Chapter 9, Adventures In England

I stayed with my grandparents for a few days before I was picked up by my Aunt Dorothy, taken to her home, and introduced to my cousins Ken and his sister Pamela.  Pam was only nine or ten when I visited, but just about the cutest little thing I ever saw.  Ken was a couple of years older than me and we spent the summer together, a memory I cherish.

                                          Robert              Ken
That summer was quite an adventure for me. Cousin Ken was a member of a rowing club and I got to row my first scull that summer.  I think they all expected me to roll over and end up in the Trent River, but I made it about a mile or so down stream and returned without any mishap.

I attended the Henley Regatta, in which Ken was a competitor, and got to see much of the English countryside while following him around to the myriad of rowing events. A group of us got together and rented an 8 berth cabin cruiser for the trip to Henley, and we spent several days cruising the rivers and canals of the countryside, going through locks and having draw bridges raised for us. In this way we got to see the back country, and made several stops along the way at remote farms where we bought butter, bacon, mushrooms etc. from farmers who made extra income catering to the river traffic.

I won’t go into details, but girls were everywhere during this excursion, and we were seldom without a boatload of them.

Ken in the center, me on left

 

                          Robert on bottom, Ron on top

Ron was very physical and health oriented all his life.  I learned, many years later, that Ron was killed by an automobile while walking along the road.  Apparently someone had lost control and Ron was hit from behind and never saw it coming.  I remember our summer together, and it was a sad loss of a good soul.   

I went to get a haircut one day and while I was in the chair, the barber offered to show me a few of the local sites. We went to Coventry to see the Cathedral there and to Nottingham to see the castle and roam Robin Hood’s old stomping grounds. Cousin Ken’s family took me to see the fish markets and the seaside resort beaches of Blackpool. One of my favorite things during my visit was the “fish and chip shops” and Blackpool had some of the best. Ken and his family didn’t seem to care one way or the other about the delicacy, but for me, deep fried battered fish was heaven. Another favorite treat was an evening in one of the quaint pubs drinking some of the world’s best beer, and throwing darts.

I have to mention also, that I was afforded a personal distinction during my visit. I called one day to arrange a tour of the Bass Brewery, and was informed that they normally only took groups and the next group was not scheduled for several weeks. For some reason, the tour guide offered me a private tour the following day, which I took him up on. I learned that the brewery was established in 1777 and that when the British government passed the “Trademark Registration Act” in 1875, the Bass company parked an agent at the front door to insure that the Bass label and triangle became Britain’s first and oldest trademark.

All too soon, the summer was over and it was time to go home. I took a train from Burton-on-Trent, back to London and then Southampton. My return voyage was on the Queen Elizabeth. It was another 5-day party interrupted by a hurricane that caused many passengers to be seasick. After landing in New York, I boarded an airplane for the trip back to San Francisco and caught a Greyhound bus back to Sacramento. Shortly after my return, I got a job at a company named “Redi-Spud” delivering potatoes to restaurants. It was a good job and afforded me my own apartment. I bought a Honda 250 Scrambler motorcycle for transportation, which I purchased at “Skip Fordyce” in Riverside, CA., 800 miles to the south. Honda had just come out with their motorcycles in the U.S., and I saw a picture of it in a magazine one day.  The only dealer in the entire state who carried them was Skip Fordyce in Riverside, so off I went.  Little did I know at the time that I would soon be living in Riverside.

Next: Back to Europe