HMS Aurora

My Dad’s first ship, HMS Aurora>, or the ‘Grey Phantom’ as she was known by the Italians because of her stealth movements in the Med. Dad could talk about her stats but very seldom would he talk about his experiences on her except where he went.

She brought King George VI to Malta in 1943 following the ‘Relief of Malta’ where in my dad’s words, there was not a cat or a dog to be seen on the Island as Malta had been under seige from June 1940 to November 1942 in the fight to gain control of this strategically important island by the the air forces and navies of Italy and Germany against the Royal Navy (RN) and Royal Air Force (RAF). It was their resolve to bomb or starve Malta into submission, by attacking its ports, towns, cities, as well as ships supplying the island. Malta was one of the most intensively bombed areas during the war. The Luftwaffe (German Air Force) and the Regia Aeronautica (Italian Royal Air Force) flew a total of 3,000 bombing raids, dropping 6,700 tons of bombs on the Grand Harbour area over a period of two years in an effort to destroy RAF defences and the ports.

Panic and Despair

Yesterday was my first visit to the office in 15 months. A bit of a nervous moment and I had to tell myself constantly to stop ‘thinking’, and to just follow the flow! I got up nice and early preparing everything beforehand so as not to put pressure on myself. Good girl! Then it came…

The Day that Alice learnt to swim

I often mention how my Grandparents (well more my Grandmother) ran a Boarding House in Simon’s Town, Cape Town, from the early 1930s as the UK prepared for war. The town was a strategic naval base for the Royal Navy, and eventually its Allies. Many UK expats arrived as the Dockyard (under the Royal Navy’s…

The 10 Commandments of being a Granny

ONEThou shall not put one grandchild above any other grandchild, in favor, gifts, deeds, or attention.TWOThou shall not make for yourself a collection of images taken from the Facebook account, online photo-sharing service, or—heaven forbid—a physical photo album belonging to the parents of the grandchild without asking first.THREEThou shall not take the name of the…