with more than one place that I think of as "home". In the 50s I grew up in Singapore and Hong Kong, where being surrounded by ethnic Chinese and Malay was a normal everyday experience. On my first return visit to both places after 30 years absence I felt strangely at home. Its not easy to explain to somebody who grew up in the same place how normal it feels to go back somewhere and feel more comfortable as part of a minority of the population. Home is many places to me. Singapore, Hong Kong, Aden, Gloucester, Cottesmore are all my very early homes in my time of childhood and innocence. I have a bond with them all. 

I fear I have lost my opportunity to visit Aden, given the current political and religious turmoil in the world. I cannot adequately express how much I would love to see Ma'alla, Steamer Point, Elephant Bay, Crater and Khormaksar again and see how much has changed or stayed the same. Youtube has been useful, but not all the videos posted are very good. Too many of modern Aden are more about the persons in the video than the place, but such is the vanity of humans! 

I regret very much not returning to Aden before the recent religious divisions between Islam and the rest of the world surfaced. I feel my presence would not be welcome in certain parts of the world, but I do not mean that all Islamic countries are forbidding to me. For instance, when I was in Penang I felt most welcome by the locals I came in contact with. One abiding memory is of school children saying "Welcome to Malaysia" to us. I understand they would have been encouraged to do this, but a child's generosity of spirit is a precious gift, which more adults could do worse than try to rediscover within themselves. Given a less than happy previous experience in Kuala Lumpur, the people of Penang more than adequately made up for that experience.

However, after that digression I shall return to the topic of religious division. To me it feels as negative and pointless as the Protestant and Catholic divisions in European history, or the Christian behaviour of the Middle Ages which effected a superiority it did not deserve. Then the Arab or Moorish culture was far more advanced than the so-called Western civilisation. One only needs to visit Granada and see the palace of the Alhambra and the gardens of the Generalife to realise how more advanced that society was compared with the regressiveness of the regime of "los reyes catolicos". In my blog about Crater I commented on the Cisterns of Tawila. To this day I still think they are a marvel. I can still remember how awesome (I use that word not in its modern guise) it was as I walked around. You really need to be ignorant or blind to reason not to acknowledge the cleverness of mind and sophistication of a society that brought them into being.

They say absence makes the heart grow fonder, and in my case, my absence from Aden has made me realise how lucky I have been to revisit Hong Kong and Singapore more than once. The memories I have of Aden are mainly positive, but the negative memories were due to the British presence outstaying its welcome. I am sure had I been a native of an occupied country my feelings would not have been too dissimilar. Whether I would express my displeasure I don't know. I thank my lucky stars I can express my opinions, which was not always an option open to the Adeni.

Aden: Random Memories 17a: The Return of The Natives: Time to go

Hard though it was to believe, our time was soon up and we had to return to the U.K.. I don’t suppose I ever thought we would return. When I was an adult, my mother used to enjoy embarrassing me by retelling the story of when I asked her, ‘When are we going back home, mummy?’ after we had returned to the U.K. from the Far East. ‘Home’ was where aunts and uncles and cousins and grandparents lived. It wasn’t home to me. That place was cold and had snow and lots of drizzly rain. Home was where I lived among people who were not like me.

My father was of the opinion another overseas tour was highly unlikely. It was 1964, the crisis in Aden had yet to explode and the ignominious retreat, the last nail in the coffin of British rule was just over three years away. If my father had been gifted with second sight, he couldn’t have been more accurate in his predictions. As this was our last opportunity to see the world, my parents decided we would return by sea. A voyage from Aden, up through the Suez canal, with a diversion through Egypt, then we would pass through the Mediterranean Sea to Gibraltar, where the ship would berth a while, and finally traverse the Bay of Biscay to Liverpool.

In preparation for our departure, my mother started knitting sweaters. As I swam and jumped and dived in the pool at Khormaksar, she sat in the shade knitting, day after day.

We must have also spent some time packing up all our belongings, but I cannot remember doing this. I had my own small wooden crate which contained my toys and books, but not my teddy bear. We left the flat, and spent our last night in Aden in some hotel. It seemed empty and uninviting. It was also the first time I had seen a bidet!

For some strange reason, both my mother’s passage and mine (a total cost of £142 10s 00d) were paid for by the government but my father’s (cost £95 exactly) wasn’t. I don’t know why this was. My father’s fare cost the equivalent of £1,500.00 today. This probably did not include the expense of the trips we made in Egypt and Gibraltar.

The tickets for our return to the U.K.

© 2012 Gwailo54

Aden: Random Memories 13: The Mikado

In the programme I have my own special entry Ko-Ko’s Sword Bearer-Timothy Ellis. My role was silent but crucial to the drama, and heavens above I also had to carry a sword! Now, theatre is all about illusion, I can reveal (and I hope this revelation doesn’t destroy any belief that theatre is heightened reality) the sword was not real. It was made of wood.

My big moment came when the chorus (which included my father) sang the word “Defer” very loud. Ko-Ko suddenly became timid and jumped out of his skin. I turned and looked at him, with perfect timing, most haughtily. I’m even better at it as I get older.

We put on six performances from 5th to 10th November 1962 at 8.30 p.m. at the Khormaksar Primary School Theatre. However, the best was yet to come! On 11th November the entire cast and orchestra were ferried far out into the harbour where we boarded the Ark Royal and gave a performance in the Upper Hangar. Thanks for the specific information here is due totally to this website address http://www.axfordsabode.org.uk/pdf-docs/arkroy17.pdf. I Googled “Steamer Point Light Opera Society” and this is one of the few entries I found. I can’t give a direct thank you to the website creator, so I trust this will do.

After the performance the Mikado (who terrified the life out of me when in costume) gave me two of his prop “elliptical billiard balls”. One bears the now faded inscription “To Tim from Mik”. Vincent Martinelli, whoever you were, wherever you are, you made one eight years and 2 days old kid really happy that night.

The only bad thing about it all concerned my mother who was one of those who helped the wardrobe mistress. They got her first name wrong in the programme, Maria instead of Margaret. That’s grownups for you.

© 2012 Gwailo54

Aden: Random Memories 7: The Cinema

The cinema was still popular at this time. When we lived in Innsworth I went to the Astra to see films. I especially remember ‘The King and I’ and particularly the scene between the King and Anna as they dance. The rest of the film was not so memorable.

Well, we saw films as a family in Aden at both Astra cinemas, Steamer Point and Khormaksar. This was film going with a difference, we were in the open air. Enclosed by the cinema walls and the dark night sky above, the huge images projected onto the screen, this was unique movie going.

For Tom and Jerry cartoons, I was very good and sat up very straight! The night we saw the Hope and Crosby ‘Road to Hong Kong’ had me laughing until my sides ached. We went to see ‘South Pacific’, my mother had seen it on stage in London and loved it very much. I recall being bored rigid by it and not understanding why the colours in the film went all funny whenever people started singing. I didn’t want to seem ungrateful and didn’t say anything negative, but I felt better when my mother said she was very disappointed by the movie and Mitzi Gaynor was not as good as Mary Martin.

There were other movies, but most have made no lasting impression on me, and I am not intending to turn this into a critical review of cinema of that time for an ordinary child living in extraordinary circumstances. Only one other movie deserves mention, Flower Drum Song. We had lived in Singapore and Hong Kong before, and watching a film full of (supposedly) Chinese people came as no surprise to me. Perhaps, for the first time in my life I felt a nostalgic twinge (of course I didn’t realise that’s what it was at the time), and that home was not necessarily where everybody, or the vast majority, was white.

I have many places I think of as home to varying degrees such as Gloucester, Singapore, Hong Kong, Aden, Cottesmore and Stanmore. My brother, ten years my junior, sadly was never with us on an overseas posting, and although he too led a nomadic life, that was only in Britain. Like me he has an affinity with Gloucester and the rugby and takes great delight when Bath is soundly thrashed!

© 2012 Gwailo54

Aden Old Photos 10: RAF Khormaksar Open Day Dogs

I have held back these last images from the Open Day as the Air Force Police Dogs have always had a special place in my affections.

When we lived in Blackpool, my father was involved in the RAF recruitment and he had the dog handlers do their stuff at local football matches. The game at Blackburn was called off as the pitch was flooded, but otherwise I got into the the terraces for free at Blackpool and Preston North End. The Preston game was one of their more crushing defeats, things had not been going their way and the number at the game in 1973 was the lowest on record. After that game, Alan Ball Senior was booted out as manager. I think they were definitely relegated as a result of that game. However, Burnley - you win as the team that knew how to treat a teenager disinterested in football. I got a seat in the director's box with heating gushing out on my poor cold feet. The pre, half-time and post game refreshments were also much appreciated. Getting a little drunk on free hospitality helped me get more involved in the game!

After the Blackpool game, I think, my father entertained the dog handlers at our house. They were very friendly and charming to Seamus, our boxer. They also let him have some beer which he enjoyed immensely. After a while the poor dog was, to say the least, a little uncertain on his paws. The next day he was in a sorry state, definitely hung over. I don't recall if he had the hair of the human to help him get over it.

I apologise for the very poor quality of these last images. I had to crop them as the action was some way from the camera. The first is where the dog captures the "felon" biting his arm (which was well wrapped in padded sacking), the second is the end of that phase of the exhibition. The third and fourth are shots of a white haired alsatian that was part of the dog team, and the fifth is of the MP cycling away with a dog on his back. I don't suppose the dog handlers have changed the routine much since the 60s. There's not much need to. 

Aden Old Photos 9: RAF Khormaksar Open Day

I well remember the Open Days at RAF Khormaksar for one thing only. I think it was the Hunter Squadron (8 Squadron) that was my favourite. For more standard information about the squadron go to http://8squadron.co.uk/index.php.

As I am in my cub uniform, I guess I got in free or at a reduced rate (my parents were very cost conscious). I was also not ashamed of the Cubs and enjoyed my involvement in the 14th Aden. Coming back to cold Britain and wearing dull colours instead of cool khaki made it less pleasurable!

In the second picture you can see the squadron had rigged up a toy aircraft, This was controlled by a usually eager child with a joystick type trigger. As the plane descended on the wires it was your task to drop the bomb on the enemy vehicles. It was a coordination test. I Loved playing it and I was pretty good at it.

One other experience that is still seared in my memory is riding on a camel. When I scanned the photo I was surprised I could still remember what the member of the camel corps who took us on the ride looked like. What I don't remember is the soppy girl I had to have clinging on to me. Look at her, she's older than me and soppy and girly and stuff! 

The last two photos are those embarrassing pictures parents always take. I could have censored them from the blog, but that would be wrong. So there am I in the - oh God, no wonder I can't remember this at all - "Chicko's Choochoo". 

Aden Old Photos 7: RAF Khormaksar swimming pool

One of the great pleasures of living in Aden for kids was the afternoons were always our own time. We got up early every day to go to school, for me that was Steamer Point Primary. Whenever things got a little rough the school bus had an military police escort and chicken wire over the windows so grenades wouldn't land inside the bus. It's amazing what kids take in their stride.

School was just the prelude to lunch and then swimming! We used to go to the Lido and Elephant Bay. I properly learned to swim at the pool at RAF Khormksar (my first "lesson" was with my parents at Elephant Bay, not so much a lesson as having to swim and gulp in salt water rather than sink). I have fond memories towards the end of our tour. My mother would sit in the shade knitting sweaters for us, preparing for our return. It was cold the morning we arrived in Liverpool! I guess my mother took these snaps in between knitting 1 and purling 2, or something like that.

In all the photos the child in mid flight is me. I admit I loved jumping off the top board but was terrified of diving off it. I did manage to dive sometimes, just not in these photos.

Aden Old Photos 3: Tug-of-war

These photos mean absolutely nothing to me. The camera belonged to my father. I may have been allowed to use it once or twice in my childhood, and I do mean that.

Hold it.

Press the shutter.

Give it back.

Wait for ages for the film to come back and hope to goodness I hadn't chopped off heads, etc.

Well this tug-of-war game was meaningful at the time, I guess. From memory alone, I am guessing this was taken somewhere at R.A.F. Khormaksar.

The Nomad

If there is one part of British society that seems not to have been made part of a so-called "reality" TV show, or mini-season tucked away on BBC4 it is the families that lived overseas as the Empire shrivelled and Britons were not so welcome in parts of the world.

One such place was Aden. BP families were in Little Aden, and the service families in Crater, Khormaksar, Ma'alla and Steamer Point (as we called in those days). In Ma'alla we lived almost cheek by jowl with the locals. We had the posh flats on Ma'alla Strait, they lived in the back streets.

Since the British were unceremoniously expelled from Aden, it seems little has happened to improve the lot of the native population. Of course they have enjoyed advances in modern society. So has everybody else to a greater or lesser extent. Since the British left Aden, it has been in the headlines for the wrong reasons. Like many other Britons, I am proud to say it once was home to me for a short time.