PERSISTENCE
PAYS OFF
Well it's not been
a bad old summer all things considered.
The last two years seemed to be plagued
by consistent unseasonable winds that put
pay to many new and exciting plans. However
there seems to have been more dives and
expeditions completed and we should hopefully
start to see the results between these covers
over the coming months.
It
also seems that more people are venturing
into the depths armed with a digital cameras
so we should start to get more images
to go back up the stories. When you consider
the planning, phone-calls, chasing up
deposits and numerous e-mails that go
into getting a group together in the right
place at the right time - all without
pay; you'd wonder why anyone would bother!
But luckily we do. I'm not using the Royal
“we” here as I'm the same.
As the stress levels rise at the end of
an expedition when your trying to get
everything sorted and you got a diver
whinging that they “didn't have
a seventy percent mix on Thursday it was
on fifty” and the skipper trying
to hit you for a “bad weather surcharge”
you wonder why the hell do I bother? Its
amazing that it only takes half an hour
up the motorway on the way home your already
thinking “well the boat was good,
the food was good, the one dive we did
was excellent - maybe we should book something
again next year! Sometimes persistency
pays off.
It
reminds me of the old Ronnie Barker sketch
in the very first episode of 'Porridge'.
Playing habitual criminal Fletcher, Ronnie
knows that by convincing the Medical Officer
that he has bad feet he'll get a cushy
number in the jail and not have to wear
standard issue boots. “Any medical
complaints?” asks the MO. “Bad
feet” says Fletch. The MO is well
used to this trick and just continues
ticking off boxes on his checklist. “Suffer
from any illness?” Fletch “Bad
feet.” Again the MO doesn't bat
an eyelid “Paid a recent visit to
a doctor or hospital?” Fletch “Only
with my bad feet!”
The
MO comes around and looks up from his
clipboard. “Are you now, or have
you at any time, been a practising homosexual.”
To which Fletch utters the immortal line
“What, with these feet? Who'd have
me?” Classic.
So
from one Ronnie to another it's goodnight
from me and we'll sadly miss him.
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