Writing Skills & NQ Floods & Officers Cooks
Its very quiet in here at the moment and i have been busy so i have'nt had a chance to write just cause i stop writing does'nt mean you can take a makers and head off to the office. Just drop a few lines to let us know your still alive and to keep the site interesting. We should of all got over xmas and the new year by now i know some of ya just keep going all year. Keep well everyone And Big Jude did you get wet up there with all the rain?, certainly pissed down didnt it. Regards quinny

Over to you Big Jude, how about a rundown on the floods from your perspective?. wtf

Ok you guys.....it's wet :grin: . done nothing but rain on and off for the past couple of weeks. I know we all said that we wanted some rain up here.....but this is getting beyond a joke.....how about we send it down south so we can dry out. Everywhere you look there is water and having had high tide come in hasn't helped the situation. Sad seeing all the rain running over the new spillway, shame they hadn't finished the gates at the dam. Roads were cut, north, west and south and today some were opened. Potholes appearing all over the place and driving becomes something of a waltz missing them all. I had some friends from Mackay come up to visit a terminally ill friend of theirs and they had been here for the two weeks. Sadly their friend passed away a week ago and we couldn't get out to the Crematorium as the roads were cut at Cluden and we had to have the service at the Funeral Directors place in the city. They finally got away early this morning and made if safely to Mackay. There are always the idiots who do stupid things causing dangerous situations. We have Dalrymple Road going out to the Bohle where gates go down when there is flooding and they drive through the gates and try to get across the flooding and wonder why they get stuck. Wonder about the mentality of some people. Sad when others have to risk their lives to save them. Well the web feet haven't developed as yet and do hope all those who are living in this northern area are all doing ok. Cheers Jude

Ta for the info on the floods it made for interesting reading Its still as dry as a pommeys towell down here in the city of pooofs and churches But we will have floods when it comes the man in charge doesnt seem to get it right Its either flood or famine no middle ground so when we get rain it will bucket down just like it did in Townsville Ill put money on that Yes you are so right there are the dills that we have to save from themselves There are plenty of sites dedicated to these idiots and The Show Funniest Home Vidieos is something to watch if you need further proof funny thou you might have them living in your same street Im always amazed at the stupid things people do but deep down i think if we like to admit it we all have done something that on reflection was stupid But learning from your blues sets you apart from the real idiots keep well everyone Regards Quinny

Officer Cooks
I was reading the gunplot website. I found interesting that there use to be a officers cook branch. They still have them they are just called kelick cooks. Was there any other kinds of cooks back in the old days that someone of my age wouldn't know about?

Smiddy , Yes there was another mob of Cheffies known as Officers Cooks .Same right arm rate ,except it was O.C instead of C . There was a School Off Cookery at HMAS Watson , up past the Wardroom and over looking the"Gap" , where most of them did their training then on into the fleet to be wardroom cooks . I was in the last cooks course at Watson (Jan/ April.67), and even tho the "O.C" rate had ceased to exist some years before , I spent most of my time in Pussers either in Wardrooms , C.O s residences , or fleet staff . So I guess even then the powers that be saw "Watson Trained" and promptly sent you off to Officer country . Not that I ever whinged ....the perks were soooo much better !!!! Just thinking for you older blokes........the Cheffies that I can remember on my course.... Brick Benett (The Younger) , Dennis Jeffery , Ron Fry (The Pom) , Eric Carter (G'Day Weasel ) Spud Northey (Dec on Course )Normie .....?,, Tom Sawyer , and sorry the Bundy has kicked in!!!!! The O/C was the "Little General" McArthur and the Chief was Brick Bradford . Our instructor was Wally ? Wally?? Bloody nice bloke anyway . Still remember one thing , it was the first time i had ever seen a WRAN Cook , as there was a P>O.s course going though at the same time . Just being at Watson was a whole new experience for some one whose whole RAN time till then , was Leeuwin and Sydney . There was all these Goddess Wrans who you could talk to , and even drink with , even tho i was still 17 and not legal to drink . There wasn't any age check in the boozer . Sorry I'll stop burbling ........

Quinny, Thought I'd change the heading on this one, this thread could end up anywhere. You got a few of them talkin' mate (8)

Yea no worries mate that was the idea its still raining up north of you good to see a few come on line and have a nag Jaffa is really showing his age in 71 there were a few ocs left but no more courses same went for the butchers branch. Smitty might pay to read the heading on butchers in the forum the cooks branch has changed so much over the yearsChrist when we joined we didnt have official numbers because everyone knew each other The coooks wore t shirts with blue arms same rig as the PTIS cant remember when we changed into proper shirts maybe someone can jog my memory WOCKS were introduced about 78 Gordon Craze was one of the first to be made up he was at Nirimba at the timeThen we had group pay come in and then that stuffed it up it was a while before the wrans got equal pay these things happened slowly and i have no clear recollection as to what precise dates things happened so perhaps big jude with all her knowledge on all things of that nature she was a scribe of some note im led to believe. Hows that for a brownnose not really she has a better memory on those sort of things and if we ask nicely she will start a thread on the changes she saw while in pussers she was a little before my time Writers Were still using feather pens and ink wells when she joined sorry couldnt resist that Jude Brownnosing one minute then taking the piss out of ya the next how very sailor of me Keep well everyone and keep writing Regards Quinny

During my sober moments today I really stretched the old brain and came up with a couple of other names to add to the above list ...........the Normie was of course Normie Korman , plus Harry Perry and either Murray or Maurie ???? Built like a brick shit house ,dark curly hair and the most dedicated sailor I ever saw. Mickey Mouse Killick and PO at a very early age . One of the plusses of doing my course at Watson came when I drafted to Cerberus (????? Pussers strikes again!!!) on completion of couse . I was still 17 , not legally allowed into the ODs boozer , let alone the Ships Company Wet Canteen . Chockers , DJ Wilson , Nick Tubecki , Bozo , Guns Gunnell , Tony Johnson , Mick Smith and the others from my mob were still painting rocks white waiting for a course , and only being allowed into the ODs boozer that pulled stumps at 2000........meanwhile here was I cruising past them into the Ships Co boozer (2200 plus gashies)...........Oh , the power of a Right Arm Rate!!!!!

Jaffa, Normie Korman was at the Caloundra Reunion - I had a good yarn with him. I was at the 'Tross with Norm, He had made two plastic shit tins full of Saki and kept them hidden in the Butcher Shop and it was always a laugh to see him checking its' progress while brewing and bubbling away. What a sense of humour he has and the bugger has hardly changed in appearance. I had'nt seen him since about '75. :twisted: